Covid-19 Subvariant JN.1 Being Monitored

[webfact]

 

BANGKOK, Jan 5 (TNA) – Thailand is monitoring the new Covid-19 subvariant JN.1, which can better evade immunity, but the symptoms are not different from the previous subvariants.

Emeritus Professor Wasan Jantarathit, Head of the Center for Medical Genomics, Ramathibodi Hospital revealed the spread of the Covid-19 JN.1 variant, with cases reported in several countries including Europe, Singapore, and the United States, with a potential trend in Thailand as well.

 

The Covid-19 variant JN.1 continues to develop from the Omicron subvariant BA.2.86, with changes observed in the spike protein at one position, making it better at evading immunity compared to the previous strain. However, the symptoms are not different from the Omicron variant.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the JN.1 variant as a Variant of Interest (VOI), meaning it is of interest but not a cause for significant concern compared to the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants. Initially, three cases of JN.1 variant infection have been identified in Thailand.

 

Full story: TNA-MCOT 2024-01-05

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[eyeman]

Nothing burger incoming...

[bobbin]

I've had Covid twice in the last three months... This after managing to avoid it since the initial outbreak. I had the AZ vaccine and a Moderna M/rna shot in 2022..

The first time Covid wasn't even on my radar. I thought I had gotten my first cold in years.. Minor inconvenience with the usual sore throat, runny nose etc. After 10 days I had recovered but a distinct lack of energy for 2 more weeks. Kept me from going back to the gym. I was back exercising for 5 weeks when I felt the same symptoms coming on. This time I suspected Covid, as in my lifetime I have never suffered a cold with the same symptoms twice in a very short period of time.

 

I bought a test=kit and tested positive for Covid. The first 5 days were similar to the time before. However, I then developed pain in my abdominal muscles. Not insignificant pain. I like to smoke cannabis but it often makes me cough a bit, and with the belly pain it got quite humorous. Inhale, cough, pain. Repeat. That lasted more than a week and I was very happy to see the end of it.. I bought another test-kit and happily tested negative. I'm guessing it was the new variant because of the rapid reinfection and it's reported ability to to avoid the immune system... like what happened to my antibodies? Similar lack of energy after recovery.

 

I will be getting the vaccine next year.

[Gottfrid]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand is monitoring the new Covid-19 subvariant JN.1, which can better evade immunity

Nope, that is not possible. If the virus can do such thing, then there is no immunity.

[freeworld]

My wife and her niece and nephew caught covid again a few weeks ago. They are now over it and it did not affect them too much. I took precautions wearing a mask and it saved me from catching it. Have been illness free for 4 years now thanks to the mask.

[dinsdale]

Omicron continues to evolve. We should be thankful for that. Right now I have a dreadful cold like virus. More than likely it's a common cold virus. Had it about a month or more ago and it's back. I've had covid and this is about the same just lasting longer. 

[dinsdale]

4 minutes ago, freeworld said:

My wife and her niece and nephew caught covid again a few weeks ago. They are now over it and it did not affect them too much. I took precautions wearing a mask and it saved me from catching it. Have been illness free for 4 years now thanks to the mask.

How do you know it's the mask? Maybe you've had covid and didn't know it and your immune system has protected you not the mask. Maybe you just have a strong immune system.

[freeworld]

12 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

How do you know it's the mask? Maybe you've had covid and didn't know it and your immune system has protected you not the mask. Maybe you just have a strong immune system.

Because I tested myself a few times, but I must admit my immune system is powerful and the mask doubles that to deter covid.

[Bobthegimp]

20 minutes ago, freeworld said:

I took precautions wearing a mask and it saved me from catching it.

 

I use my Buddha amulet that I bought from a monk on Khao San Road during a night of heavy drinking and shagging.  It only cost 5000 baht and I, too, have been free from illness for many years. 

[ukrules]

I went out for beers on New Years eve and developed a 'cold' on Jan 3, it's still going now but not too bad.

 

It is however nothing like the one I had back in July which was considerably worse.

 

[johng]

3 hours ago, bobbin said:

I've had Covid twice in the last three months... This after managing to avoid it since the initial outbreak. I had the AZ vaccine and a Moderna M/rna shot in 2022..

 

 

I will be getting the vaccine next year.

 

So you got 2 shots and still caught the dreaded lurgy  but will get more shots so you don't catch it again right ?

[sungod]

40 minutes ago, Bobthegimp said:

 

I use my Buddha amulet that I bought from a monk on Khao San Road during a night of heavy drinking and shagging.  It only cost 5000 baht and I, too, have been free from illness for many years. 

 

Looks like you have been wearing a mask for some time Bob, does it get a bit stuffy in there?

