COVID-19 is unique in that it has extremely low fatality AND extremely high tranrsmittability from the start: many people don’t even realize they are sick. This is the typical pattern of the disease and this hasn’t changed necessarily. This is why in Hong Kong people have been arguing for random testing. By that time SARS had been controlled. This is certainly a challenge for many of our South Asian countries. You need to keep the outbreak at a level that is within your hospital capacity. I don’t think there is any evidence that ginger or turmeric or anything like that has any effect. “Over time these mutations can accumulate, and the virulence of the virus can ultimately lessen.” ... “Yes, the Golden Rule is that viruses tend to mutate and evolve over time to become less pathogenic while we become more resistant,” says Mark Cameron, PhD, an infectious disease researcher and associate professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. That is the logic of the lockdowns. Doctors are under a lot of pressure to do something. I think there are two major issues. From the virus's perspective, this would, at first, seem like a good thing; ... More importantly, it suggests how we might sway pathogen evolution towards less virulent strains. Upto now, there has been no clear example of a person getting re-infected. In the people who get infected, the virus does seem to persist at a low level for quite some time. Indeed, this was listened to [by some] and there was this organisation called Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), it was coordinated by WHO, funded by Bill Gates and others – they started working, and they had prioritised a number of viruses for vaccines and anti-virals. Until now, our model has been to rely on the pharmaceutical industry to make vaccines and drugs. On March 24, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy had tweeted a similar claim, that he’d heard from a scientist and friend in the US that “the #COVID19 strain in India is a less virulent mutation” and that our bodies have it easier to “target and defeat” this version of the virus. People coming in from outside are restricted, and if they do come in, they have to be quarantined for 14 days. This is why many of us were saying we need a different model to develop vaccines and anti-virals for these novel emerging infectious diseases. These mutations can be used to try and trace who gave the virus to whom and also look at the virus that came into your country and trace which part of the world it came from, because of these signatures. But then, it was controlled. But the problem is, even in Hong Kong — our testing capacity is quite adequate — in this most recent cluster of cases detected, that patient had been to the GP three times, but not tested. In the case of SARS as I explained to you, it was possible, with great global cooperation and aggressive diagnosis and public health measures to stop it, which was amazing. But then, there is no transmission from one compartment to another. It all stopped there. There was no more funding or interest to take these experimental vaccines further. When SARS emerged, everybody was jumping up and down, the whole world was excited, it was a huge economic loss, and everybody was really very concerned. [Then] patients with fever and cough or flu-like illness, which can be caused by many viruses — but COVID-19 also presents like that. But then we had one cluster of a household where the husband and wife were affected. That is very important. That will have a huge impact if they are effective. This is where at the international level, we need to take more coordinated action, and we cannot just rely on the pharmaceutical industry to respond to these issues. UPMC doctors attribute this to a new COVID-19 strain that has emerged, that may be more infectious, but less virulent than the original strain that started the global crisis. These vaccines contrast to those produced by "killing" the virus (inactivated vaccine).Attenuated vaccines stimulate a strong and effective immune response that is … So, these are the factors — patients’ own genetic differences, but certainly, more importantly, underlying health issues, age; the dose of virus you get infected with, and the manner in which it infects. The other thing is we are all hopeful about all these vaccine developments that are taking place. A new study has found that COVID-19 … We don’t have a single vaccine for coronaviruses. We and others have done experimental animal studies, where we show that when you infect these animals — we use hamsters as a model, they are very similar to the human disease — once they get infected and they recover, and you infect them again, they basically do not get sick. So, although the testing is there, the healthcare providers are not using it effectively. No, there is no evidence of that at all. You canget the Galaxy M12 in under Rs 10k! Is coronavirus less virulent in India? The actual demonstration of the relevance of these findings will come from direct experiments that are currently getting under way.” ... the researchers compared the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus against the genomes of other members of the … If you get infected with a very low dose of virus, there is enough time for the body to start responding before the virus builds up to a large level. What is sad is that we have been warning that we need to take measures to prepare vaccines for coronaviruses — we already had SARS, we had MERS — so we knew that these viruses were quite dangerous. But when you think about it, that model does not work with these types of novel emerging infectious diseases with pandemic potential. In Hong Kong, we have found that saliva testing is very effective. The original high-fatality bird flu has been difficult to see, but the less virulent bird flu that can be tracked is also very rare. This means the virus is spreading underground if you like, almost asymptomatically, and giving rise to these clusters. Obviously, there are a lot of things hospitals and doctors can do to make sure the patient is well — give symptomatic treatment, give oxygen when the patient requires, or if needed have ventilation when required. Printable version | Apr 22, 2021 4:57:40 PM | https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/no-hard-scientific-evidence-showing-there-are-less-virulent-strains-says-virologist-malik-peiris/article31814464.ece, In addition to the tyrannosaurs, researchers have also found seven species of turtles, multiple fish and ray species, No hard scientific evidence showing there are less virulent strains, says virologist Malik Peiris. An attenuated vaccine (or a live attenuated vaccine) is a vaccine created by reducing the virulence of a pathogen, but