Tag: smallpox

Lab-created bird flu virus accident shows lax oversight of risky ‘gain of function’ research

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Inside the high-security Influenza Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, two experienced scientists were pulling ferrets out of their HEPA-filtered cages on a Monday in December 2019. Another researcher, still in training, was also in the room to watch and learn.

Lab-created bird flu virus accident shows lax oversight of risky ‘gain of function’ research

H/T: The Most Revolutionary Act

BUT WHY?! Kenya Has Zero Cases But U.S Pharmaceutical Firm To Start Vaccine Trial + WHO Issues Monkeypox Advisory to Kenya

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Video via Wongel Zelalem

Tonix will test its monkeypox vaccine in Kenya next year, and no eyes on accelerated path at FDA

The study of Tonix Pharmaceuticals’ live virus vaccine will occur at Kenya Medical Research Institute, or KEMRI, in the East African country, the partners said Thursday. While Kenya has no reported cases of the virus that leads to painful lesions, the country is close to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had 163 cases as of July 27, according to a CDC tracker.

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Tonix has been working on monkeypox and smallpox for close to a decade, Lederman said. The company’s vaccine, dubbed TNX-801, is traced back to a research collaboration with the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Alberta.

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Compound in red wine, chocolate prevents smallpox virus cousins from replicating

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Disclaimer: The information posted here is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please seek the advice of a medical professional before taking any supplements!

Compound in red wine, chocolate prevents smallpox virus cousins from replicating

“Resveratrol is a small, natural compound in many plants like grapes, cocoa beans, peanuts and blueberries,” said Shuai Cao, postdoctoral researcher studying the effects of resveratrol on viruses. “Our recent study found that high concentrations of resveratrol — higher than anything you may find in food naturally — prevent poxviruses from replicating in human cells.”

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The Kansas State University researchers recorded resveratrol’s success with vaccinia and collaborated with researchers at the CDC to perform similar experiments with monkeypox, a contagious and deadly virus to humans that has caused periodic disease outbreaks in Africa. Resveratrol had the same effect with monkeypox, which means that it has a good chance of inhibiting all poxviruses, Cao said.

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I remember the following study of Resveratrol’s effects on SARS-CoV-2:

Resveratrol shows potential as SARS-CoV-2 antiviral, study finds

To determine which phase of the viral life cycle resveratrol exerts its effects, they conducted two sets of experiments. In one set, they treated the cells with resveratrol before infection; and in another set, resveratrol was administered to SARS-CoV-2 infected cells. Interestingly, the findings revealed that resveratrol, when applied before infection, was capable of inhibiting the viral replication only by 20%; whereas, post-treatment with resveratrol caused a 98% reduction in viral replication. These findings suggest that resveratrol is more efficacious in the presence of the virus.

To further investigate the mode of action of resveratrol, they incubated the cells with both SARS-CoV-2 and resveratrol at the same time and observed that resveratrol could inhibit viral replication by 64%. These findings suggest that resveratrol may be capable of preventing viral entry into the cells.

Resveratrol Side Effects and Health Hazards <~~can affect how blood pressure, anti-coagulant, and anti-platelet medications work. It can also increase the risk of bleeding during and after surgery.

Resveratrol – Uses, Side Effects, And More <~~can interact with some medications and other supplements.

Biden administration weighs declaring monkeypox a health emergency + Break Out the Condoms to Fight Monkeypox

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Biden administration weighs declaring monkeypox a health emergency

Related:

Doctors treating monkeypox complain of ‘daunting’ paperwork, obstacles

D.C. shifts monkeypox vaccine policy to focus on first dose

Break Out the Condoms to Fight Monkeypox (archived if you can read behind the advertisements)*

But we should also remember that we have never vaccinated our way out of any pandemic. In the West, measles, scarlet fever, and other childhood diseases stopped killing kids decades before vaccines—our preferred tool of mass salvation—arrived in the late 1950s. Smallpox was similarly largely controlled by the turn of the 20th century through public health measures.

