#covid-19 cluster

[discoverybody]

Rise in Illnesses and Pneumonia Clusters in China

China is experiencing an increase in respiratory infections, particularly among children, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to request more information from the country. The WHO is closely monitoring the situation and has advised Chinese citizens to take preventative measures such as vaccinations, mask-wearing, and hand hygiene.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) is focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of children with respiratory infections. The WHO has confirmed that no unusual or novel pathogens have been detected in these respiratory ailments. It is believed that the increase in infections is due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and is not unexpected.

[reasonsforhope]

"In a first-ever human clinical trial, an mRNA cancer vaccine developed at the University of Florida successfully reprogrammed patients’ immune systems to fiercely attack glioblastoma, the most aggressive and lethal brain tumor.

The results in four adult patients mirrored those in 10 pet dog patients suffering from brain tumors whose owners approved of their participation.

The discovery represents a potential new way to recruit the immune system to fight treatment-resistant cancers using an iteration of mRNA technology and lipid nanoparticles, similar to COVID-19 vaccines, but with two key differences: use of a patient’s own tumor cells to create a personalized vaccine, and a newly engineered complex delivery mechanism within the vaccine.

“Instead of us injecting single particles, we’re injecting clusters of particles that are wrapping around each other like onions,” said senior author Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., a UF Health pediatric oncologist who pioneered the new vaccine, which like other immunotherapies attempts to “educate” the immune system that a tumor is foreign.

“These clusters alert the immune system in a much more profound way than single particles would.”

Among the most impressive findings was how quickly the new method spurred a vigorous immune-system response to reject the tumor, said Sayour, principal investigator at the University’s RNA Engineering Laboratory and McKnight Brain Institute investigator who led the multi-institution research team.

“In less than 48 hours, we could see these tumors shifting from what we refer to as ‘cold’—very few immune cells, very silenced immune response—to ‘hot,’ very active immune response,” he said.

“That was very surprising given how quick this happened, and what that told us is we were able to activate the early part of the immune system very rapidly against these cancers, and that’s critical to unlock the later effects of the immune response,” he explained in a video (below).

Glioblastoma is among the most devastating diagnoses, with median survival around 15 months. Current standard of care involves surgery, radiation and some combination of chemotherapy.

The new report, published May 1 in the journal Cell, is the culmination of seven years of promising studies, starting in preclinical mouse models.

In the cohort of four patients, genetic material called RNA was extracted from each patient’s own surgically removed tumor, and then messenger RNA (mRNA)—the blueprint of what is inside every cell, including tumor cells—was amplified and wrapped in the newly designed high-tech packaging of biocompatible lipid nanoparticles, to make tumor cells “look” like a dangerous virus when reinjected into the bloodstream to prompt an immune-system response.

The vaccine was personalized to each patient with a goal of getting the most out of their unique immune system...

While too early in the trial to assess the clinical effects of the vaccine, the patients either lived disease-free longer than expected or survived longer than expected. The 10 pet dogs lived a median of 4.5 months, compared with a median survival of 30-60 days typical for dogs with the condition.

The next step, with support from the Food and Drug Administration and the CureSearch for Children’s Cancer foundation, will be an expanded Phase I clinical trial to include up to 24 adult and pediatric patients to validate the findings. Once an optimal and safe dose is confirmed, an estimated 25 children would participate in Phase 2."

-via Good News Network, May 11, 2024

-video via University of Florida Health, May 1, 2024

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Highlight below:

Study Overview The study analyzed 97 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. These participants were evaluated for persistent symptoms associated with Long COVID, occurring well after their acute infection phase. Using a modified World Health Organization (WHO) form, researchers documented symptoms and evaluated their progression over time.

The study revealed that nearly half of the adolescents (45.3%) continued to experience symptoms after 340 days. Notably, their symptom profiles differed significantly from those of adults. The institutions involved in this research employed a rigorous methodology, which included two follow-up evaluations and clustering techniques to categorize symptoms and patterns.

Key Findings: A Unique Symptom Profile The most prevalent symptoms reported by adolescents were fatigue (62.9%) and dyspnea (43.3%). Headaches, thoracic pain, and diarrhea were also common, affecting 28.9%, 22.7%, and 20.6% of participants, respectively. Interestingly, symptoms such as memory loss, sleep disturbances, and anxiety - frequently seen in adults with Long COVID - were less common in adolescents. This discrepancy underscores the need for age-specific approaches in diagnosis and treatment.

Persistent symptoms also varied depending on the severity of the initial COVID-19 infection and the phase of the pandemic. For instance, adolescents infected during the pre-Omicron phase experienced a higher overall number of symptoms (3.2 compared to 2.5 for those infected during the Omicron phase). Additionally, moderate to severe acute infections were linked to a greater number of long-term symptoms.

Symptom Persistence and Clusters One year after their acute infection, 45.3% of the adolescents still experienced lingering symptoms. Fatigue and dyspnea remained the most persistent, though their prevalence decreased over time. For example, fatigue, initially present in 62.9% of participants, dropped to approximately 20% during the second follow-up evaluation.

