World Health Organization officials said Monday
not all people who recover from the coronavirus have the antibodies to
fight a second infection, raising concern that patients may not develop
immunity after surviving Covid-19.
“With regards to recovery and
then reinfection, I believe we do not have the answers to that. That is
an unknown,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s emergencies
program, said at a press conference at the organization’s Geneva
headquarters on Monday.
A
preliminary study of patients in Shanghai found that some patients had
“no detectable antibody response” while others had a very high response,
said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s lead scientist on Covid-19. Whether
the patients who had a strong antibody response were immune to a second
infection is “a separate question,” she added.
More than 300,000
of the 1.87 million coronavirus cases across the world have recovered,
WHO officials noted, adding that they need more data from recovered
patients to understand their antibody response, whether that gives them
immunity and for how long.
“That’s something that we really need
to better understand is what does that antibody response look like in
terms of immunity,” Van Kerkhove said.
Ryan said there are questions about whether the virus can reactivate after a patient recovers and tests negative for Covid-19.
“There
are many reasons why we might see reactivation of infection either with
the same infection or another infectious agent,” he said. In general,
“there are many situations in viral infection where someone doesn’t
clear the virus entirely from their system.” Some patients can also
clear the main infection but develop a secondary bacterial infection, he
said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that
it is developing a test to detect the presence of coronavirus
antibodies to determine if a person could be immune to the disease.
While such a test can determine who has been exposed to the virus, it’s
not clear if it can identify those immune to reinfection, according to
the WHO.
“While
Covid-19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly. In
other words, the way down is much slower than the way up,” WHO
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference
at the organization’s Geneva headquarters on Monday. “That means control
measures must be lifted slowly and with control. It cannot happen all
at once.”
Tedros outlined a checklist for countries before they should consider lifting social distancing measures:
Transmission of the virus should be controlled.
A surveillance system should be in place to detect, isolate and treat patients.
Outbreaks in hospitals and nursing homes should be minimized.
Preventive measures in essential locations such as schools and workplaces should be in place.
The risk of importing the disease from abroad should be under control.
“Control
measures can only be lifted if the right public health measures are in
place, including significant capacity for contact tracing,” Tedros
said.
Oh my heart, don’t become discouraged so easily. Have faith. In the hidden world, there are many mysteries, many wonders. Even if the whole planet threatens your life, don’t let go of the Beloved’s robe for even a breath.
📍The spectacular sound & light show at Philae. Egypt 🇪🇬
Black basalt statue of Cleopatra VII, 146 cm tall. Ptolemaic Period, 1st century BC. For the modern era, she is the definitive Egyptian queen, although she was descended from the Macedonians who ruled Egypt from the time of Alexander the Great. Now in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.
Greg Gonsalves is a very well-known expert in infectious diseases. He was a member of ACT UP and a founding member of the Treatment Action Group. He has a PhD in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and is faculty at the Yale School of Public Health. He won a MacArthur Genius Grant for his work in HIV and Hep C.
The actual audacity of a journalist responding like this is wild.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
