Category: Natural Immunity
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Understanding the immune system of children may be the key to understanding susceptibility to SARS-COV-2
The following article published by The Lancet offers some explanations why children are less susceptible to the COVID-19 disease. According to the authors, pediatric immune systems are prepared and fit to react to viruses. This could be due to several factors, including the capacity of children to rapidly produce natural antibodies with broad reactivity, and the generally…
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WHO: The coronavirus may never go away
In a virtual presser held Wednesday, May 13, 2020, WHO emergencies director Dr. Mike Ryan said that the coronavirus may become another endemic virus in our communities. It may never be completely eradicated, even when vaccines have become available. Editor’s Note: This article strengthens two points we have been repeating in this website. First, that lockdowns…
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USC-LA County antibody suggests true COVID-19 infections higher than official count
The preliminary results of the University of Southern California and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health suggests that around 2.8% to 5.6% of adults in the county population (that’s roughly 221,000 to 442,000 adults) have already been infected by the coronavirus. This is the second antibody study to come out with the same conclusion…
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What can an antibody study teach us about COVID-19?
The following article is an interview between Neeraj Sood [Sood is lead investigator of the study discussed in the article USC-LA County Antibody Suggests True COVID-19 Infections Higher Than Official Count ] and Leigh Hopper. In it, Sood explains to us why it is important to conduct antibody studies vis-a-vis PCR tests. He also discusses about the selection…
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90-95% of COVID-19 cases in Cebu are asymptomatic
In this first article published last April 25, 2020 article by the Cebu Daily News, it was revealed that a majority of those who tested positive for the new coronavirus do not exhibit any symptoms. Of the 411 COVID cases in Cebu (as of April 25, data has already changed as of writing), 209 came from the…
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Health expert recommends antibody testing for Barangay Luz in Sitio Zapatera
Cover image from Philippine Star: https://media.philstar.com/photos/2020/04/12/sitio-zapatera-lockdown_2020-04-12_22-11-36.jpg On April 16, 2020, the Department of Health (DOH) in Central Visayas decided to stop testing and contact tracing in Barangay Luz after 21 individuals from the subvillage was found to be COVID-19 positive. According to DOH, the area is considered “contaminated” as community transmission of the virus is…
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What if COVID-19 immunity doesn’t last?
In this article for MIT Technology Review, Antonio Regalado surveys what we know about coronaviruses in general in order to answer these questions: Will those who recovered from COVID-19 have immunity over the coronavirus? How long will this immunity last? Because we are only a few months into the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, we will not be able to…
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Stockholm, Sweden expected to reach collective immunity in weeks
In an interview with CNBC last April 22, 2020, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said that they are already seeing the effects of collective immunity in Stockholm and several major parts of Sweden. Tegnell made this pronouncement as growth rate of infections is starting to plateau in the capital city and situation is stable in the rest…
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Antibody testing shows coronavirus infected a lot more people than previously thought
In this article written by Kari Paul for The Guardian, we are introduced to a study from Stanford University which shows that the novel coronavirus could be more widespread than previously projected. Extrapolating the results of the antibody tests in Sta. Clara county in California, the researchers state that the virus could be 50 to 85…
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COVID-19 growth rates declining worldwide
The following article summarizes the results of the study conducted by Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, an Israeli scientist, military general, and politician. According to Ben-Israel’s research, COVID-19 spreads at an exponential rate at the beginning, but patterns around the world show that the spread moderates in a few weeks, and then ultimately fades after 8 weeks.…