Clustering analysis revealed two distinct groups of adolescents based on their symptoms. Cluster 1 included those with more severe symptoms and a higher prevalence of dyspnea, thoracic pain, and diarrhea. Cluster 2 consisted mainly of adolescents with fewer and milder symptoms, largely infected during the Omicron phase.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mike Stobbe at AP, via HuffPost:

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Tuesday. The share of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 3.3%, up from 3% the year before. Meanwhile, 92.7% of kindergartners got their required shots, which is a little lower than the previous two years. Before the COVID-19 pandemic the vaccination rate was 95%, the coverage level that makes it unlikely that a single infection will spark a disease cluster or outbreak. The changes may seem slight but are significant, translating to about 80,000 kids not getting vaccinated, health officials say. The rates help explain a worrisome creep in cases of whooping cough, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, said Dr. Raynard Washington, chair of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents 35 large metropolitan public health departments. “We all have been challenged with emerging outbreaks ... across the country,” said Washington, the director of the health department serving Charlotte, North Carolina. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that coverage with MMR, DTaP, polio and chickenpox vaccines decreased in more than 30 states among kindergartners for the 2023-2024 school year, Washington noted.

Public health officials focus on vaccination rates for kindergartners because schools can be cauldrons for germs and launching pads for community outbreaks. For years, those rates were high, thanks largely to school attendance mandates that required key vaccinations. All U.S. states and territories require that children attending child care centers and schools be vaccinated against a number of diseases, including, measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough and chickenpox. All states allow exemptions for children with medical conditions that prevent them from receiving certain vaccines. And most also permit exemptions for religious or other nonmedical reasons.

Kindergarten vaccine rates dipped to 92.7%, down from the pre-COVID era of 95%. This is due to the increase of exemptions from vaccinations for any non-medical reason, thanks to the anti-vaxxers gaining influence (primarily on the right).

[counterintuitivecomics]

"Wear it and stay healthy," a comic about masking in solidarity with Palestinians. I made it for Steel.Transplant's digital release COVID CAUTIOUS QUEERS ZINE 2 ($0+).

I collaged together transparent printed text from news/science articles, magazine scraps, & marker drawings of posts by Muhammad Smiry & Omar Hamad D. Title by Hala, a Palestinian girl who sold masks in Gaza until she was killed by Israel last June.

If this comic touched you, please support Muhammad and Omar's family survival funds, signal boost their words, and MASK UP!

(Alt text in post, all sources under the cut:)

PAGE 1 White graph paper: "Her name is Ghazal, she sells masks everyday to make a living | Gaza" - Orig @MuhammadSmiry post (2/28/24):

Transparent text: "white phosphorous" - Youmina Boukara et al, Gaza, armed conflict and child health, BMJ Pediatrics Open (2/12/24)

"two million Palestine refugees" - Masako Horino et al, Understanding coverage of antenatal care in Palestine: Cross-sectional analysis of Palestinian Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 2019–2020, PLOS ONE (2/2/24)

"severe COVID" - Hatem A Hejaz, Palestinian strategies, guidelines, and challenges in the treatment and management of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), Avicenna J Med, (10/13/2020)

"60 times more likely" - “In Israel, you’re 60 times more likely to have a COVID vaccine than in Palestine” - Matthias Kennes for MFS (2/22/24)

PAGE 2: White graph paper: "A little girl named Hala stopped me today and gave me this mask." - Post by @OmarHamadD (5/21/2024) Transparent text: "In this necroeconomy, lives are rendered and disposed of" - Nadia Naser-Najjab's book, "Covid-19 In Palestine: The Settler Colonial Context" (1/11/24)

Asma'a Adjerid's summary of the same book, MEDIA WATCH: BOOK (May 2024)

PAGE 3 White graph paper: "Didn't you know? She went to heaven three days ago." - Omar Hamad's 6/4/24 thread updating his post about Hala.

Transparent text:

"abduction of children" - Youmina Boukara et al, Gaza, armed conflict and child health, BMJ Pediatrics Open (2/12/24) "long list of banned items" - ‘Long List of Banned Items’ – From Maternity Kits to Wheelchairs, Israel Blocks Gaza Aid (4/12/24)

"the implications are excruciating" - Tamara Qiblawi et al, Anesthetics, crutches, dates: Inside Israel's ghost list of items arbitrarily denied entry into Gaza, CNN (3/2/24)

PAGE 4 @OmarHamadD's thread about Rimas (8/12/24): https://x.com/OmarHamadD/status/1792981447889801725

Transparent text: "US spends a record $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since last Oct. 7" - Ellen Kickmeyer, CNN, (10/7/24)

The other small scraps are from the previously cited scientific papers & news articles.

PAGE 5

Brown paper: "Wear it and stay healthy." - Hala, as quoted by @OmarHamadD (5/21/24)

Transparent paper: Map of Palestine, with 2024 borders for Gaza and the West Bank. "...freedom and justice...my true priority" - quote from Naser-Najjab, "COVID-19 in Palestine" (2024).

[hearthfire-heartfire]