We need to stop subordinating people to the virus. A single approach of surveillance, isolation, contact tracing, and vaccination worked very well for smallpox, which relied exclusively on a human host, could be diagnosed at 10 paces, and was prevented with a single vaccination. But even that approach relied not only on tests and vaccines but also, most of all, on trust—to be tested and vaccinated. Candor is a prerequisite for trust.

*Just a little deception behind the headline. Still touting vaccines (Jynneos), as a solution, though! Just use condoms, for prevention, and prescribe antivirals (TPOXX), for treatment, if needed!

“Immense Frustration”: Monkeypox Spreads Amid Slow U.S. Response, Few Vaccines; WHO Declares Emergency

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

“Immense Frustration”: Monkeypox Spreads Amid Slow U.S. Response, Few Vaccines; WHO Declares Emergency

But we also know — look, COVID is — you know, a lot of us, by now, have done COVID isolation, 10 days, even five days. It is incredibly difficult. It is costly. Sometimes you miss out on work. Sometimes you have to get a hotel to isolate in. It is really difficult to do. Here we have an isolation with monkeypox that is two to six weeks. That is incredibly disruptive for people’s lives. We’ve been having to crowdfund to get people the money that they need to take time off work. We need emergency funds and hotel rooms so people can properly isolate to prevent the spread. And none of that, none of those funds and resources have been coming from any level of government.

Two to six weeks! 😳

The CDC is sending monkeypox vaccines to people at high risk in a race to prevent the spread

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The CDC is sending monkeypox vaccines to people at high risk in a race to prevent the spread

The Biden administration has distributed 1,200 monkeypox vaccine doses for people who have had high-risk exposures to the virus, part of a nationwide public health response to stamp out the disease before it causes a major outbreak.

U.S. health officials, worried the virus is spreading faster than previously thought, have said the global outbreak of monkeypox is the largest ever. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that there are now more than 550 cases across 30 countries. In the U.S., at least 20 confirmed or suspected cases have been reported in 11 states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Utah and Washington state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Last week, CDC official Dr. Jennifer McQuiston said the U.S. has 1,000 doses of Jynneos available. However, the Danish biotech company that makes the shots, Bavarian Nordic, said the U.S. actually has a supply of more than 1 million Jynneos frozen doses stored in the U.S. and Denmark under an order placed in April 2020. The shots have a shelf life of three years.

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The U.S. government also has a stockpile of more than 100 million doses of ACAM2000, made by Emergent BioSolutions, McQuiston told reporters last week. The U.S. had released 500 doses of Jynneos and 200 doses of ACAM2000 as of Tuesday, according to the CDC. The U.S. has also sent out 100 courses of the oral antiviral tecovirimat to the states, health officials said Friday.

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The CDC has said women who are pregnant or breast feeding, people with weak immune systems, those with skin conditions such as eczema or atopic dermatitis, and people with heart disease should not receive ACAM2000. In pregnant women, the virus can spread to the fetus and cause stillbirth. People with weak immune systems face a risk that the virus will grow uncontrollably and cause a dangerous infection, Slifka said. People with skin conditions such as eczema or atopic dermatitis are also at risk of the virus spreading on their skin which can turn into a life-threatening infection, he said.

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Lewis said the WHO is not recommending mass vaccination against monkeypox because the current outbreak can still be contained. Most of the cases so far have been reported among men who have sex with men, developed symptoms and sought care at sexual health clinics, according to the WHO. Lewis said it is important to provide gay and bisexual men with the information they need to protect themselves from the virus and prevent it from spreading.

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Monkeypox typically starts with symptoms similar to the flu including fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. Lesions then form on the body, and the virus spreads primarily through skin-to-skin contact with these lesions. Monkeypox can spread through respiratory droplets [not again!] if a person has lesions in their throat or mouth, but it does not transmit easily this way.

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