[MicroB]

2 hours ago, johng said:

 

So you got 2 shots and still caught the dreaded lurgy  but will get more shots so you don't catch it again right ?

 

The currently fielded vaccines reduce the disease impact. This is common for most vaccines; it can take 10 iterations over many years before a vaccine is "sterilising" (ie stopping onward transmission). Most vaccines don't do this.

 

Take the measles vaccine; it stops the measles disease (rash, illness, death), but the virus is still circulating in children, only they are no longer  presenting with the disease.

 

The ongoing issue is disease definition. COVID-19 is a complex and still poorly understood disease. At the moment, definition of a COVID-19 case includes PCR, but we don't use PCR to determine whether a child has the Measles or not. Typically a physician will recognise the rash type, and that is enough. If he started including a PCR test, people might conclude the vaccine is ineffective (because they basically don't understand vaccines).

 

As indicated, many people may have been infected with the Sars-Cov-2 virus but have not developed COVID.

 

In the same way, not everyone who is HIV-positive has AIDS.

[johng]

12 minutes ago, MicroB said:

At the moment, definition of a COVID-19 case includes PCR, but we don't use PCR to determine whether a child has the Measles or not. Typically a physician will recognise the rash type, and that is enough. If he started including a PCR test, people might conclude the vaccine is ineffective

 

So why not use PCR to test for the multitude of other things ?  isn't it enough to say you got a cold/flu if you have a sore throat,headache and runny nose..why only PCR for COVID ?

I think you answered the question yourself 

"If he started including a PCR test, people might conclude the vaccine is ineffective"

[Bobthegimp]

9 minutes ago, MicroB said:

 

The currently fielded vaccines reduce the disease impact. This is common for most vaccines; it can take 10 iterations over many years before a vaccine is "sterilising" (ie stopping onward transmission). Most vaccines don't do this.

 

Take the measles vaccine; it stops the measles disease (rash, illness, death), but the virus is still circulating in children, only they are no longer  presenting with the disease.

 

The ongoing issue is disease definition. COVID-19 is a complex and still poorly understood disease. At the moment, definition of a COVID-19 case includes PCR, but we don't use PCR to determine whether a child has the Measles or not. Typically a physician will recognise the rash type, and that is enough. If he started including a PCR test, people might conclude the vaccine is ineffective (because they basically don't understand vaccines).

 

As indicated, many people may have been infected with the Sars-Cov-2 virus but have not developed COVID.

 

In the same way, not everyone who is HIV-positive has AIDS.

 

  How many boosters have you taken and when is your next one scheduled for?

 

  I ask because forums are full of assorted tripe yet the uptake of boosters is less than 3 percent, so there's a lot of "do as I say, not as I do" going on these days. 

 

Being uninjected myself, I'm all for very frequent boosters for the virtuous. As a matter of fact, the vaccinated should be forced to ride that train until the end of the line, their children and infants first, as we all know the peril they face from covid.  

 

Remember that without a booster in the last 3 months you're filth in the eyes of the lord; no better than the dirty refusniks who killed untold millions of grandmothers the world over, as if they wielded the ligature with their own unclean hands. 

 

TLDR:  every fool knows that you can't make vaccines for corona viruses because they mutate too quickly. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Bobthegimp said:

TLDR:  every fool knows that you can't make vaccines for corona viruses because they mutate too quickly. 

 

And yet 3 years and worldwide more than 13+ billion COVID vaccine doses administered later, the medical and scientific communities seem to have managed pretty successfully, especially for reducing the impacts of a respiratory virus:

 

"70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

 

13.53 billion doses have been administered globally"

 

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

 

AND

 

Per the U.S. FDA as of March 2023:

 

"The most recent estimate is that those who are up to date on their vaccination status have a 9.8 fold lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who are unvaccinated and 2.4 fold lower risk of dying from Covid-19 than those who were vaccinated but had not received the updated, bivalent vaccine."

 

https://www.fda.gov/media/166159/download

 

[johng]

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

"70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

 

13.53 billion doses have been administered globally"

 

Can you shed any light on the unprecedented worldwide excess mortality over the last couple of years ?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 minutes ago, johng said:

 

Can you shed any light on the unprecedented worldwide excess mortality over the last couple of years ?

 

COVID, and its various impacts, led to a lot of excess mortality over the past couple of years, even as the pandemic began to subside:

 

What can explain the excess mortality in the U.S. and Europe in 2022?

"First, the virus SARS-CoV-2 is still circulating and epidemiological data show that COVID-19 deaths still represent a significant part of the excess mortality.