"In the most comprehensive national study since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of researchers that includes a Rutgers-organized consortium of pediatric sites has concluded that long COVID symptoms in children are tangible, pervasive, wide ranging and clinically distinct within specific age groups. Results of the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “We have convincing evidence that COVID-19 is not just a mild, benign illness for children,” said Lawrence C. Kleinman, a professor of pediatrics and population health expert at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) and the study’s third co-author. “There are children who are clearly disabled by long COVID for long periods of time.” In the early stages of the pandemic, a myth arose and was perpetuated suggesting that because children often developed only mild cases of COVID-19, the risks for young patients were not serious. But this conjecture dissipated amid a rash of data demonstrating that a few children infected with COVID-19 will get very sick and others will suffer an array of health complications long after initial exposure. Broadly defined, long COVID includes symptoms, signs, and conditions – such as aches, fatigue, memory loss and stomach pain – that develop, persist or relapse more than a month after a COVID-19 infection. Worldwide, an estimated 65 million people, including children, live with long COVID. Until recently, most research into COVID-19’s lingering effects focused on adults. To quantify long COVID’s impact on children and determine whether symptoms experienced by the youngest COVID-19 patients differ by age group and from adults, Kleinman and more than 140 researchers throughout the United States crunched data from NIH’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative, a national effort to survey COVID-19’s long-term impact. As part of RECOVER, caregivers for 5,367 children (898 school-aged children and 4,469 adolescents) completed online surveys about their children’s health in time for this data analysis. Roughly 86 percent of the sample had previously been infected with COVID-19, while 14 percent – the control group – had not. The survey assessed 74 known and potential long COVID-19 symptoms across nine domains: eyes, ears, nose and throat; heart and lungs; gastrointestinal; dermatologic; musculoskeletal; neurologic; behavioral and psychological; menstrual; and general. By analyzing the responses, researchers found 45 percent of COVID-19 infected school-age children (ages 6 to 11) reported at least one prolonged symptom after initial recovery versus 33 percent of uninfected children. Thirty-nine percent of COVID-19 infected adolescents (ages 12 to 17) reported one prolonged symptom, compared with 27 percent of uninfected adolescents.  These differences implicate the virus as a likely causal factor, rather than just having lived through the pandemic. Long COVID symptoms in children also were clustered in patterns distinct from adults and from each other. For instance, the most common symptom in adolescents was loss of smell and taste, followed by low energy, muscle aches and fatigue. For school-age children, memory and focus issues topped the list, followed by stomach pain, headaches and back or neck pain. Children experienced prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection “in almost every organ system, with the vast majority having multisystem involvement,” the authors wrote."

oh hey, remember a couple of years ago during the omicron wave when multisystem inflammatory syndrome was driving a lot of kids to go to the hospital?

[darkmaga-returns]

If it had not come from a government report I would have had difficulty believing this horrifying case history.

Aaron Kheriaty, MD

Nov 01, 2024

According to a recent report (see page 13) from the Chief Coroner’s office of Ontario, a patient with mental health conditions, including severe depression and PTSD, and a covid vaccine injury was euthanized in Canada, instead of receiving treatment for his physical and mental disorders. This case report shows how the Canadian healthcare system abandoned a suicidal patient in need of real medical and psychiatric care (in Canada, euthanasia is euphemistically termed Medical Assistance in Dying [MAiD]):

Mr. A was a male in his late 40s who experienced suffering and functional decline following three vaccinations for SARS-Cov-2. He received multiple expert consultations, with extensive clinical testing completed without determinate diagnostic results. Amongst his multiple specialists, no unifying diagnosis was confirmed. He had a significant mental health history, including depression and trauma experiences. While navigating his physical symptoms, Mr. A was admitted to hospital with intrusive thoughts of dying. Psychiatrists presented concerns of an adjustment disorder, depression with possible psychotic symptoms, and illness anxiety/somatic symptom disorder. During a second occurrence of suicidal ideation, Mr. A was involuntarily hospitalized. During this hospitalization, post-traumatic stress disorder was thought to be significantly contributing to his symptoms. He received inpatient psychiatric treatment and care through a specialist team. He was also diagnosed with cluster B and C personality traits. The MAiD assessors opined that the most reasonable diagnosis for Mr. A’s clinical presentation (severe functional decline) was a post-vaccine syndrome, in keeping with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis. No pathological findings were found at the time of post-mortem examination. The cause of death following post-mortem examination was provided as post COVID-19 vaccination.

This case report was brought to my attention by my colleague Alexander Raikin at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who is carefully documenting the concerning developments of the euthanasia regime in Canada. As he explains, “In just six years, the number of deaths from euthanasia or MAiD increased thirteenfold, from 1,018 deaths in 2016 to over 13,200 deaths in 2022. More Canadians die by euthanasia than from liver disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, or pneumonia. In fact, MAiD is now effectively tied as the fifth leading cause of death in the country.” Nearly one in twenty deaths in Canada is now by Euthanasia. If you are interested in more on this topic I recommend this recent interview and this article by Raikin (or this longer report for those who want a deeper dive).

[play-now-my-lord]

instant tradition & social media outrage: disability pride month

tumblr is on fire about the concept of a disability pride month, and in typical fashion people are kind of entering "if you didn't know about this, how dare you" territory, insisting that july is only and has always been only Disability Pride Month, etc. as a queer disabled person, I am more than a little confused by the concept. Gay Pride did not originate as a celebration of being gay in a vacuum; its specific history was rooted in the practice of "outing" as a weapon used by straight (EDIT: this said 'cis' for the longest time, which also applies but isn't what the post is about) people in relationships, press, and court against gay people, especially gay men; it aimed to provide a counterpressure against the prevailing social pressure to closet. While it's arguable that there's an analogous pressure with many disabilities - I'm not actually arguing the paradigm is inappropriate - the analogy isn't ever really broached in any posts I've seen and many people promoting the DPM meme (even queer people!) are plainly a little ignorant of the history of gay pride & mostly familiar with its very, very recent history.

what I believe is actually happening is a cultural snowclone - the existence of queer pride in popular culture spurring people in a marginalized community to create a similar phenomenon, which has apparently been a runaway success...

...since 2021. Barring a few spikes so small they might as well be random noise, the association of "disability pride month" with July seems to be more recent than covid-19. There are plenty of searches for the term before that, but they lack the strong clustering in July one would expect from a well-established history of use. (In fact, the biggest clusters are wintertime and June before that - both periods where other affinity groups have, at least in this century, had well-established periods of collective celebration.)

