The media and health agencies have conditioned the population that variants are dangerous. The discovery of the Delta and omicron variant has led governments to push for more vaccinations, whether first, second dose, booster, or further boosters.
They also use it as an excuse to vaccinate children who don’t need it.
The paper, Intra-host variation and evolutionary dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 populations in COVID-19 patients, was peer-reviewed and published in Genome Medicine. The work was collaborated by several scientists and institutions from China.
The study identified 32 consensus genomes of SARS CoV-2 within the same patient. Consensus genome is the order of either a nucleotide or amino acid that serves as a simplified representation of the viral population like the SARS-CoV-2. We can say that 32 SARS-CoV-2 variants can exist in a single COVID-19 patient.
How the mutations happen
The changes can arise from single nucleotide variations (SNV). For background, three nucleotides in an RNA translates into one amino acid. A single nucleotide substitution can change the amino acid produced.
For example, the table below shows the different nucleotide combinations for amino acids. If you look at the top left, the UUU or three uracils translate to the amino acid Phenylalanine or Phe. If Cytosine or C replaced the uracil in the middle, the amino acid becomes Serine or Ser (second box from the left on top.
Amino acid changes alter protein shapes and functions
A change in an amino acid can alter the shape of a protein. That’s because proteins naturally fold into themselves before it becomes functional.
Hormones, enzymes, and muscles are proteins made of the same 20 amino acids, but their amino acid sequences are different. The amino acid sequences dictate their folding and their ultimate structure and functions.
That is why if an amino acid is changed in the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2, it can change the properties of the whole virus. The more mutations, the more potential changes.
Effects of variations
Those changes can translate clinically in the human population in terms of transmissibility. Some variations can evade the immunity or attach to the ACE2 receptors more readily. Change in infectiousness can alter the course of the epidemic.
The variation can also change how the virus reacts to the immune system for the individual patient, and it can make it more or less lethal or virulent to a person. If an infectious virus escapes the immune system, it can cause severe illness and death.
Back to the study, the researchers found 30 single nucleotide variations in a single patient. That’s a lot. In two patients, they found ten single-nucleotide variations.
The respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts were the prominent locations of the variants. . The variants in the gastrointestinal tract accumulate more rapidly. They are more stable than the variants in the respiratory tract.
Viral Variations affect epidemic courses
As time goes on in the epidemic, natural selection allows the more transmissible variants (more infectious) to persist. The latest SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, the omicron, has 60 mutations, and those mutations enable omicron to spread faster. So far, the omicron variant has spread to 38 countries, but there have been zero deaths reported, according to the World Health Organization.
Fortunately, the variations that increase the lethality do not spread. That’s because people with more deadly variants are more symptomatic, and people stay away from them. They also go to the hospitals, get isolated and treated, or die.
That is why viral pandemics always end even before vaccines.
What does the presence of intra-host variants mean to the real world?
Earlier in the article, I mentioned that infectiousness and lethality could be affected. Going into more detail, let us say a COVID-19 patient has ten variants inside their system. That patient’s immune system will have to make the appropriate immune response towards all those variants.
The immune response will be in the form of antibodies, B cells, T cells, and memory B cells towards all the variants. The immune response will also be stored in the immune system memory. If the person reencounters the same variant, the variant-specific defenses are already set up, and reinfection is averted.
That robust immune response is on top of the stored immunity developed against the other proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 like the spike, membrane, envelope, nucleocapsid, and accessory proteins.
The authors from this study, Differential antibody dynamics to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination, concluded that natural immunity after infection is better than vaccination. I discussed that study at Harvard: Immunity from mild COVID-19 disease is much better than vaccination.
This translates into a lower reinfection rate among those who recovered from COVID-19. You can learn more about it at Ten Studies showing a low risk of COVID-19 reinfection among unvaccinated and Ultrapotent antibodies from natural infection against diverse and highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants.
In contrast, the Pfizer, J&J, Moderna, and AstraZeneca shots contain the spike protein only. Natural immunity is more robust.
Natural immunity is longer-lasting compared to the short duration of vaccine-acquired immunity. As time goes on, the period of vaccine effectiveness keeps getting shorter and shorter. From six months, Durable Immunity from Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Lasts only Six Months to three months Study: Pfizer COVID shots are good for 90 days only. Booster shots every three months to one-month Breakthrough infections after two shots: 50% in 1 month, 75% in 3 months.
Unvaccinated people in Africa have high levels of anti-spike antibodies. Natural Immunity Protected Tanzania and Zambia from COVID-19 and High Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Among the Unvaccinated in Bangui, Central African Republic
Some say that natural immunity works well if you don’t die from COVID-19 and don’t get the Long COVID syndrome. My response to that is early treatment of COVID-19. THE FINEST PHYSICIANS IN CRITICAL CARE MADE the I-MASK prevention and treatment protocols.
Severe COVID-19 is not necessary to develop adequate natural immunity. Asymptomatic or mild symptomatic COVID-19 elicits effective and long-lasting antibody responses in children and adolescents.
Some COVID-resistant people have immunity that is so good that it prevents COVID-19 infections before it starts. Pre-existing T-cells stop COVID-19 before it starts and explain why some never get COVID.
Optimize your immune system. Arm yourself with sound science to get resistant to fear-mongering.
Don’t Get Sick!
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Related:
- Ten Studies showing a low risk of COVID-19 reinfection among unvaccinated
- High Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Among the Unvaccinated in Bangui, Central African Republic
- Protective Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are the same in Convalescent and Vaccinated
- Asymptomatic or mild symptomatic COVID-19 elicits effective and long-lasting antibody responses in children and adolescents
- Can coronaviruses elicit long-lasting immunity?
- 60% may already have Immunity to COVID-19
- Pre-Existing T-Cells Stop COVID-19 Before it Starts
- Harvard: Immunity from mild COVID-19 infection much better than vaccination
- Natural Immunity Protected Tanzania and Zambia from COVID-19
- CD4+ Cross-Reactivity between Seasonal Coronavirus Colds and COVID-19
- Antibodies to COVID-19 can Exist in the Uninfected
Reference: Wang et al. Intra-host variation and evolutionary dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 populations in COVID-19 patients. Genome Med. 2021 Feb 22;13(1):30. doi: 10.1186/s13073-021-00847-5. PMID: 33618765; PMCID: PMC7898256.
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