Episode Details

Link for free download of John's two text books, http://159.69.48.3/ Campbell's Pathophysiology Notes, Amazon orders for the UK, https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012HWC8SU/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_AYC5Q7G3H2B3T4BCHQY0 Campbell's Physiology Notes https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0955379725/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_K0MXMAP26Y77TY4J90FB Omicron, clinical picture (7th December) Dr Angelique Coetzee, South African Medical Association First to raise alarm about the new omicron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtELl7-zE_w Totally different symptoms Can be easily missed Body aches and pains Muscle pains Headache Tiredness (1 to 2 days) Slight sore throat No severe cough No runny nose Decrease in patients coming to doctors South Africa vaccines Pfizer J and J Hospitalizations, 99% unvaccinated Symptoms more intense in unvaccinated More intense but not severe Body aches and pains Muscle pains Headache Lateral flow testing and Omicron Becomes positive after 24 hours up to 5 days Very accurate Omicron prevalence in SA https://www.nicd.ac.za Ref for graphics (3rd December data) https://www.nicd.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Update-of-SA-sequencing-data-from-GISAID-3-Dec-21-Final.pdf SGTF has increased from 0.9% in October to 96.3% for November. Children under the age of 12 years accounted for 7.9% of the SGTF positives, and those 13 – 18 years old for 6.1%. For week 47, Hospital data from SA https://www.nicd.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/NICD-COVID-19-Daily-Sentinel-Hospital-Surveillance-report-National-20211206.pdf Live data, hospital patients who have tested positive https://www.nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-index/disease-index-covid-19/surveillance-reports/daily-hospital-surveillance-datcov-report/ Omicron and common cold https://osf.io/f7txy/ Omicron has insertion mutation ins214EPE (From the common cold, HCoV-229E coronavirus) Could have been acquired by switching Involving the genomes of other viruses that infect the same host cells as SARS-CoV-2 It is plausible that the Omicron insertion could have evolved in a co-infected individual PFIZER AND BIONTECH PROVIDE UPDATE ON OMICRON VARIANT https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-provide-update-omicron-variant Preliminary laboratory studies demonstrate that three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine neutralize the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529 lineage), while two doses show significantly reduced neutralization titers Data indicate that a third dose of BNT162b2 increases the neutralizing antibody titers by 25-fold compared to two doses against the Omicron variant; titers after the booster dose are comparable to titers observed after two doses against the wild-type virus which are associated with high levels of protection As 80% of epitopes in the spike protein recognized by CD8+ T cells are not affected by the mutations in the Omicron variant, two doses may still induce protection against severe disease The companies continue to advance the development of a variant-specific vaccine for Omicron and expect to have it available by March in the event that an adaption is needed to further increase the level and duration of protection – with no change expected to the companies’ four billion dose capacity for 2022

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