This post is not really intended to criticize DPM as a concept, but more to promote wariness of instant traditions and the defensiveness people develop about them. This instance of a snowclone is from my perspective harmless at worst and actively good at best, but similar snowclones have been less benign - if I wake up in 2024 to everyone collectively agreeing X month is/always has been History Month for some group that isn't racially oppressed or Pride Month for some group that nobody considers shameful, I'm going to steal a cop's gun

[christian-dubuis-santini]

Pandémie, Covid-19, test PCR, cas-contact, cluster, confinement, distanciation sociale, gestes barrières, sanitaire, masque, complotiste, vaccin, dose, vie normale, science, cas, hospitalisation, forme grave, réanimation, chiffres, sauver des vies, irresponsables, citoyen, protéger les autres, couvre-feu, restrictions, non-essentiel, soignant, à risque, fragile, hydroalcoolique, gouttelettes, malade, asymptomatique, sécurité, taux d’incidence, ARN messager, pass sanitaire, attestation, contrôle, immunitaire, obligatoire, amende, 135 Euros…

«Le nazisme s'insinua dans la chair et le sang du grand nombre à travers des expressions isolées, des tournures, des formes syntaxiques qui s'imposaient à des millions d'exemplaires et qui furent adoptées de façon mécanique et inconsciente. On a coutume de prendre ce distique de Schiller, qui parle de la "langue cultivée qui poétise et pense à ta place", dans un sens purement esthétique et, pour ainsi dire, anodin. Un vers réussi, dans une "langue cultivée" ne prouve en rien la force poétique de celui qui l'a trouvé; il n'est pas si difficile, dans une langue éminemment cultivée, de se donner l'air d'un poète et d'un penseur.

Mais la langue ne se contente pas de poétiser et de penser à ma place, elle dirige aussi mes sentiments, elle régit tout mon être moral d'autant plus naturellement que je m'en remets inconsciemment à elle. Et qu'arrive-t-il si cette langue cultivée est constituée d'éléments toxiques ou si on en a fait le vecteur de substances toxiques?

Les mots peuvent être comme de minuscules doses d'arsenic: on les avale sans y prendre garde, ils semblent ne faire aucun effet, et vodà qu'après temps l'effet toxique se fait sentir. Si quelqu'un, au lieu d'"héroïque et vertueux", dit pendant assez longtemps "fanatique", il finira par croire vraiment qu'un fanatique est un héros vertueux et que, sans fanatisme, on ne peut pas être un héros. Les vocables "fanatique" et "fanatisme" n'ont pas été inventés par le Troisième Reich, il n'a fait qu'en modifier la valeur et les a employés plus fréquemment en un jour que d'autres époques en des années. Le Troisième Reich n'a forgé, de son propre cru, qu'un très petit nombre des mots de sa langue, et peut-être même vraisemblablement aucun. La langue nazie renvoie pour beaucoup à des apports étrangers et, pour le reste, emprunte la plupart du temps aux Allemands d'avant Hitler. Mais elle change la valeur des mots et leur fréquence, elle transforme en bien général ce qui, jadis, appartenait à un seul individu ou à un groupuscule, elle réquisitionne pour le Parti ce qui, jadis, était le bien général et, ce faisant, elle imprègne les mots et les formes syntaxiques de son poison, elle assujettit la langue à son terrible système, elle gagne avec la langue son moyen de propagande le plus puissant, le plus public et le plus secret.

Mettre en évidence le poison de la LTI et mettre en garde contre lui, je crois que c'est plus que du simple pédantisme. Lorsque, aux yeux des Juifs orthodoxes, un ustensile de cuisine est devenu cultuellement impur, ils le nettoient en l'enfouissant dans la terre. On devrait mettre beaucoup de mots en usage chez les nazis, pour longtemps, et certains pour toujours, dans la fosse commune.»

(Victor Klemperer, LTI La langue du IIIe Reich)

[maaarine]

English Just 'Badly Pronounced French', Paris Academic Says (Tom Barfield, Barron's, March 09 2024)

"French linguist Bernard Cerquiglini would like to send a copy of his new book, "The English language doesn't exist: it's badly pronounced French", to King Charles III. (…)

Norman French's use by the new colonial aristocracy endowed English with words that at first glance might look homegrown, like "cabbage", "lure" or "wage", in the 150 years after William the Conqueror took the throne.

But Cerquiglini is most interested by the 13th and 14th centuries, when French -- by then a second language used in trade, administration and law -- bled freely into English because "a job, fortunes in land or cash, upholding a contract, liberty or even one's life, could depend on mastering" the tongue.

Half of English's borrowings from French took place from 1260-1400, producing words like "bachelor", from the old French word "bachelier", meaning a young noble not yet a knight.

"Travel" is related to the modern French word for labour, "travail", while "clock" stems from the French "cloche", a bell struck to sound the hours before mechanical timepieces were invented.

By the time Shakespeare came to write his plays in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, around "40 percent of the 15,000 words in his works are of French origin", Cerquiglini notes.

These days the place of "Anglo-Saxon" words in modern French can stir defensiveness in Paris, often from the Academie Francaise, charged since 1635 with preserving the language in its "pure" form.

"Language in France is official, of the state, national. And so of course we have an academy" whose members enjoy "a ridiculous outfit, a sword, a palace by the Seine" river in Paris, Cerquiglini said.

In recent years the academy has railed against imports related to Covid-19, such as "cluster" or "testing", as well as tech terms like "big data".

Cerquiglini said the academy has scored some worthwhile wins, such as convincing the French-speaking world to use the native-sounding "logiciel" instead of the once-omnipresent "software".

But he added: "This isn't an invasion, these are French words that have gone for training in England and that are coming back to us.""

[tieflingkisser]

image description:

Infographic which reads:

Important notice for preventing COVID-19 outbreaks.

Avoid the "Three Cs"!

