Influenza experiences an antigenic drift or shift every year. When there is a drift fewer mutations happen to the strain and the vaccine is more successful as they typically base the vaccine on a drift. The years we get an antigenic shift, which means more and larger mutations to the virus, the vaccines are not as effective. They do still provide an immense value to those that get the vax but they don’t prevent you from getting the virus.
not challenging with this question but more curious - I know the cdc says the flu can be less severe even if the vaccine itself is for the wrong strains but do we know how much more effective or why this would be?
I am not an epidemiologist but I work closely with them, microbiologists, infectious disease docs and infection prevention. I believe that your body is now used to fighting off one strain of the virus so it makes it more capable of fighting off this new different strain. While the mutations make it much different there are still some similarities as well. think about playing mike Tyson’s punch out. There are huge differences between fighting glass joe and Tyson but some of the fundamental actions you take translate from one to the other.
A long read that my wife (biology major) and I were just discussing. Section 4 sums it up https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5578040/
I know they play a guessing game and some times the strain of the virus they think is going to spread the most is incorrect. For example in 14-15 the h3n2 vaccine was only 19% effective because a different strain spread. I asked if that was the case this year because it seems like a lot of people that got the vaccine are getting sick
H3n2 is one of the strains this year but it’s usually one of the tougher strains and the vaccine isn’t as effective against it. Has to be due to its ability to rapidly mutate so antibodies aren’t as effective at recognizing the protein receptors.
Came across this human interest story about kids and parents stuck at home, but continuing with remote work and schooling: home office sympathy (you can translate it within your browser or on your phone with Google translate). Life goes on
The conversation in the replies is a good one. Combination of necessity when your hospitals are already crowded and also pretty smart in providing added containment.
If only they could read this thread they would know it’s not a big deal and they shouldn’t be depressed.
Right, hopefully someone sends the WHO this thread so they know not to send anyone to China to investigate the outbreak
i feel like their citizens are so malnourished that they would die like immediately. i'm only in year 9 of 32 in my med school program so that could be wrong
Yeah who would have predicted that discovering it at the beginning of the growth curve wouldn’t have stayed at 2%.
You guys realize they're not just depressed about the increasing number of cases onboard the ship (which is still a pretty low number, 136 out of 3700), right? Most of the comments in the article are related to the quarantine itself (cabin fever, complaints about food, worries about job impacts back in the real world, etc.). Did some of you even read the article?
Right. Would we see a situation where China is gunning down waves of North Koreans trying to flee the virus? Would be awful.
It’s crazy that outside of China the number of deaths attributed to 2019-nCoV is one in the Philippines. China Confirmed Cases 31211 Deaths 637 Mortality Rate 2% Rest of the World Confirmed Cases 270 Deaths 1 Mortality Rate .3%
The stats on age ranges and health conditions could explain the difference. Those who travel abroad more frequently are likely to be healthier. China is a bit above average for aging populace, so it's likely a safe bet that the mean age of confirmed cases in China is higher than the international cases. That, combined with a strained healthcare system due to sheer volume, and you have worse outcomes.
the theory i've read is that the china pollution really hurts the health of its citizens' lungs and on top of that, a good portion of chinese smoke. so a virus that affects pulmonary health would hurt china worse than other places. having said that, it's still too early to say.
Yep, the higher rate of smoking, especially in the generations 40+, would make sense as a contributor as well. Pollution makes sense as well, chronically and acutely this time of the year.
Is this like the flu? if I get Wuhan and survive, does my body build antibodies, making me immune to that strain thereafter?
link to cool infographic: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
I zoomed in on the case in japan. Its marked inside of a post office. That's some high level detail from a chart.
Just got word we're expected to be back up and running March 9. Have to report by March 5. Confirmed cases have leveled off/receded in Wuhan the last couple days apparently.
Not in Wuhan, no. I've been living in Guangdong province since August 2018. For the record, those dates are tentative, so they are still hedging.
Rest easy fellas Hank Kunneman: God Will Protect the U.S. From the Coronavirus Because of Trump rightwingwatch.org/post/h...
The phlebotomist who drew my blood this morning said Chinese with a cough scare her even more than Muslims with a suitcase. If she wasn't scorching hot, I would have called out her racism.