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New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

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Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#201

Post by jjcon »

robbiep wrote: post #200
jjcon wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quit being so hostile, if you are not interested in discussion I would recommend not spending time on discussion boards. You first spoke as if it was an absolute certainty ("This is basic evolutionary theory") and now are saying, "all of the normal caveats apply" which is exactly what I was getting at in my OP thread. The "normal caveats"/edge cases are exactly what this whole discussion is about. Clearly we are spea…

I'm sorry you're interpreting my comments as hostility, but basically you're being a the sort of commenter that it isn't really worth engaging with. You're not interested in my answers, and you've accused me of using arguments from authority. From my perspective you seem intent on finding some loophole where i'm either lying to you or i'm incorrect. In a message board format, particularly with the number of outright…

> mean that it is impossible for an extremely highly conserved component of spike protein to jump to a new configuration, that at the same time escapes antibody response for the conserved region and maintains any degree of fitness in the wild.

See this is exactly the sort of quantification I was asking for from the beginning (albeit still somewhat vague). Others in the thread have already answered most of my questions (read the other threads if you like) but you just kept talking past them until now. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

> walk through the door and explore the field yourself. It's fascinating

That is precisely what I am trying to do here because I do find it fascinating as well. I have to be allowed to ask questions (even stupid ones) and I do those primarily in discussion forums like HN.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#202

Post by inopinatus »

jjcon wrote: post #199
inopinatus wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hair doesn't split that fine. If something kills a million people, it's bad.

Things really can be good and bad. Cars I think by most accounts are good (do you disagree?), but they do lead to the deaths of a million+ every year, that is bad. Junk foods like ice cream, pizza, soda etc. I think can be good but they also lead to the deaths of millions a year (albeit more indirectly). The world just isn't black and white. It is complex and there is nuance.

> I think can be good but they also lead to the deaths of millions a year

This discussion may as well end here, because I can have no meeting of minds with someone whose moral compass spins so freely as to wave away millions of human lives on frippery. The only other entity I've had a dialogue with willing to express a similar worldview was GPT-3. That AI was trained on a wide spectrum of human expression, so evidently someone out there agrees with such sentiment, but to me it's downright repugnant.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#203

Post by Auracle »

xupybd wrote: post #110
mellavora wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife used to be the same, got 3-5 colds/winter. Started wearing N95 masks with Covid and hasn't had a cold since. Basic hygiene really helps. Though you might have unavoidable exposure (workplace, commute, etc) which increases your risk.

Yeah it does. I made some changes when I got married. I think my problem is that I had my sinuses removed along with a tumor when I was a teenager. Now it seems I just need to see someone sick and I'll catch what they have. During the pandemic I started taking vitamin d. That really took the edge off of the flu. I suspect I'm a bit low on that.

For what it’s worth, Vitamin D actually subdues your immune system in a lot of ways (and helps in others). One of the theories as to why low Vitamin D levels are correlated to higher deaths from COVID is that Vitamin D helps your immune system from going into overdrive.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#204

Post by johnchristopher »

jjcon wrote: post #192
johnchristopher wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To be fair, you are stigmatizing someone for offering a correct observation (that the successive COVID variants have proven less debilitating and deadly) and for asking a question that must be on many people’s minds: can monoclonal antibody administration promote resistance analogous to bacterial antibiotic resistance? No, I am singling out another comment which spreads doubts and denial by hiding them among good f…

> by hiding them among good faith arguments It is literally in the HN rules that you are supposed to assume good faith, not concoct false attributions of intent and conspiracy. I did not intend to hide anything, I was earnestly asking a question (clearly shared by plenty others in this post). It should not upset you this much. I apologize for anything triggering to you that I said, that wasn't my intent. https://news…

> It should not upset you this much.

The question pertaining to the core of the submission does not upset me, nor do I find it in bad faith (that one I assume good faith since it's legitimate).

> Current Covid strains don’t seem all that bad, basically everyone I know has been infected now.

This, does. Because it has nothing to do with the submission but all with covid minmizing thrown in after a legitimate question.

> I apologize for anything triggering

and

> Assume good faith - its in the rules friend (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

This wording (emphasis mine) tells me all there is to know about why I shouldn't explain myself to you.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#205

Post by cas14655 »

johnchristopher wrote: post #204
jjcon wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> by hiding them among good faith arguments It is literally in the HN rules that you are supposed to assume good faith, not concoct false attributions of intent and conspiracy. I did not intend to hide anything, I was earnestly asking a question (clearly shared by plenty others in this post). It should not upset you this much. I apologize for anything triggering to you that I said, that wasn't my intent. https://news…

> It should not upset you this much. The question pertaining to the core of the submission does not upset me, nor do I find it in bad faith (that one I assume good faith since it's legitimate). > Current Covid strains don’t seem all that bad, basically everyone I know has been infected now. This, does. Because it has nothing to do with the submission but all with covid minmizing thrown in after a legitimate question.…

> This, does. Because it has nothing to do with the submission but all with covid minmizing thrown in after a legitimate question.

