Nancy Lapid

(Reuters) – The following summarizes recent research on COVID-19. These include additional research to confirm the findings, and which has not yet been certified by peer review.

The long COVID risks are not lessened after a breakthrough infected

The COVID-19 vaccines protect against serious illnesses, but do not prevent “long COVID,” which can be caused by people infected after they have been vaccinated. New data has shown that COVID-19 vaccinations work well. Over six months researchers followed 9,479 COVID-19-positive individuals who had been vaccinated and nearly the same number infected people without vaccinations. Maxime Taquet, University of Oxford, stated that people who had “breakthrough infections” were at a lower risk of developing severe COVID-19 complications than those without vaccinations. He said they could be required to stay in an ICU, require breathing aid, or develop a blood clot or in their legs. His team posted a paper on medRxiv that was up for peer review. It stated that other complications, such as the long-term COVID syndrome, were occurring at the same rate regardless of whether or not they had been vaccinated. Taquet pointed out that vaccines did not protect against COVID-19 complications in people older than 60 who had breakthrough infections. Taquet noted that vaccinations “are still an excellent method to prevent any complication from COVID-19 (including long CoVID), since they prevent infection.” These findings do show, however that people who are infected even if they have been vaccinated need to be aware of possible complications.

European patients suffering from cancer are now more likely to survive COVID-19.

Research has shown that European pandemic victims of COVID-19 have a higher chance of surviving than those who were diagnosed with the disease earlier. The researchers looked at the deaths rates of over 2,600 people with coronavirus infections who were treated in six different countries from February 2020 to February 2021. Dr. David James Pinato from Imperial College London stated that initial studies had shown a death rate of between 30% and 40 %… for patients suffering from cancer. Our study shows that mortality rates have decreased over time, even prior to vaccines being implemented. It fell as low as 12.5% in the second wave of European pandemics. The team of JAMA Oncology reported that earlier pandemic victims with cancer had more COVID-19 problems. Research suggests that better treatment options and earlier diagnosis of COVID-19 issues are responsible for the higher survival rates. Pinato stated that these factors are “key to improving the overall outcome.”

“Glimmer of Hope” when vaccines are limited by drugs

A class of drugs is known to decrease the antibody reaction of the mRNA COVID-19 shots from Pfizer/BioNTech. Moderna A small study in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests that NASDAQ may provide some protection to another area of the immune systems. Anti-CD20 drugs, which are used in the treatment of rheumatoid and some other diseases, like rituximab (roche’s Rituxan), can suppress the immune system. The study leader stated that the findings provide “a glimpse into hope” that some patients might be protected by mRNA vaccinations. They compared 37 people who had taken these drugs to treat multiple sclerosis and rheumatic disease, as well as 22 patients with normal immune systems. About 70% of the patients had antibodies to the mRNA vaccinations. The levels were much lower than the levels found in healthy volunteers. The immune cells known as T cells, that can recognize and attack coronavirus were present in both the patients and healthy volunteers. Researchers wrote that “our study indicates that patients receiving anti-CD20 treatment can mount strong T-cell reactions to mRNACOVID-19 vaccines,” even though they have impaired antibody responses. Dr. Christiane Emberhardt from the University of Geneva said that the small study did not provide enough information to conclude whether patients are protected against severe COVID-19. They must be “vigilant and protected against infection.”

Graphic: Vaccines in development: https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/VACCINE-TRACKER/xegpbqnlovq/