Covid19-Sources

A CDC shows an increase in deaths from cancer and cardiovascular disease, but they are not caused by COVID-19 vaccines.

Die Covid-Impfung soll Menschen vor einer schweren Erkrankung bewahren. Doch in sozialen Medien wird verbreitet, dass zurückgegangene Krebstumore angeblich «seit der Impfung leider wieder aufflammen, aufgrund der Schädigung ihres Immunsystems durch die COVID-Impfung». Tumore seien so groß wie nie, daher würden sie als «Turbokrebs» bezeichnet. Ist an diesem angeblichen Phänomen etwas dran?

Acta Neurologica Belgica - Since the hippocampus is predominantly susceptible to injuries caused by COVID-19, there are increasing data indicating the likelihood of post-infection memory loss and...

Heterogeneity in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine responses is not understood. Here, we identify four patterns of live-virus neutralizing antibody responses: individuals with hybrid immunity (with confirmed prior infection); rare individuals with low responses (paucity of S1-binding antibodies); and surprisingly, two further groups with distinct serological repertoires. One group – broad responders – neutralize a range of SARS-CoV-2 variants, whereas the other – narrow responders – neutralize fewer, less divergent variants. This heterogeneity does not correlate with Ancestral S1-binding antibody, rather the quality of the serological response. Furthermore, IgDlowCD27-CD137+ B cells and CCR6+ CD4+ T cells are enriched in broad responders before dose 3. Notably, broad responders have significantly longer infection-free time after their third dose. Understanding the control and persistence of these serological profiles could allow personalized approaches to enhance serological breadth after vaccination. ### Competing Interest Statement CSw reports interests unrelated to this Correspondence: grants from BMS, Ono-Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Roche-Ventana, Pfizer and Archer Dx, unrelated to this work; personal fees from Genentech, Sarah Canon Research Institute, Medicxi, Bicycle Therapeutics, GRAIL, Amgen, AstraZeneca, BMS, Illumina, GlaxoSmithKline, MSD, and Roche-Ventana, unrelated to this work; and stock options from Apogen Biotech, Epic Biosciences, GRAIL, and Achilles Therapeutics, unrelated to this Correspondence. SGam reports funding from AstraZeneca to evaluate monoclonal antibodies subsequent to this work. DLVB reports grants from AstraZeneca unrelated to this work. The authors have no additional financial interests.

Background Post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) is a lingering disease with ongoing symptoms such as fatigue and cognitive impairment resulting in a high impact on the daily life of patients. Understanding the pathophysiology of PCS is a public health priority, as it still pose...

Jaren na het uitbreken van de pandemie kampen meer Nederlanders opeens met een achteruitgang van het geheugen.

Less than a year after the global emergence of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, a novel vaccine platform based on mRNA technology was introduced to the market. Globally, around 13.38 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses of diverse platforms have been administered. To date, 72.3% of the total population has been injected at least once with a COVID-19 vaccine. As the immunity provided by these vaccines rapidly wanes, their ability to prevent hospitalization and severe disease in individuals with comorbidities has recently been questioned, and increasing evidence has shown that, as with many other vaccines, they do not produce sterilizing immunity, allowing people to suffer frequent re-infections. Additionally, recent investigations have found abnormally high levels of IgG4 in people who were administered two or more injections of the mRNA vaccines. HIV, Malaria, and Pertussis vaccines have also been reported to induce higher-than-normal IgG4 synthesis. Overall, there are three critical factors determining the class switch to IgG4 antibodies: excessive antigen concentration, repeated vaccination, and the type of vaccine used. It has been suggested that an increase in IgG4 levels could have a protecting role by preventing immune over-activation, similar to that occurring during successful allergen-specific immunotherapy by inhibiting IgE-induced effects. However, emerging evidence suggests that the reported increase in IgG4 levels detected after repeated vaccination with the mRNA vaccines may not be a protective mechanism; rather, it constitutes an immune tolerance mechanism to the spike protein that could promote unopposed SARS-CoV2 infection and replication by suppressing natural antiviral responses. Increased IgG4 synthesis due to repeated mRNA vaccination with high antigen concentrations may also cause autoimmune diseases, and promote cancer growth and autoimmune myocarditis in susceptible individuals.

