Re: CV and mad panic behaviour
Reply #163 –
I hope The Age don't mind me posting this story of theirs from Health Journalist Melissa Cunningham. A very important positive story amid the avalanche of bad news. Here it is:
Melbourne researchers have mapped the immune responses from one of Australia's coronavirus patients discovering for the first time how humans fight off the deadly virus, in the hope it could hold the secret to finding an effective vaccine.
By understanding how our bodies fight the deadly virus, researchers at Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection say their findings could also fast-track treatments for the disease.
Scientists are searching for a breakthrough in the development of a coronavirus vaccine. CREDIT:AAP
As part of a study, the scientists tested at four different points in time blood samples of a woman in her mid-40s who had recently returned to Melbourne from Wuhan, the epicentre of the global outbreak of coronavirus.
The woman, who tested positive to COVID-19, was suffering from lethargy, sore throat, dry cough and a high fever when she presented at a Melbourne hospital.
Doctors took four blood samples before and after her recovery and identified the antibodies recruited by the body to fight the illness.
Laboratory head Katherine Kedzierska said the scientists found the woman's immune system responded to coronavirus in the similar way humans fight off influenza.
This suggests an otherwise healthy person could be expected to fight off a mild to moderate case of coronavirus in about three days.
"We found that although COVID-19 is caused by a new virus, in a previously healthy patient robust immune responses can be elicited and associated with clinical recovery," she said.
"What we found was that three days after the patient was admitted, we saw large populations of several immune cells, which are often a telltale sign of recovery during seasonal influenza infection, so we predicted that the patient would recover in three days, which is exactly what happened."
The findings, published in Nature Medicine Journal on Tuesday, are the first time a broad immune responses to COVID-19 has been reported globally.
Professor Kedzierska was hopeful their findings would help in the race for an effective vaccine.
"This is an incredible step forward in understanding what drives recovery of COVID-19," she said. "People can use our methods to understand the immune responses in larger COVID-19 cohorts, and also understand what’s lacking in those who have fatal outcomes."
The Doherty Institute's infectious disease specialist Irani Thevarajan had been planning for years for a global infectious disease outbreak that could affect Australia.
Her team had already set up a broad range of biological sampling to be used to test returned travellers in the event of a new and unexpected infectious disease outbreak.
When she heard of a mysterious new type of pneumonia sweeping through China and killing people, she sprang to action.
"When COVID-19 emerged, we already had ethics and protocols in place so we could rapidly start looking at the virus and immune system in great detail," Dr Thevarajan said.
Dr Thevarajan said current estimates show more than 80 per cent of COVID-19 cases are mild-to-moderate, and understanding the immune response in these mild cases is very important research.
"We hope to now expand our work nationally and internationally to understand why some people die from COVID-19, and build further knowledge to assist in the rapid response of COVID-19 and future emerging viruses," she said.
Melissa Cunningham
Melissa Cunningham is The Age's health reporter.
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