Closed spaces with poor ventilation. Crowded places with many people nearby. Close contact settings such as close-range conversations.

One of the key measures against COVID-19 is to prevent occurrence of clusters. Keep these "Three Cs" from overlapping in daily life.

The risk of occurrence of clusters is particularly high when the "Three Cs" overlap!

In addition to the "Three Cs," items used by multiple people should be cleaned with disinfectant.

[i-still-mask-because]

I have a surgically repaired lung thanks to two occurrences of 'spontaneous pneumothorax' from 23 years ago. I almost died the second time my left lung collapsed and I'm not particularly interested in finding out if I can survive the latest mutations.

feel free to save and repost this graphic

[Image Description: A flyer with a background image of a cluster of corona virus cells. There's text in the top and bottom of the image. On the top of the image, the text reads, "You can pretend I'm gone, but I'm still here. I've killed almost 6.95 MILLION humans across the globe in 3 years...". On the bottom of the image, the text reads, "If I don't kill you, I'll just mutate and try again. Good luck. ~Covid-19."; End of Image Description]

😷

[didanawisgi]

Master Post: The Yan Papers & Supporting Evidence of an Unrestricted Bioweapon

Yan Reports

Unusual Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Suggesting Sophisticated Laboratory Modification Rather Than Natural Evolution and Delineation of Its Probable Synthetic Route

SARS-CoV-2 Is an Unrestricted Bioweapon: A Truth Revealed through Uncovering a Large-Scale, Organized Scientific Fraud

The Wuhan Laboratory Origin of SARS-CoV-2 and the Validity of the Yan Reports Are Further Proved by the Failure of Two Uninvited "Peer Reviews"

Birger Sørensen, Angus Dalgleish & Andres Susrud

The Evidence which Suggests that This Is No Naturally Evolved Virus: A Reconstructed Historical Aetiology of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike

Steven C. Quay Bayesian Analysis

A Bayesian analysis concludes beyond a reasonable doubt that SARS-CoV-2 is not a natural zoonosis but instead is laboratory derived

Long history of China's CCP and Biowarfare: Analysis from Clare M. Lopez, Director of U.S. Geostrategic Security Issues for the Near East Center for Strategic Engagement (NEC-SE) 

The Role of Biological Warfare in China’s Drive for Global Hegemony (Part 1) & How a CCP Operation Ensnared the US Government (Part 2)

Mixed Messaging from U.S. Government on China’s Biological Weapons Program: The involvement of U.S. government entities with Chinese biological weapons scientists and entities is deeply concerning

“Better Late Than Never?”

China’s Biological Warfare Programme: An Integrative Study with Special Reference to Biological Weapons Capabilities by Dany Shoham

This study attempts to profile China’s biological warfare programme (BWP), with special reference to biological weapons (BW) capabilities that exist in facilities affiliated with the defence establishment and the military. For that purpose, a wide variety of facilities affiliated with the defence establishment and with the military are reviewed and profiled. The outcome of that analysis points at 12 facilities affiliated with the defence establishment, plus 30 facilities affiliated with the PLA, that are involved in research, development, production, testing or storage of BW. This huge alignment might be regarded as superfluous, ostensibly; yet, considering the various factors discussed in the present study, the overall derived picture of the Chinese BW-related alignment is not at all surprising. The chances that an outstanding state like China would ignore new avenues of BW designing and deployment are a priori slim, if any. China, in all likelihood, is and will persist as a paramount BW possessor.

‘Virus warfare’ in China military documents

Chinese military scientists discussed the weaponisation of SARS coronaviruses five years before the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining their ideas in a document that predicted a third world war would be fought with biological weapons.

The Secret Speech of General Chi Haotian

The Secret Speech of General Chi Haotian. In 2005, THE EPOCH TIMES acquired a secret speech given by Defense Minister Chi Haotian to high-level Communist Party Cadres sometime before his retirement in 2003. Details given in Chi’s speech coincide with previously unpublished defector testimony on Sino-Russian military plans.

A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence (2015)

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV underscores the threat of cross-species transmission events leading to outbreaks in humans. Here we examine the disease potential of a SARS-like virus, SHC014- CoV, which is currently circulating in Chinese horseshoe bat populations1. Using the SARS-CoV reverse genetics system2, we generated and characterized a chimeric virus expressing the spike of bat coronavirus SHC014 in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone. The results indicate that group 2b viruses encoding the SHC014 spike in a wild-type backbone can efficiently use multiple orthologs of the SARS receptor human angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2), replicate efficiently in primary human airway cells and achieve in vitro titers equivalent to epidemic strains of SARS-CoV. Additionally, in vivo experiments demonstrate replication of the chimeric virus in mouse lung with notable pathogenesis. Evaluation of available SARS-based immune-therapeutic and prophylactic modalities revealed poor efficacy; both monoclonal antibody and vaccine approaches failed to neutralize and protect from infection with CoVs using the novel spike protein. On the basis of these findings, we synthetically re-derived an infectious full-length SHC014 recombinant virus and demonstrate robust viral replication both in vitro and in vivo. Our work suggests a potential risk of SARS-CoV re-emergence from viruses currently circulating in bat populations.

The China-Led WHO Report on Coronavirus Is Deeply Suspect 

The China-Led WHO Report on Coronavirus Is Deeply Suspect by Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Dany Shoham: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The WHO’s China-led international investigation into the origins of COVID-19 did not trace either the genomic derivation or the initial contraction of the virus that generated the pandemic. This could be because it did not look for an unnatural scenario or because a natural scenario did not in fact occur. China appears to have essentially dictated the proceedings of the investigation, the findings of which are deeply suspect.