We will regularly encounter severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but there is uncertainty about the contribution that T cells make to clear the virus. Koutsakos et al.1 shed light on the response of memory T cells acquired from vaccination to a breakthrough infection. They demonstrate a direct correlation between the T cell response, their functionality and viral clearance. Furthermore, they show that T cell responses are robust after multiple activations over 2 years. SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, has inflicted great suffering worldwide. Respiratory viruses have short incubation times and rapidly produce infectious progeny, as seen with the four human coronaviruses (HCoV) that cause cold-like symptoms, as well as severe disease in immunocompromised individuals. Disease protection depends on the generation of a coordinated innate and adaptive immune response. COVID-19 vaccines have provided relief from severe disease without the risks associated with infection.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has shown diverse life-threatening effects, most of which are considered short-term. In addition to its short-term effects, which has claimed many millions of lives since 2019, the long-term ...

COVID-19 is associated with increased risks of neurological and psychiatric sequelae in the weeks and months thereafter. How long these risks remain, whether they affect children and adults similarly, and whether SARS-CoV-2 variants differ in their risk profiles remains unclear.

This study aims to develop a definition of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) based on self-reported symptoms and describe PASC frequencies across cohorts, vaccination status, and number of infections using a cohort of adults with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Boston – Das milliardenschwere RECOVER-Projekt der US-National Institutes of Health hat eine Falldefinition für die postakuten Folgen einer SARS-CoV-2-Infektion...

Nature Microbiology - Head-to-head comparison of third doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in US Veterans finds that both are effective against documented SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19...

Nature Communications - The extent to which COVID-19 vaccination protects against long COVID is not well understood. Here, the authors use electronic health record data from the United States and...

This study used a population-based individual patient data set that included diagnoses of COVID-19 to determine whether there was a temporal association between COVID-19 and type 1 diabetes in children.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in the chronic autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes was observed in children, also in Germany. Researchers at Helmholtz Munich and TU Dresden, in cooperation …

On the last day of the year 2019 a novel Betacoronavirus (2019-nCov), now known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and causing the highly transmissible and lethal pneumonia COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province in Central China (Huang et al., 2020; Fu et al., 2022; Lu and Sun, 2022). Since then ongoing research and long-term studies of the sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection have indicated that post-infection, recovery from COVID-19 and/or COVID-19 aftermath is associated with long-term physiological and neurological deficits known generically as “long COVID” (Roy et al., 2021; Ahmad et al., 2022; Baazaoui and Iqbal, 2022). Multiple independent epidemiological and clinical studies further indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection and “long COVID” strongly correlate with the onset of progressive neurological disturbances that include Alzheimer's disease (AD), prion disease (PrD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. These are apparent: (i) especially in aged and/or senile COVID-19 patients; (ii) in patients experiencing overlapping or inter-current illnesses that include heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, neuropsychiatric and other age-related neurological disorders; and (iii) in those COVID-19 patients who have experienced a particularly virulent and/or a near fatal episode of SARS-CoV-2 infection (Farheen et al., 2021; Flud et al., 2022; Fu et al., 2022). Conversely, increasing numbers of epidemiological studies suggest that elderly people with neurological deficits commonly observed in AD are highly vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and especially the development of more severe forms of COVID-19 disease (Chiricosta et al., 2021; Hsu et al., 2021; Fu et al., 2022). The recent finding that the SARS-CoV-2 “S1” spike protein essential for viral infectivity contains prion-like domains associated with immune-evasion and the promotion of protein aggregation and aggregate “seeding” is particularly intriguing (Baazaoui and Iqbal, 2022; Bernardini et al., 2022; Tetz and Tetz, 2022). Based on these and other very recent findings this “Opinion” paper will: (i) address our current understanding of the emerging role of SARS-CoV-2 infection with “long COVID” with special reference to AD and PrD; (ii) will review the latest findings of the SARS-CoV-2 “S1” spike protein and its preferred interaction with the ubiquitous angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor (ACE2R); and (iii) will highlight the interplay of the molecular biology and neuropathology of SARS-CoV-2 with the unusual and immune-evasive character of prion neurobiology, AD and PrD.

Long COVID isn't novel: other viruses in history have had similar “long” arcs — with devastating repercussions

Brain changes including shrinkage, weakened connections and poorer performance on thinking and memory tests could explain ‘brain fog’ after COVID – even after ‘mild’ cases.