 

Second, the exceptional heat waves in July and August 2022 are likely to have increased the risk of death, as excess heat can lead to death directly or indirectly.

 

Third, the healthcare systems of many countries are still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many hospitals remain underfunded, underequipped, and understaffed, leading to suboptimal care for patients.

 

But one thing we do know isn’t contributing to excess mortality is COVID-19 vaccines, contrary to claims by some."

 

https://healthfeedback.org/what-can-explain-the-excess-mortality-in-the-u-s-and-europe-in-2022/#Vaccines

 

 

[johng]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

But one thing we do know isn’t contributing to excess mortality is COVID-19 vaccines, contrary to claims by some."

They don't know what's causing it  but for sure for sure it's not the injections !!!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 minutes ago, johng said:

They don't know what's causing it  but for sure for sure it's not the injections !!!

 

They know vaccinations were NOT the cause because:

 

"In both countries [the U.S. and U.K.], excess mortality spiked at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the U.S., excess mortality reached a plateau towards the end of 2021. In addition, the increase in vaccination coverage wasn’t accompanied by any further increase in excess mortality."

 

AND

 

"Furthermore, excess mortality has generally been trending downward since mid-2020 and the vaccination campaign wasn’t associated with a reversal of that trend. If COVID-19 vaccines had caused an increased risk of death, we would have seen the opposite instead."

 

https://healthfeedback.org/what-can-explain-the-excess-mortality-in-the-u-s-and-europe-in-2022/#Vaccines

 

[Yellowtail]

I picked up covid (I think) on the 24th, was pretty sick on the 26th and it's gone not. Wife had it too and the kid has it now, but no one got very sick.

 

[Yellowtail]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

They know vaccinations were NOT the cause because:

 

"In both countries [the U.S. and U.K.], excess mortality spiked at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the U.S., excess mortality reached a plateau towards the end of 2021. In addition, the increase in vaccination coverage wasn’t accompanied by any further increase in excess mortality."

 

AND

 

"Furthermore, excess mortality has generally been trending downward since mid-2020 and the vaccination campaign wasn’t associated with a reversal of that trend. If COVID-19 vaccines had caused an increased risk of death, we would have seen the opposite instead."

 

https://healthfeedback.org/what-can-explain-the-excess-mortality-in-the-u-s-and-europe-in-2022/#Vaccines

 

Yeah, Trump errrr I mean Biden did a great job getting the vaccines out as quick as he did.  

[MicroB]

1 hour ago, johng said:

 

So why not use PCR to test for the multitude of other things ?  isn't it enough to say you got a cold/flu if you have a sore throat,headache and runny nose..why only PCR for COVID ?

I think you answered the question yourself 

"If he started including a PCR test, people might conclude the vaccine is ineffective"

 

Because in January 2020, that was the only diagnostic tool available in the cabinet for an EID with unknown etiology. By April 2020, IgG LFDs were coming out; these worked on the premise of detecting the Immune response, but proved to be unreliable. By September 2020, reliable Antigen LFDs were available, and these were good enough for the purposes of home testing and then triaging.

 

PCR is an excellent confirmatory test. Not so good as a presumptive test. Its still fairly expensive.

 

Prior to January 2020, most Path Labs did not carry out PCR; this kind of confirmatory testing was really only carried out by Reference Laboratories, and there aren't many of them. Prior to January 2020, PCR was a tricky technique to carry out. You needed a clean seperate lab suite away from the other benches, and typically only one trained member of staff who could perform it. You find the same with FISH testing for breast cancer; most labs cannot do that, because of the expensive equipment needed, the training needed and the relative low volume of testing.

 

10 years ago, I covered Ebola testing in West Africa. The level of diagnostics available then was shocking. The available PCR tests were Mil Spec only, with secretive protocols. Only the US military put their tests through approval, because it turned out there were a few US passport holders in Liberia. Byt December that year, the WHO was estimating 10,000 new cases a week. For that, you needed to conduct about 30,000 tests a week. Adding up the capacity of the US military in Liberia, German and French capacity in Guinea (plus a bit of Russian miitary), British, South African and Chinese militaries in Sierra Leone, the entire region only had capacity for 8000 tests a week. Ebola infection, until you enter organ failure and hemolysis (blood pouring from the orifices) looks like flu. The US military, operating from an abandoned biotech institute, could manage 100 tests a day, mainly because all the reagents needed refrigeration. The lack of a road network meant diesel had to be airlifted in, and they only had enough diesel for a small number of freezers.

 

One of the positives that came out of that pandemic was the development of freeze dried PCR reagents.