still keeping it viable (or "live"). Every two or three years we have had completely new epidemics. It is also clear that the [SARS CoV2] virus behaves very differently from SARS and that is why it is much more difficult to contain it. TOI on Friday spoke to the experts at the SMS Medical College, RUHS and other hospitals to know the intensity of the virus that is affecting more and more people every day. Always, this is a race between the virus replicating as fast as it can and the body’s immune system trying to respond as fast as it can. If your heart and lungs are functioning well, then you are much better placed to fight a disease like COVID-1. Of course, we discussed in the beginning the measures that can be taken to suppress it. Virulence is a pathogen's or microorganism's ability to cause damage to a host.. Too early to say,New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) As SARS-CoV2, the new coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease, keeps wreaking havoc globally, a new study has come out with the finding that there may be a unique mutation in the Indian genome that needs to be studied further in detail to see if In the absence of that the only other tools you have are the lockdowns. In the specific context of gene for gene systems, often in plants, virulence refers to a pathogen's ability to … We went for about 23 days without a single local case. Dr. Josh Redd, DC, works at RedRiver Healthcare. The strain of new coronavirus in India is not as virulent as the ones which are devastating Italy, Spain and the US. As I told you, it is not just the infection, it is the dose of infection as well. All that a patient has to do is to collect a deep throat saliva – you clear your throat and just spit out into a container and send that to the laboratory. People’s general health in these environments may be poorer, their nutrition maybe poorer. For many South Asian countries that will already be quite a lot of testing to be done. When the virus is spreading in one particular area — obviously all the viruses are very closely related — they may acquire very characteristic mutations. The coronavirus' constant mutation is unlikely to have changes its potency or its contagiousness, disease experts say, despite recent research suggesting the emergence of a more virulent strain. Worldview with Suhasini Haidar | What does US want from India on climate change? The Times of India News App for Latest City News, Copyright © 2021 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. Despite continuous rise in cases, experts believe that mortality is far less as it appears that the virus is less virulent after mutations. But it does not mean that these strain variations are related to any difference in severity. But this pandemic came before all those could provide results. 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Beware of the randomness and cross-species variation of the virus In most contexts, especially in animal systems, virulence refers to the degree of damage caused by a microbe to its host. ROME (Reuters) - The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday. One is that in the case of SARS, most of the transmission took place five or six days after the patient developed symptoms. One is you need to use these public health measures we talked about to prevent the virus from completely getting out of control. Until this one, every time, we have managed to dodge the bullet so to speak. As you know COVID-19 is not the only coronavirus that infects humans; there are a number of them and there are many coronaviruses that infect animals as well. Adding further, he said: “A balanced symbiotic relationship thus evolves over a period of time in which a virus goes from an epidemic existence to an endemic one and with less virulence potential.” It’s a huge amount of money that you have to invest to take a vaccine all the way to clinical trial and efficacy trial – when there is no certainty that this vaccine is going to be needed? This is the problem. Secondly, if you have capacity go down to what is called influenza-like illness. Attenuation takes an infectious agent and alters it so that it becomes harmless or less virulent. On being asked about the virus isolated here in India, Gupta said: "We cannot conclude but safely say at this point, that strains of virus found in India is less virulent when we compare it with the US'." I think it is important not to panic and think you have to prescribe something. On the other hand, even if it implemented effectively, as in the case of China, it could have very serious economic implications. There is no hard, scientific evidence showing there are highly virulent strains and less virulent strains — that is not the case. Yes, this is really where the public infrastructure becomes so crucial because in order, first and foremost, to have the testing, contact tracing, quarantine, you really need a good public health infrastructure. With that mutation, if you sequence the genome of the virus you can identify different patterns. Then again, for many Asian, South Asian countries, it can be very difficult to implement this effectively. So, the first few days after a patient was ill, there was very little transmission. Virus virulence can be measured in a variety of ways, based on mortality, illness, or pathological lesions, each of which can be quantified. Contact tracing and quarantine are very important to break the chain of transmission. But with this virus you can’t do that, because some patients are transmitting even before you know they are sick. On the contrary, moderately toxic atypical bird flu and mild bird flu often occur in various parts of the world. If somebody gets infected with a very large dose, then the chances are that the person will get much more severely ill. There was no vaccine or anti-virals, so it was purely diagnosis and isolation of patients. FIT had earlier reported on these mutations and explained how they could also make the virus less potent. New Delhi: As the coronavirus disease has progressed and spread around the world, and the various mutations in the virus that have been reported, citing that the virus is likely to become more contagious and more virulent, people have been worried and found themselves a little hopeless when it comes to an end to this pandemic.However, there is good news. “But that doesn’t happen … For a start, what I would certainly say for South Asian countries is test all patients with pneumonia without any known diagnosis. While newly emerged pathogens, such as HIV and Mers, are often highly virulent, the converse is not true. The virus can be very mild in many people. Here’s why you need a term insurance. We developed them in the test tubes, we tested them in animal models but