There are some Covid-related scientific and medical achievements to thank for this Thanksgiving

Eighteen months after the Covid-19 pandemic, infectious disease expert Dr. Mark Kortepeter explained why gratitude did not worsen and celebrated advances in viral genomics, mRNA vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and other technologies. increase.

At this Thanksgiving, millions of people from all over the United States travel around the table and gather to participate in one of our country’s most important annual traditions.There is nature concern Public health officials made me think about the old maxim about this opportunity for an additional Covid surge. It can always get worse. If SARS-CoV-2 surfaced in 2003, when SARS-CoV-1, the first new corona virus, surfaced, not in 2019, despite continued historic devastation I wondered what happened to me. -CoV-2 (a virus that causes Covid-19) has arrived.

The Covid-19 pandemic was devastating, but I’m grateful that it didn’t get worse. There were many timely scientific achievements that would not have been in 2003 to mitigate the blow.

< position="inread" progressive="" ad-id="article-0-inread" aria-hidden="true" role="presentation"/>

Outbreak of previous new coronavirus

Prior to 2003, we thought that the coronavirus was just the cause of the common cold. The emergence of the first “new” severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus pandemic (now called SARS-CoV-1) in 2003 states that the coronavirus can be fatal. It was useful as a call for awakening. But I was lucky at that time.The world was able to eliminate the SARS-CoV-1 virus Month.. One of the benefits to us is that SARS-CoV-1 did not spread until the onset of symptoms. This makes it easier to control because when someone is exposed, the virus can be quarantined in sufficient time to prevent it from spreading to others. This is not the case for SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 can spread before the onset of illness and can also spread from asymptomatic individuals.

In recent years, the world has also been working on outbreaks in multiple regions caused by another new coronavirus, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus. Both of these new coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1 and MERS) have generated significant scientific interest and have made a breakthrough in the world in studying how the new coronavirus causes disease. I did. Previous Covid has arrived.

Virus genomics

In 2003, viral genomics was an early field. The viral genome sequence was previously done manually. Currently, there are automated machines that can sequence the viral genome in hours. This rapid feature allowed us to understand and share the genomics of SARS-CoV-2. several weeks Identify a population of pneumonia patients in China and track how the virus has evolved.

mRNA vaccine platform

mRNA platform Invented More than a decade ago, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) developed a pandemic method for the rapid production of vaccines. Armed with rapid sequencing of the viral genome in early 2020, vaccine developers were able to leverage mRNA technology to scale up production and develop distribution chains. The vaccine has saved millions of lives since it was launched last year.

Monoclonal antibody

The first monoclonal antibody was licensed in the United States. 1986.. In the years that followed, faster development and manufacturing methods were discovered. We are far ahead of what we were back in 2003. Currently, monoclonal antibodies are approved for dozens of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, migraine, Crohn’s disease, melanoma, and even Ebola virus. Therefore, when Covid arrives, it makes sense for pharmaceutical companies to leverage this technology to discover. monoclonal To treat or prevent it.

Ebola virus

Why would everyone thank Ebola? I have previously conducted research on the Ebola virus at the Biosafety Level 4 Containment Laboratory to help hospitals prepare for Ebola and other serious illnesses that require special containment. The 2014-16 outbreak of Ebola has forced hospitals to reactivate their preparedness for illnesses that require infection control. In essence, they were prepared by Ebola for the “real” event, Covid. Another aspect revealed by Ebola was the need for real-time clinical research during a rapidly changing outbreak in which people are dying. Some of the research networks that emerged during Ebola were able to pivot immediately when Covid began.

Internet and online streaming platforms

At the end of 2019, the debilitated 91-year-old father had to go to a nursing home. It was heartbreaking when the family was restricted from direct contact with him because of Covid. Undoubtedly, his mental decline was accelerated by this lack of contact with the family. Six months after the outbreak, we were able to establish a simple daily online chat. It was incomplete, but better than nothing.

If Covid was a hit five years ago, think about how it was different. There would have been no internet bandwidth and platform to connect the way we have to “visit” with family or continue to work or school remotely. Perhaps we were forced to do business over the phone. Or, more worrisome, we might have been doing business as usual in offices, schools, and other crowded environments. As a result, opportunities for rapid virus spread increased long before countermeasures arrived.

Why don’t tigers catch colds? They roam as individuals or small groups, making viral infections inefficient.

Words of caution towards the holidays

I have listed just a few of the ways the science, medical, and public health communities have been able to push the boundaries to save lives in dealing with Covid. They were able to take advantage of the technology platform that laid the foundation decades ago, but development in 2019 was much more mature than in 2003. This is why we are grateful that SARS-CoV-2 has surfaced in 2019. Since 2003. The old English proof “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” applies to Covid’s pandemic. Indeed, during the pandemic, many of the technological advances inevitably accelerated as the number of bodies continued to grow.

It’s easier and safer to get together via an online platform, but we get together at Thanksgiving and seek a very basic need: the need for fellowship. But when it comes to pandemic respiratory viruses, this need is our greatest vulnerability. My professor of public health once asked my classmates, “Why don’t tigers catch colds?” His answer was that they roamed individually or in small groups, making the virus infection inefficient.

So when you gather this Thanksgiving with friends and family, thank you, and sadly remember your loved one who died in a pandemic, remember that Covid is still looking for a new host. It spreads when we get together, especially in tight indoor spaces. The spread of infections is easy at home because of the tendency to be vigilant around family and friends.Consider your vulnerability and take it reasonably prevention To minimize the opportunity to spread around the dinner table so that Happy Thanksgiving does not leave you unwelcome visitors the day after the celebration.

Full coverage and live updates on coronavirus