 

One of the legacies of the COVID pandemic is a global network of molecular testing labs; liquid handling to do testing at serious scale, all countries now having trained personnel, developments in the technique allowing capabilities to be used through the virology/bacteriology sections. Its also allowed the expansion of cancer diagnostics. Its allowed PCR to be looked at for POC testing (moving PCR out of the lab and into the GP's office). Further, its kickstarted the next generation of diagnostics, such as paper-based CRISPR testing, making a highly accurate genetic test be as easy as performing the LFD the whole world was doing at home. Thats a game changer in the developing world, where infectious disease is still the biggest killer.

 

Prior to COVID, there were panel tests for respiratory tests in development, largely because of MERS. MERS appeared in 2012; 8 years on, they were still struggling, mainly because of financing, getting commercial tests out.

 

Spanish flu lead to the development and understanding of PPE. The 40 year Polio Pandemic gave us Intensive Care Medicine, Clinical Trials and the FDA  (polio vaccine was launched without clinical trials, one manufacturer made a mistake in making formaldehyde, and sent out 200,000 live doses of polio virus. That mistake was the reason the FDA was created, to make sure manufacturers knew how to translate and scale up lab scale experiments. WW2 flu vaccine development in Australia (they were afraid of another 1918) lead to the creation of modern laboratory science. By the 1957 Flu Pandemic, for the first time, scientists were able to work out what strain was causing it. By 1968, as a result of that, vaccines for HK flu were being rolled out as the first victims were identified in Hong Kong.

 

One other thing; COVID-19 has caused the cost of PCR to fall rapidly. So yes, you will see PCR being used a lot more to identify panels of respiratory disease. But you don't understand what confirmatory testing and presumptive testing is, so you will never understand why PCR is part of a process that starts with syndromic surveillance, antigen detection then infectious agent identification. You also won't understand the purposes behind any testing. Testing or diagnosis, is only carried out if it means a material benefit to the patient, based on symptoms.

So, doctor, I have a sore back. Doctor; I believe you, take some painkillers, get rest.

 

Doctor, I have had a sore back for 2 weeks, and am running a fever. Doctor; my god, I need to get you in for emergency spinal decompression. With luc, we can preserve bowel function (symptons indicate spinal cord infarction, because of  build up of pus against the spinal cord, cutting off blood supply. Paraplegia can occur within 48 hours. Administration of morphine hastens the damage, as it suppresses the immune response

 

Doctor; I have a cold. I demand  antiobiotics. Doctor; go home, you have a viral infection.

 

Doctor; I have a cold. I demand antiobiotics. Doctor; I can now perform a PCT blood test in my office, indicating if you have a bacterial infection or not. Its negative, ergo you have a viral infection. Now get out, and don't cough on anyone

 

Doctor; I am fit and healthy, and have a positive COVID LFD. Doctor: go home.

 

Doctor; I have a history of heart disease, brought on by childhood poverty, and have a positive COVID LFD. Doctor: Because of your history, and some other biomarker tests I can perform, I am going to admit you as an emergency patient to hospital. There they will perform confirmatory PCR in A&E. But wen also know, for unknown reasons, 30% of admitted cases test negative on that initial admission. So they will also  perform a CT scan, to look for the distinctive "broken glass" like features that we know now are diagnostic for COVID-19. We also know that because of the spike protein,  found in the causative virus, SARS-Cov_2, it interferes with the Angiotensin system, which we already know plays a role in regulating blood pressure, but we also suspect it has other roles, such as in male development.

 

PCR is £200 a pop. Its not performed for all cases, as its not needed to be performed for all cases. Its carried out if it means a material change to how the patient is treated.

 

In lab testing, the rule of thumb is for a particular test, 60% of results should be negative. If its more than that, then you start to query whether the test is detecting all cases. If its less, then you start to wonder if the test is needed, as clearly everyone referred has already been successfully diagnosed.

 

Lastly, a case to ponder diagnostic testing. Around about 2014, a British soldier, on leave, took his family to Florida for a typical holiday. He had been in the army a fair while, was in good physical shape. He had completed multiple tours, mostly Iraq, and had been part of the invasion. Like others, prior to that, he was fully immunized against the secret list.

 

On the flight home, he became ill. When he landed in London, he was whisked off to St Barts in a bad way. He was crashing. In A&E, raised WBCs indicated a systemic infection. The attending physician ordered broad range antibiotics, IV, and they supported him. During the first 24 hours, he responded, and was recovering. During this time, bloods were taken for testing for the causative agent. All the usual panel tests, which are a mix of molecular, biochemical and good old fashioned plates, came back negative. Samples were sent away to Public Health's lab, first at Colindale, then Porton Down (a different establishment from the MOD place). Extensive testing was carried out. There was no sign of live agent. Porton Down did carry out toxin testing, and found the tell tale signature of Bacillus anthracis. The soldier by now was well on his way to recovery, so this finding made no material difference to his treatment.

