Coronavirus Tidbits #139 5/10/21

SARS-CoV-2 reinfection generally milder than primary infection in US study

uncommon...but was associated with two deaths, according to findings from a U.S. study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

“Therefore, policies regarding face masks, social distancing and vaccination apply to survivors of initial SARS-CoV-2 infection as well,” Qureshi said. “The results also indirectly suggest that vaccination may not provide complete immunity over a long period of time and periodic boosters may be necessary.”

Qureshi and colleagues analyzed data from 9,119 patients with SARS-CoV-2 in 62 U.S. health care facilities between Dec. 1, 2019, and Nov. 13, 2020. ...

reinfection occurred in 0.7% (95% CI, 0.15%-0.9%) of patients, with an average gap between positive tests of 116 ± 21 days. They found that asthma (OR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.1-3.2) and nicotine dependence or tobacco use (OR = 2.7; 95% CI, 1.6-4.5) were associated with reinfection.

Two deaths were associated with reinfection, but significantly lower rates of heart failure, pneumonia and acute kidney injury occurred with reinfection compared with primary infection.

https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20210504/sarscov2-reinfection-milder-than-primary-infection-in-us-study

~ ~ ~

In shock move, US backs waiving patents on COVID vaccines

Nature- Amy Maxman

The development from the Biden administration draws cheers from public-health researchers and ire from drugmakers.

In a historic move, the US government has announced that it supports waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, a measure aimed at boosting supplies so that people around the world can get the shots. “The extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” said US trade representative Katherine Tai in a statement.

The move came on 5 May, the first of a two-day meeting of the general council of the World Trade Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Until now, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan have blocked efforts brought by India and South Africa to make it legal to manufacture generic versions of COVID-19 vaccines.

Former US presidents from both the Republican and the Democratic parties have staunchly defended intellectual-property rights, so the move by the administration of President Joe Biden has shocked people on both sides of the debate. “This marks a major shift in US policy in a pro-public-health way,” says Matthew Kavanagh, a global-health researcher at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Kavanagh is part of the growing chorus of health-policy and global-health researchers advocating patent waivers, as the gap between vaccination rates in rich and poor nations grows larger every day. Fewer than 1% of people in low-income countries have received COVID-19 vaccines. The researchers are quick to note, however, that a waiver on patents covering all aspects of COVID-19 vaccines would be just the first step in ramping up vaccine supply.

First step of three

“It’s a one-two-three,” explains Rachel Cohen, US director for the non-profit Drugs and Neglected Diseases initiative in New York City. “First we need to remove patent obstacles, second we need to transfer the knowledge on how to make them, and step three is a massive investment in manufacturing capacity.”

And at the moment, step one is far from complete.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01224-3

~ ~ ~

Big news as WHO and CDC update their pages to emphasize aerosol transmission of Covid:

The WHO just updated its page on how COVID-19 transmits. Those few sentences on aerosols represent one of the most crucial scientific advances of the pandemic. My NYT piece on the century-long history of the error, the year of delay—and what it means now. https://t.co/B9y2Mf6LC7 pic.twitter.com/3b5K650nB4

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) May 7, 2021

If you want to read more, Zeynep Tufecki and Linsey Marr are the gurus in this arena to Google and read.