Question: how low does the IFR have to be so we can call a disease "not so bad" without "minimizing" it?

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#206

Post by cas14655 »

inopinatus wrote: post #95
jjcon wrote: post #7

Can anyone with more knowledge on this topic than me (I’m no expert) assuage my fears: by giving human populations such artificial resistances (non-live vaccines) we run the risk of selecting for viruses that are even harder for even our own immune systems to detect and destroy. Current Covid strains don’t seem all that bad, basically everyone I know has been infected now. Might we run the risk of making things worse…

> Current Covid strains don’t seem all that bad, basically everyone I know has been infected now The first observation is false, the second, very far from universal.

If conversations about COVID seem impossible it might be because a substantial portions of the population overestimates the danger from COVID by as much as 50x.

Source: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/354938/adults-estimat...

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#207

Post by cas14655 »

mellavora wrote: post #96
xupybd wrote: post #57

Can we please have this sort of research for the common cold and flu please. I hate flu season, I'm normally sick three of four times a winter. I get really sick at least once a year. I'd love to avoid that.

My wife used to be the same, got 3-5 colds/winter. Started wearing N95 masks with Covid and hasn't had a cold since. Basic hygiene really helps. Though you might have unavoidable exposure (workplace, commute, etc) which increases your risk.

People keep saying this so there is probably something to it. I mean, not even the most optimistic mask studies show a long-term complete protection from all pathogens that can cause colds but okay, let's take it at face value: your wife is protected from colds because she wears N95s.

What this means is that your wife's immune system isn't getting challenged and isn't learning about the ever changing pathogens around it. It's not building immunity to the various strains every winter and it therefore can't get any cross-immunity ie against SARS-COV-2 [1].

All we know about the immune system suggests this is not good in the long term.

If true and I kind of hope it's not for this reason, your wife might be setting herself up for a very serious disease down the line. I hope this is not the case and wish both of you the best of luck.

[1] https://www.mpg.de/17434954/0907-moge-prior-exposure-to-comm...

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#208

Post by jjcon »

johnchristopher wrote: post #204
jjcon wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> by hiding them among good faith arguments It is literally in the HN rules that you are supposed to assume good faith, not concoct false attributions of intent and conspiracy. I did not intend to hide anything, I was earnestly asking a question (clearly shared by plenty others in this post). It should not upset you this much. I apologize for anything triggering to you that I said, that wasn't my intent. https://news…

> It should not upset you this much. The question pertaining to the core of the submission does not upset me, nor do I find it in bad faith (that one I assume good faith since it's legitimate). > Current Covid strains don’t seem all that bad, basically everyone I know has been infected now. This, does. Because it has nothing to do with the submission but all with covid minmizing thrown in after a legitimate question.…

What exactly does that tell you? I called you friend and apologized if I upset you (which you have acknowledged I did by comparing current strains to the original and making the judgement call that the current strains in our current situation aren't so bad... again relatively). I'm genuinely not sure what is wrong with any of that, perhaps a language barrier thing, apologies again in any case.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#209

Post by johnchristopher »

cas14655 wrote: post #205
johnchristopher wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It should not upset you this much. The question pertaining to the core of the submission does not upset me, nor do I find it in bad faith (that one I assume good faith since it's legitimate). > Current Covid strains don’t seem all that bad, basically everyone I know has been infected now. This, does. Because it has nothing to do with the submission but all with covid minmizing thrown in after a legitimate question.…

> This, does. Because it has nothing to do with the submission but all with covid minmizing thrown in after a legitimate question. Question: how low does the IFR have to be so we can call a disease "not so bad" without "minimizing" it?

Question: how long does it take for that other famous disease to show the long term effects of t-cells exhaustion ?

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#210

Post by nikolay »

This can only help with the treatment of severe cases, which is not small success, but definitely not going to help get this pandemic over with! As far as I get it, you present the antigen and then it's up to your immune system to develop antibodies against it, and the antibodies from person A and from person B could B could be quite different, so, not sure, unless you get a shot of premade patented and expensive to produce antibodies, how this can help vaccine production.
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