 

In Florida, he had contracted inhalational anthrax infection. Usually, anthrax causes a skin infection, and is minor. Its often found in farmyards. Inhalational is another matter, which is why its favoured for military purposes.

 

Diagnostic testing isn't carried out for everyone. It might not be needed. It might serve no purpose if an illness is developing more quickly than the lab can respon. And that lack of a lab diagnosis doesn't mean the doctors sit around helpless doing nothing.

 

In China, in those early days, that what the doctors did; nothing, besides hooking a patient up to a ventilator, and hoping for the best. In  Europe, different medical training meant the doctors continued to treat patients even though they weren't sure what was the cause. They addressed the symptoms, applied logic. This lead to a much higher standard of care.

 

People who have an infantile understanding of how vaccines work or are measured remain idiots, and should learn to accept that some people are just cleverer than them.

[MicroB]

2 hours ago, Bobthegimp said:

 

  How many boosters have you taken and when is your next one scheduled for?

 

......

 

TLDR:  every fool knows that you can't make vaccines for corona viruses because they mutate too quickly. 

 

4. No more are scheduled for my age group.

 

And actually, you can. A coronavirus can only mutate so much before it ceases to be a coronavirus.

 

What is your background in viruses to become an expert on vaccine development?

 

[Bobthegimp]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

And yet 3 years and worldwide more than 13+ billion COVID vaccine doses administered later, the medical and scientific communities seem to have managed pretty successfully, especially for reducing the impacts of a respiratory virus:

 

"70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

 

13.53 billion doses have been administered globally"

 

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

 

AND

 

Per the U.S. FDA as of March 2023:

 

"The most recent estimate is that those who are up to date on their vaccination status have a 9.8 fold lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who are unvaccinated and 2.4 fold lower risk of dying from Covid-19 than those who were vaccinated but had not received the updated, bivalent vaccine."

 

https://www.fda.gov/media/166159/download

 

 

When was your last booster? 

[Bobthegimp]

5 minutes ago, MicroB said:

No more are scheduled for my age group

 

A non answer, which answers my question clearly. No booster in the last 3 months = unvaccinated filth. 

[johng]

19 minutes ago, MicroB said:

People who have an infantile understanding of how vaccines work or are measured remain idiots, and should learn to accept that some people are just cleverer than them.

Wow that's quite a lecture, suppose I should be honoured to be in such an omnipotent presence.

Can you please tell me the Infection fatality rate of SARS-CoV-2.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

COVID vaccinations began basically in early 2021, a year into the pandemic.

14.9 million excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021

https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2022-14.9-million-excess-deaths-were-associated-with-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-2020-and-2021

 

AND

 

Excess deaths decreased in second pandemic year, likely tied to vaccination

May 25, 2023

 

"A new analysis of US national data reveals that excess deaths declined from 655,735 during the first pandemic year to 586,505 in the second. The study is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology."

...

Those over the age of 65 also saw a dramatic reduction in excess deaths in year 2.

"The decline in excess deaths for seniors was almost certainly related to their rapid uptake of vaccinations," Ruhm wrote. "With particularly sharp fatality reductions among nursing home residents when vaccines became available."

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/excess-deaths-decreased-second-pandemic-year-likely-tied-vaccination

 

AND

 

"For the study, published as a today in Science Advances, researchers used a model trained on data from 2015 to 2019 to estimate US all-cause excess deaths from March 2020 through February 2022 among 3,127 counties by month.

...

An estimated 634,830 more people than expected died in the United States in the first year of the pandemic, and 544,194 died in the second year."

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/nearly-12-million-excess-deaths-may-have-occurred-first-2-years-covid-pandemic

 

The first year being mostly the pre-COVID vaccines period, and the second year being during the rollout and widespread administration of COVID vaccines.

 

[soi3eddie]

It's a cold or flu now. Some die of the flu. Most do not. How many more jabs? Not for me thanks. Had enough already. Even after 3 jabs I got covid 4 times and nothing worse than a mild flu (although 1st time it lingered for a while). 1st time was just 2 months after the 3rd jab. I'll take my chances in the future thanks and stop trying to scare us all into constant vaccinations - my mother had her 7th covid jab recently at 85years and she still got covid at least twice. If anyone wants to be scared into isolation or take the jabs forever more then fine. You don't hear about Covid here in the UK now.

 

[sungod]

11 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Excess deaths decreased in second pandemic year, likely tied to vaccination

 

Don't you just love that very scientific word 'likely'