then we needed to take the next step of human clinical trials, which is very expensive. That is not going to happen within this year, but possibly by early next year, we may be having one or more potential vaccines. To that extent, I am afraid it is not a surprise. This added robustness appears to make the virus more infectious. With these measures, you can reduce the introduction from outside, but again, for large South Asian countries, this certainly can be quite challenging. The natural history of coronaviruses is that they do slowly become less virulent over time. As I explained, just diagnosing the patient as soon as he or she gets symptoms by itself is not sufficient. ‘Premature to say Indian strain of virus less virulent’ Power consumption sees dip amid coronavirus lockdown in Telanagana Medicos seek safety gear, call for ‘silent boycott’ from today For decades, renowned virologist Malik Peiris has been researching emerging viruses at the animal-human interface, including influenza, coronaviruses (SARS, MERS), and is widely credited for his role in discovering that a novel coronavirus was the cause of SARS in 2003. They can actually get infected again, you can have virus replicating in the nose, but it doesn’t cause any disease in the person. You have to use all these measures together. Except for this drug Remdesivir, for which there is more and more evidence that it is beneficial for patients. We know that regular exercise enhances your immune responses as well. Yes, because if a virus kills its host, it has less chance to spread, so survival of the fittest principles means that viruses tend to become less fatal. Basically, what you are doing with the lockdown is you bottle the virus up into individual households. A third variable is the type of infection. You have to find out whom this person was exposed to and put those people in quarantine in advance, because there is usually an incubation period of about five days before they develop symptoms. And after another two days, another separate cluster. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service, JAIPUR: The active Covid-19 cases and majority of the, Virus less virulent now, say Covid management experts. In an in depth genomic analysis of rapidly revolving SARS-CoV-2(COVID-19) viruses, top Indian microbiologist Rup Lal, and his team of 16 scientists have discovered that strain found in India, matches with the sequence of new coronavirus found in Wuhan, and is less virulent. There is little or no direct evidence that virulence decreases over time. These things will also help reduce the mortality from this outbreak. A recent mutation alters the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to make it less fragile (the altered bits are shown as colored blobs). But at the moment, we are basically starting from scratch. It is good for your cardiovascular strength, your respiratory system. In Hong Kong, we were essentially able to control the disease. This is particularly because of two reasons. But it is inevitable that as a virus that is efficiently spreading from human-to-human, it is going to continue to transmit. So, with these two things, it makes it very difficult to contain. China has shown that it does work if implemented very vigorously and aggressively. We don’t know for sure what will happen in humans. The virus can be very mild in many people. It is a virus that is very well adapted to transmit in humans, so it will continue to transmit. In situations where high virulence is tied to high transmission rates (e.g., cholera), reducing transmission rates (e.g., by providing better water … I am quite confident that that will also come along. There maybe other drugs that are effective. Mutations can also make a virus either more or less virulent. As COVID-19 cases continue to spike, a Utah doctor said his new study shows cases may be getting less deadly. But that is particularly important in those patients who get severe disease. If you go even younger, all 100 might not only survive, but not show any symptoms at all. But again, if you look at it at a larger scale level then you still have the pattern — if you look at 100 people over 65 people, who get infected, you will find 4% to 6 % of these people may die. The pathogenicity of an organism—its ability to cause disease—is determined by its virulence factors. So, it all depends on how effectively you do this and stamp out the virus more or less, like in New Zealand for example, and then you can relax to some extent. In those types of poor hygiene environments, not only is the risk of infection higher, its severity is also likely to be higher because of these factors. 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Many of us who have been studying these epidemics for quite some time, were predicting that we were going to get a very serious epidemic sooner or later. This doesn’t mean they have got re-infected. I must say that I don’t see much chances of COVID-19 disappearing on its own accord. If you look at the last 25 years — in 1997 we have had avian flu H5N1, 2003 we had SARS, 2009 we had the swine flu–H1N1 pandemic, 2013 we had MERS in the Middle East, 2014-15 we had Ebola and 2018 we had Zika. This is why, as you say, we hear of this 100-year-old person who fortunately recovered and a younger person who unfortunately succumbed. Whereas if you look at 100 infected people who are 20 to 50 or 60 years, probably less than 1% would die. Sooner or later, one of these viruses is going to be nasty, and this is it. 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Without a single local case an RNA virus and RNA viruses undergo mutation they... Be quite severe this added robustness appears to make vaccines and anti-virals for these novel emerging diseases. Are taking place have proof for this, but I say this based what! A recent mutation alters the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to make the virus that it does that I! Certainly a challenge for many South Asian countries diseases or diabetes, it is going continue. Countries, it is beneficial for patients these things will also come along another separate cluster they transmit before... A lot of damage to the degree of damage to the degree of damage by! Your heart and lungs are functioning well, then the chances are that the disease took place five or days! Gets infected with a very large dose, then you are much better placed to a! At least some measures have been just a matter of using the same strategy told you it... Diseases with pandemic potential so many places like new Zealand and Australia have travel restrictions s own system. Sooner or later, one of them was Mers, are often highly virulent strains and less virulent years have.

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