A team of scientists, led by researchers from East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, have identified another problem stemming from COVID-19 infections — the potential for greater risk of Parkinson’s disease. The ECU contingent of researchers — Dr. Jeffrey Eells, Dr. Shaw Akula, Dr. Srinivas Sriramula and Dr. Dorcas O’Rourke — were joined by […]

The risk of developing dementia, psychosis or brain fog remains higher for two years for patients who have had Covid-19 than it does for those with other

Well, the data is pretty clear.The little ones (0-4) are hard hit.https://t.co/Kmvqs43Unt pic.twitter.com/BFOQNUqDGh— 😺 Annika 🕊 (@AnnikaTyckerAtt) May 21, 2023

This cross-sectional study assesses whether COVID-19 booster vaccination of pregnant people is associated with spontaneous abortion.

Nonetheless, our findings suggest that the risk of spontaneous abortion after mRNA Covid-19 vaccination either before conception or during pregnancy is consistent with the expected risk of spontaneous abortion; these findings add to the accumulating evidence about the safety of mRNA Covid-19 vaccination in pregnancy.

Nature Cell Biology - Monocytes, plasmacytoid and conventional dendritic cells are crucial for antiviral immune responses. A new study now compares severe and moderate cases of COVID-19 and links...

Cellular & Molecular Immunology - Dendritic cell deficiencies persist seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

The recently emerged SARS-CoV-2 causing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is particularly virulent in the elderly while children are largely spared. Here, we explored the potential role of cross-reactive immunity acquired from pediatric vaccinations and exposure to common human pathogens in the protection and pathology of COVID-19. To that end, we sought for peptide matches to SARS-CoV-2 (identity ≥ 80%, in at least eight residues) in the proteomes of 25 human pathogens and in vaccine antigens, and subsequently predicted their T and B cell reactivity to identify potential cross-reactive epitopes. We found that viruses subject to pediatric vaccinations do not contain cross-reactive epitopes with SARS-CoV-2, precluding that they can provide any general protection against COVID-19. Likewise, common viruses including rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, and several herpesviruses are also poor or null sources of cross-reactive immunity to SARS-CoV-2, discarding that immunological memory against these viruses can have any general protective or pathological role in COVID-19. In contrast, we found combination vaccines for treating diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis infectious diseases (DTP vaccine) to be significant sources of potential cross-reactive immunity to SARS-CoV-2. DTP cross-reactive epitopes with SARS-CoV-2 include numerous CD8 and CD4 T cell epitopes with broad population protection coverage and potentially neutralizing B cell epitopes in SARS-CoV-2 Sp...

I’ve created new SARS-CoV-2 antibody escape calculator (https://t.co/UNwCwr8m6B) with latest data from @yunlong_caoTLDR: look at image below for likely future sites of antigenic evolution in XBB spike.For details, read full thread below. pic.twitter.com/yB43xtDIuL— Bloom Lab (@jbloom_lab) May 16, 2023

Occurrence of hyperglycemia upon infection is associated with worse clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients. However, it is still unknown whether SARS-CoV-2 directly triggers hyperglycemia. Herein, we interrogated whether and how SARS-CoV-2 causes hyperglycemia by infecting hepatocytes and increasing glucose production. We performed a retrospective cohort study including patients that were admitted at a hospital with suspicion of COVID-19. Clinical and laboratory data were collected from the chart records and daily blood glucose values were analyzed to test the hypothesis on whether COVID-19 was independently associated with hyperglycemia. Blood glucose was collected from a subgroup of nondiabetic patients to assess pancreatic hormones. Postmortem liver biopsies were collected to assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and its transporters in hepatocytes. In human hepatocytes, we studied the mechanistic bases of SARS-CoV-2 entrance and its gluconeogenic effect. SARS-CoV-2 infection was independently associated with hyperglycemia, regardless of diabetic history and beta cell function. We detected replicating viruses in human hepatocytes from postmortem liver biopsies and in primary hepatocytes. We found that SARS-CoV-2 variants infected human hepatocytes in vitro with different susceptibility. SARS-CoV-2 infection in hepatocytes yields the release of new infectious viral particles, though not causing cell damage. We showed that infected hepatocytes increase glucose production and this is associated with induction of PEPCK activity. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 entry in hepatocytes occurs partially through ACE2- and GRP78-dependent mechanisms. SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in hepatocytes and exerts a PEPCK-dependent gluconeogenic effect in these cells that potentially is a key cause of hyperglycemia in infected patients.

Nature Communications - Plasmacytoid DC (pDC) have been shown to secrete type I IFN and to be involved in controlling replication and spread of some viruses. Here the authors show that in severe...