Discovery of a novel merbecovirus DNA clone contaminating agricultural rice sequencing datasets from Wuhan, China

Discovery of a novel merbecovirus DNA clone contaminating agricultural rice sequencing datasets from Wuhan, China

An unreported CoV infectious clone in Wuhan

Csabai et al.

Unique SARS-CoV-2 variant found in public sequence data of Antarctic soil samples collected in 2018-2019

Host genomes for the unique SARS-CoV-2 variant leaked into Antarctic soil metagenomic sequencing data

Project DEFUSE: Defusing the Threat of Bat-borne Coronaviruses 

DEFUSE proposal

Nuclear translocation of spike mRNA and protein is a novel pathogenic feature of SARS-CoV-2

The spike (S) protein appears to be a major pathogenic factor that contributes to the unique pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2. Although the S protein is a surface transmembrane type 1 glycoprotein, it has been predicted to be translocated into the nucleus due to the novel nuclear localization signal (NLS) “PRRARSV”, which is absent from the S protein of other coronaviruses. Indeed, S proteins translocate into the nucleus in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells. To our surprise, S mRNAs also translocate into the nucleus. S mRNA colocalizes with S protein, aiding the nuclear translocation of S mRNA. While nuclear translocation of nucleoprotein (N) has been shown in many coronaviruses, the nuclear translocation of both S mRNA and S protein reveals a novel pathogenic feature of SARS-CoV-2.

SARS–CoV–2 Spike Impairs DNA Damage Repair and Inhibits V(D)J Recombination In Vitro

Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line

Unnaturalness in the evolution process of the SARS-CoV-2 variants and the possibility of deliberate natural selection

Over the past three years, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has repeatedly experienced pandemics, generating various mutated variants ranging from Alpha to Omicron. In this study, we aimed to clarify the evolutionary processes leading to the formation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, focusing on Omicron variants with many amino acid mutations in the spike protein among SARS-CoV-2 isolates. To determine the order in which the mutations leading to the formation of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, we compared the sequences of 129 Omicron BA.1-related isolates, 141 BA.1.1-related isolates, and 122 BA.2-related isolates, and tried to dissolve the evolutionary processes of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants, including the order of mutations leading to the formation of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants and the occurrence of homologous recombination. As a result, we concluded that the formations of a part of Omicron isolates BA.1, BA.1.1, and BA.2 were not the products of genome evolution as is commonly observed in nature, such as the accumulation of mutations and homologous recombinations. Furthermore, the study of 35 recombinant isolates of Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2, confirmed that Omicron variants were already present in 2020. The analysis we have shown here is that the Omicron variants are formed by an entirely new mechanism that cannot be explained by previous biology, and knowing the way how the SARS-CoV-2 variants were formed prompts a reconsideration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Further Supporting Evidence

Anomalies in BatCoV/RaTG13 sequencing and provenance

Time Shows That The ‘Paranoid’ People Were Correct About COVID

Molecular Biology Clues Portray SARS-CoV-2 as a Gain-of-Function Laboratory Manipulation of Bat CoV RaTG13

The genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 does not rule out a laboratory origin: SARS-COV-2 chimeric structure and furin cleavage site might be the result of genetic manipulation

A look at China’s biowarfare ambitions

Mountains of circumstantial evidence point toward early circulation of SARS-CoV-2

Breaking: SARS-CoV-2 Spike found in bacteria samples taken from China, 2019

Unique SARS-CoV-2 genomes found in Antarctic samples raises questions about SARS-CoV-2 origin, lineages

The Galveston National Lab and Wuhan Institute of Virology

US University Concedes It May Have Broken Law in Contract With Wuhan Lab

Judicial Watch: New Documents Reveal COVID-19 Vaccine Studies Used by HHS were Conducted in China

JW v HHS Wuhan August 31 2021 00696

Flavinkins Archives

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH AND ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE DID NOT EFFECTIVELY MONITOR AWARDS AND SUBAWARDS, RESULTING IN MISSED OPPORTUNITIES TO OVERSEE RESEARCH AND OTHER DEFICIENCIES

U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) COVID-19 Common Operational Picture

SELLIN: Is China’s Military Making COVID-19 Variants?

Enhancing Protein Expression by Leveraging Codon Optimization

Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research

So, COVID-19 is a Bioweapon After All, The Times ExplainsSars-Cov-2 is a result of bioweapons research, and work of Ralph Baric and Peter Daszak

Journalistic Investigations

The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan?

What really went on inside the Wuhan lab weeks before Covid erupted?New fresh evidence drawn from confidential reports reveals Chinese scientists spliced together deadly pathogens shortly before the pandemic, the Sunday Times Insight team report

New Emails Chronicle Lab-Leak Coverup in Real Time

Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci emailed about whether NIH funded Wuhan lab before secret call

Pentagon gave millions to EcoHealth Alliance for weapons research program

Leaked Chinese document reveals a sinister plan to ‘unleash’ coronaviruses

BREAKING: DOD CONTROLLED COVID ‘VACCINES’ FROM THE START UNDER NATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM – LIED THE ENTIRE TIME – Were NEVER ‘Safe and Effective’

The role of the US DoD (and their co-investors) in "covid countermeasures" enterprise.

EVOLUTION OF A THEORY: Unredacted NIH Emails Show Efforts to Rule Out Lab Origin of Covid

The U.S. Keeps Offering China Its COVID Vaccines. China Keeps Saying No

Links between the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and China’s People’s Liberation Army

Broken Bioweapon: Lack of mRNA Integrity in Pfizer Batches: All Regulators Knew This When they "Pretend-Approved" the Shots

Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November: Sources"Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event," a source said

How Did Deborah Birx Get the Job?

