43 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2022
    1. Cornelius Roemer. (2021, December 22). @mccarthy_kr I took a look at all these NY sequences. I don’t think these point mutations S:681H are real. Why? Because they appear all over the Omicron diversity. Some sequences have S:346K, some S:701V, most miss S679K, a few have it. That’s the signature of contamination/co-infection. Https://t.co/DcJD4q44EM [Tweet]. @CorneliusRoemer. https://twitter.com/CorneliusRoemer/status/1473507369455923203

  2. Nov 2021
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  8. Nov 2020
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  11. Aug 2020
    1. COVID-19 first appeared in a group of Chinese miners in 2012

      Take away: The COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV2) did not exist in 2012, however a related virus was isolated from bats in 2013.

      The claim: The same virus that is causing the COVID-19 pandemic existed in miners in 2012.

      The evidence:RaTG13, a virus that was isolated from bats by the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2013 is the closest known relative to SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (Ge 2016, Zhou 2020). This bat virus is not the same virus as SARS-CoV2, but is closely related (96% identical DNA). The virus was isolated from bats, not humans. However, it was isolated from a cave near where workers the previous year became sick and some died, and may be linked to the illnesses. The SARS-CoV2 virus shows a number of key adaptations that likely makes it much more infectious in humans than the related bat virus (Wrobel, 2020).

      Source:

      Ge XY, Wang N, Zhang W, Hu B, Li B, Zhang YZ, Zhou JH, Luo CM, Yang XL, Wu LJ, Wang B. Coexistence of multiple coronaviruses in several bat colonies in an abandoned mineshaft. Virologica Sinica. 2016 Feb 1;31(1):31-40.

      Zhou P, Yang XL, Wang XG, Hu B, Zhang L, Zhang W, Si HR, Zhu Y, Li B, Huang CL, Chen HD. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. nature. 2020 Mar;579(7798):270-3.

      Wrobel AG, Benton DJ, Xu P, Roustan C, Martin SR, Rosenthal PB, Skehel JJ, Gamblin SJ. SARS-CoV-2 and bat RaTG13 spike glycoprotein structures inform on virus evolution and furin-cleavage effects. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 2020 Aug;27(8):763-7.

    1. @who published a massive review/meta-analysis of interventions for flu epidemics in 2019, found "moderate" evidence AGAINST using masks.

      Take away: In their 2019 report the WHO actually recommended for, not against, the use of masks in severe influenza epidemics or pandemics, contrasting the statement made in this tweet. Further, recent evidence overwhelmingly supports the benefit of masks for preventing the spread of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

      The claim: Overall the claim here appears to be that masks are ineffective against the spread of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes the clinical syndrome known as COVID-19. The evidence used in support of this claim is that “the WHO found ‘moderate’ evidence AGAINST using masks” in their 2019 report on the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions for mitigating influenza pandemics.

      The evidence: This overall claim is poorly supported by data and the evidence used to support this claim is incorrectly characterized by the claimant. Narrowly, the claim that the WHO recommended against mask use is patently false. In their report, the WHO reviewed 10 separate studies and did conclude that there was scant evidence that masks significantly decreased spread of the flu. However, they found no evidence that masks increased spread, and based on mechanistic plausibility (i.e. masks are barriers that prevent droplets from passing between people) and the low risk/high reward, they made a conditional recommendation for mask use in severe influenza epidemics or pandemics.

      While influenza does not behave exactly like the SARS-CoV2 virus, the similarities in mode of transmission make it reasonably likely that masks would also have protective effects against the spread of this virus is well. The best evidence is hard data, and that too increasingly points to the benefit of masks for slowing down or preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV2. A recent summary of that data is available here.

    1. Clausen, T. M., Sandoval, D. R., Spliid, C. B., Pihl, J., Painter, C. D., Thacker, B. E., Glass, C. A., Narayanan, A., Majowicz, S. A., Zhang, Y., Torres, J. L., Golden, G. J., Porell, R., Garretson, A. F., Laubach, L., Feldman, J., Yin, X., Pu, Y., Hauser, B., … Esko, J. D. (2020). SARS-CoV-2 Infection Depends on Cellular Heparan Sulfate and ACE2. BioRxiv, 2020.07.14.201616. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.14.201616

  12. May 2020
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  14. Mar 2020