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Ask HN: How to get Bill Gates's attention?

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Re: Ask HN: How to get Bill Gates's attention?

#31

Post by danieltillett »

buboard wrote: post #28
danieltillett wrote: post #2

If anyone wants to know what this possible solution is I have written it up here in non-technical language [0]. 0. https://www.tillett.info/2020/04/05/a-solution-to-covid-19/ Edit. HN seems to have put me on the “posting too fast” treadmill so I will have to edit this post. While effectively the same as a vaccine, it is quite different. Any such attenuated strain identified can be used outside of the regulatory syste…

> test asymptomatic people for COVID-19 and then genome sequence the SARS-CoV-2 strain that has infected them with the aim of identifying a virus with mutation(s) in an essential viral gene(s) But without these essential genes the virus would not multiply / infect people anyway, right? Also, how is it different from inactivated vaccines that are currently being developed ? Also, why cant someone engineer such a virus…

1. You are looking for partial deletions of essential genes, not full. Many of these deletions are going to weaken the virus, but not cause the virus to not be able to replicate.

2. An inactivated vaccine will have to be given again and again. A live attenuated vaccine can drive the dangerous strains to extinction. Also attenuated vaccines protect those not vaccinated.

3. In theory you could engineer a virus with deletions, but nobody knows what deletions will work. By using natural deletions you know are mild you get around this problem. It also solves the regulatory issue as you are not going to be able to quickly test a lab made strain.

Re: Ask HN: How to get Bill Gates's attention?

#32

Post by danieltillett »

randomfoo931 wrote: post #30
danieltillett wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the post for those who don’t want to follow the link. Like nearly everyone on the planet I am worried about COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) appears to be killing between 1% to 3.5% of the people it infects and has a R0 (i.e. how many new people each person infected goes onto infect) of between 2.5 to 3.9. Left to run wild, the virus will likely kill tens of millions of people worldwide.…

I'm no expert in this field, hence my dumb question: lets assume we find such an attenuated strain and "infect" people with it such that they could all build the anti-bodies for it. Couldn't the dangerous strain still mutate itself over time in a way where the anti-bodies for the attenuated strain wouldn't help anymore or is this rather considered unlikley (since the virus then would have to become fundamentally diff…

There are no dumb questions with this problem. What I think you are asking is if the dangerous strains could mutate enough that an immune response to the selected attenuated strain no longer work. The answer is yes this could happen, but if it does we just repeat the process of finding a new attenuated strain.

Re: Ask HN: How to get Bill Gates's attention?

#33

Post by danieltillett »

loftyal wrote: post #24
danieltillett wrote: post #2

If anyone wants to know what this possible solution is I have written it up here in non-technical language [0]. 0. https://www.tillett.info/2020/04/05/a-solution-to-covid-19/ Edit. HN seems to have put me on the “posting too fast” treadmill so I will have to edit this post. While effectively the same as a vaccine, it is quite different. Any such attenuated strain identified can be used outside of the regulatory syste…

A decent percentage of people are also asymptomatic with most influenza strains. You probably know friends/acquaintance who says they never get the flu in winter, even though it's highly likely they have gotten the virus before, it's just their inflammation response for whatever reason (likely genetic variation) doesn't produce symptoms. Source: https://www.nhs.uk/news/medical-practice/three-quarters-of-p...

Yes this is true, but it has nothing to do with finding an attenuated strain. I addressed this in my post and yes many people who have a mild symptoms are infected with a dangerous strain, but an attenuated strain will only cause mild symptoms. If you want to find an attenuated strain you have to look in people with mild symptoms.

Re: Ask HN: How to get Bill Gates's attention?

#34

Post by m33k44 »

I read somewhere that Bill Gates is very active on social media e.g. Reddit and Twitter. Here is one of the AMAs he did on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5whpqs/im_bill_gates_...

A recent AMA related to covid-19. There are references to his team and adviser: https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fksnbf/im_bill...

His Reddit handle is: https://www.reddit.com/user/thisisbillgates His Twitter handle is: https://twitter.com/BillGates His blog is: http://www.gatesletter.com

If you search, you will also easily find his email address online. He has multiple email addresses as per online searches.

HTH

Re: Ask HN: How to get Bill Gates's attention?

#35

Post by buboard »

_Microft wrote: post #22
danieltillett wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The post is pretty much just a summary, but I will post it here too. Edit. HN is not letting me reply to people with questions (shaking small fist). If would like me to answer anything then post a question on my blog.

It will in a while. There is a delay (dead time) until a reply link appears which increases the deeper a comment is in a thread. This is to prevent particularily heated discussions where people just fire responses without thinking too much.

HN has a rate limiter for some posters (like me) that will not allow you to post at all after a certain number of posts/day

Re: Ask HN: How to get Bill Gates's attention?

#39

Post by ballenf »

danieltillett wrote: post #2

If anyone wants to know what this possible solution is I have written it up here in non-technical language [0]. 0. https://www.tillett.info/2020/04/05/a-solution-to-covid-19/ Edit. HN seems to have put me on the “posting too fast” treadmill so I will have to edit this post. While effectively the same as a vaccine, it is quite different. Any such attenuated strain identified can be used outside of the regulatory syste…

Why Bill Gates? Or why start with him?

Get a grant from anywhere reputable. You need to work your way up the ladder through a ton of hard work. I don't mean that's how the system should work, but each rung of the ladder will be a signal to the next rung that your idea is worth the opportunity cost of not considering a competing idea.

Waiting for Gates or another almost god-like figure can be an excuse to avoid hard work or the pain of failure. I don't think it matters that this is "in the public interest" instead of purely for personal gain.

If you're right about these strains being out there, I don't think you'd have to do a worldwide search. A local search in any metro area should be successful. Unless I misunderstand your proposal.

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