Do Governments Track the Injury and Kill Rates from Biowarfare Agents Deployed as mRNA/DNA "Vaccines"?

Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, Energy Department Now Says

FBI Director Says Covid Pandemic Likely Caused by Chinese Lab Leak

Wuhan lab denied BSL4 access for SARS work without clear reasoning

Videos

Proof Government Lab Created COVID, Says Escaped Chinese Virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan – Ask Dr. Drew

Virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan Claims Coronavirus Lab 'Cover-Up' Made Her Flee China | Loose Women

The Dr. Jordan B Peterson Podcast, Viral: The Origin of Covid 19 | Matt Ridley | EP 310

Chinese Defector: China’s Weaponization of Covid-19

Was COVID-19 made inside a Chinese lab? | Under Investigation

One Billion COVID Jabs From The CCP? Dr. Naomi Wolf Breaks Down a Disconcerting Timeline

RTE Discussions #16: Examining DoD Involvement in the Pandemic (w/ Sasha Latypova)

Major Evidence China Is Making The Pfizer Vaccine Ingredients!

Naomi Wolf Bombshell: Has China Been Using COVID Vaccines To Decimate Western Democracies?!

LNP/mRNA Is "Natural Born Killer" Says Drug Inventor Dr. Richard Urso w/ Dr Kelly Victory – Ask Dr. Drew

COVID 'Good Material For Non-Traditional Bioweapon' To Ruin Economies: Chinese Virologist

Conversation with Dr. Jane Ruby: We cover the Government-Military-BioPharma Industrial Complex and get into the question Why?

SHOCKING REVELATION - DOCTOR EXPOSES COVID BIOWEAPONS PROGRAM & REVEALS VACCINE WILL KILL MILLIONS

COVID Lab Leak Evidence: Escaped Chinese Virologist Dr. Li-meng Yan & Brian O'Shea

Dr. David Martin: Pandemic Was "Biological Weapon of Genocide" w/ Dr. Kelly Victory – Ask Dr. Drew

Illegal Biolab in CA: Escaped Virologist Warns Of CCP Spy Links w/ Dr. Li-meng Yan – Ask Dr. Drew

Books

What Really Happened In Wuhan: A Virus Like No Other, Countless Infections, Millions of Deaths by Sharri Markson (2022)

Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America by Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui (2015)

Podcasts

The Voice of Dr. Yan

Neither Accidental nor Occasional, the History of CCP’s Bioweapon Program Dr. Li-Meng Yan & Clare M. Lopez

No Amnesty Should Be Given Until Investigation of COVID-19 Origin

Pfizer’s Plan of Directed Evolution vs. COVID-19 Predictor in China – Does the Nightmare Become True?

Chinese Spy Balloon is another CCP’s Unrestricted Tactic Against America

CCP promoted novel fabricated data on nature origin of COVID-19

China’s new methodology warfare; Understanding the cognitive war

[covid-safer-hotties]

Long COVID is not the same for everyone: a hierarchical cluster analysis of Long COVID symptoms 9 and 12 months after SARS-CoV-2 test - Published Sept 19, 2024

Abstract Background Identifying symptom clusters in Long COVID is necessary for developing effective therapies for this diverse condition and improving the quality of life of those affected by this heterogeneous condition. In this study, we aimed to identify and compare symptom clusters at 9 and 12 months after a SARS-CoV-2 positive test and describe each cluster regarding factors at infection.

Methods This is a cross-sectional study with individuals randomly selected from the Portuguese National System of Epidemiological Surveillance (SINAVE) database. Individuals who had a positive RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 test in August 2022 were contacted to participate in a telephonic interview approximately 9 and 12 months after the test. A hierarchical clustering analysis was performed, using Euclidean distance and Ward’s linkage. Clustering was performed in the 35 symptoms reported 9 and 12 months after the SARS-CoV-2 positive test and characterised considering age, sex, pre-existing health conditions and symptoms at time of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Results 552 individuals were included at 9 months and 458 at 12 months. The median age was 52 years (IQR: 40–64 years) and 59% were female. Hypertension and high cholesterol were the most frequently reported pre-existing health conditions. Memory loss, fatigue or weakness and joint pain were the most frequent symptoms reported 9 and 12 months after the positive test. Four clusters were identified at both times: no or minor symptoms; multi-symptoms; joint pain; and neurocognitive-related symptoms. Clusters remained similar in both times, but, within the neurocognitive cluster, memory loss and concentration issues increased in frequency at 12 months. Multi-symptoms cluster had older people, more females and more pre-existing health conditions at 9 months. However, at 12 months, older people and those with more pre-existing health conditions were in joint pain cluster.

Conclusions Our results suggest that Long COVID is not the same for everyone. In our study, clusters remained similar at 9 and 12 months, except for a slight variation in the frequency of symptoms that composed each cluster. Understanding Long COVID clusters might help identify treatments for this condition. However, further validation of the observed clusters and analysis of its risk factors is needed.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Unsuccessful tuberculosis treatment outcomes across Brazil's geographical landscape before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: are we truly advancing toward the sustainable development/end TB goal?

Background

Tuberculosis is one of the most significant infectious diseases for global public health. The reallocation of healthcare resources and the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have hindered access to TB diagnosis and treatment. Increases in unfavorable outcomes of the disease have been observed in Brazil. The objective of this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of unfavorable TB treatment outcomes in Brazil before and during the pandemic.

Methods

An ecological study with spatial analysis was conducted with all 5569 municipalities in Brazil. All reported cases of tuberculosis between January 2010 and December 2021, as well as reported cases of COVID-19 from February 2020 to December 2021, were included. The outcomes studied encompass loss to follow-up, drug-resistant tuberculosis, and death. The Getis Ord GI* technique was employed to assess spatial association, and the Kernel density estimator was used to identify areas with concentrated increases or decreases in outcomes. Bivariate Local Moran's I was used to examine the spatial association between outcomes and COVID-19 incidence. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Ribeirão Preto Nursing School, University of São Paulo.

Results

There were 134,394 cases of loss to follow-up, 10,270 cases of drug resistance, and 37,863 deaths. Clusters of high and low values were identified for all three outcomes, indicating significant changes in the spatial distribution patterns. Increases in concentrations were observed for lost to follow-up cases in the Southeast, while reductions occurred in the Northeast, South, and Midwest. Drug-resistant tuberculosis experienced an increase in the Southern and Southeastern regions and a decrease in the Northeast and South. TB-related deaths showed notable concentrations in the Midwest, Northeast, South, and Southeast. There was an increase in high occurrence clusters for deaths after 2020 and 2021 in the Northeast.

Conclusions

The pandemic has brought additional challenges, emphasizing the importance of enhancing efforts and disease control strategies, prioritizing early identification, treatment adherence, and follow-up. This commitment is vital for achieving the goal of tuberculosis elimination.

Read the paper.

[mightyflamethrower]

Higher Incidence Of COVID-19 Found Among Consistent Mask-Wearers: Peer-Reviewed Study | ZeroHedge

People who wore protective masks were found to be more likely to contract COVID-19 infections than those who didn’t, according to a recent Norwegian study.

People who wore protective masks were found to be more likely to contract COVID-19 infections than those who didn’t, according to a recent Norwegian study.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection on Nov. 13, analyzed mask use among 3,209 individuals from Norway. Researchers followed them for 17 days, and then asked the participants about their use of masks. The team found that there was a higher incidence of testing positive for COVID-19 among people who used masks more frequently.

Among individuals who “never or almost never” wore masks, 8.6 percent tested positive. That rose to 15 percent among participants who “sometimes” used masks, and to 15.1 percent among those who “almost always or always” wore them.

Adjusting for factors such as vaccination status, the study determined that individuals who sometimes or often wore masks had a 33 percent higher incidence of COVID-19, compared to those who never or almost never wore masks. This jumped to 40 percent among people who almost always or always wore them.

However, adjusting for “differences in baseline risk over time,” the risk of wearing masks turned out to be “less pronounced,” with only a 4 percent higher incidence of infection among mask-wearers.

“The results contradict earlier randomized and non-randomized studies of the effectiveness of mask-wearing on the risk of infection,” the researchers wrote.

“Most of these studies reported that wearing a face mask reduces the risk of COVID-19 infection. Some observational studies have reported manyfold reductions while one community-based randomized trial failed to demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in infection risk and one cluster randomized community trial found only a modest reduction.”

The researchers pointed out a major limitation of their study: Individuals who used masks may have done so to protect others from their own infection. This could explain the “positive association between risk of infection and mask usage.”

Behavioral differences and the fact that the survey was based on self-reporting could also contribute to bias, it stated.

There’s also a possibility that mask wearers felt safe while wearing masks and thus didn’t follow other regulations such as social distancing, which raised their risk of contracting COVID-19, the study said.

“Our findings suggest that wearing a face mask may be associated with an increased risk of infection. However, it is important to note that this association may be due to unobservable and non-adjustable differences between those wearing and not wearing a mask,” the researchers stated.

“Therefore, caution is imperative when interpreting the results from this and other observational studies on the relationship between mask-wearing and infection risk. Recommendations to wear face masks in the community are largely informed by low certainty evidence from observational studies.”

Researchers called for more trials and studies to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of wearing masks against transmission of respiratory pathogens.

The study was fully funded by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. It reported no conflicts of interest.

Masking Mandates

The new study comes at a time when some regions in North America are reinstating mask mandates amid a reported increase in COVID-19 cases.

At the beginning of November, many regions in the Bay Area issued masking rules in health care settings ahead of the respiratory disease season, when infections such as COVID-19, the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus are expected to spread.

In the state of California, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, and Solano issued masking mandates, with the rules remaining in effect until next March or April.

While in some places only staff and workers of a health care facility are required to wear masks, others require patients and visitors to wear masks as well.

Rosemary Hills School in Maryland announced in September that it distributed KN95 masks to students and teachers while mandating masking for at least 10 days after three students from a classroom tested positive for COVID-19.

A month earlier, school officials with the Kinterbish Junior High School in Cuba, Alabama, asked students, employees, and visitors to wear masks “due to the slow rise of COVID cases in the area.”

Seven hospitals in Canada reinstated mask mandates last month to “help prevent transmission of COVID-19.”

In British Columbia, Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry announced that health care workers, volunteers, and visitors would be required to wear “medical” masks in all public health care facilities starting on Oct. 3.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing masks to counter COVID-19. “Masking is a critical public health tool and it is important to remember that any mask is better than no mask,” it said in an August 2021 update.

Certain states have already made it clear that mask mandates wouldn’t be allowed. In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in an X post that there would be “NO mask mandates in Texas.”

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo highlighted the issue of the ineffectiveness of masking policies.

“What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm? You don’t call it sanity,“ he said in a post on X. "These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about refusing to participate.”

In an interview with the Brownstone Institute in February, Tom Jefferson, a senior associate tutor at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study, pointed out that there hasn’t been a “proper trial” of masks whereby a huge, randomized study was done to check their effectiveness. Instead, some experts overnight began to perpetuate a “fear-demic.”