Shit! Coronavirus may also be transmitted via infected feces

[Coligny]

Do we know that yet? (with reasonable evidence and certainty, etc.)???? serious question

So... hum...

Wutang BSL-4
Know that in french BSL-4 labs are called “P4”
Find a french name
Find his wife identity
Find his wife job in early 2020
Find which previous decade old OTC drug has been classified as poisonnous in late 2019


Now, that torpedo didn't self-destruct, you heard it hit the hull and I... was never here.

[wangta]

Yay - Coligny's back! Welcome back!
Why on earth is France so bad with this virus? - sorry to hear about it.

[Thanatos' embalmed botfly]

Gunston Heavy Industries, always quick to pounce on a business opportunity... https://spraguedawley.com/gunston-wash/

[Russell]

While there are allegations that Japan has understated its number of Covid-19 cases, it cannot be denied that the number of deaths here seems to be limited. Apart from the lesser occurrence of obesity in Japan, there may be other factors at work. In previous posts I mentioned diet, without evidence, but here is a video arguing that it is the hot baths Japanese are so fond of could be a factor. The creator of the video starts by discussing scientific papers showing evidence that fever and hot-cold changes are factors that stimulate the innate immune system. He then compares Nordic countries in terms of severity and occurrence of Covid-19, and concludes that Finland is doing significantly better than surrounding countries. The difference: the Finish sauna. Japan is mentioned only casually after the analysis, but it is still fascinating.

[Wage Slave]

What about the vaccine almost everyone here had back in the autumn? Maybe there was something in the formulation that gives partial/half decent immunity so there is sufficient herd immunity to slow the virus right down.

Or is that ridiculous?

[matsuki]

the hot baths Japanese are so fond of could be a factor

Nothing wrong with a nice hot bath during these times, effective or not.

[Russell]

What about the vaccine almost everyone here had back in the autumn? Maybe there was something in the formulation that gives partial/half decent immunity so there is sufficient herd immunity to slow the virus right down.

Or is that ridiculous?

What vaccine is that?

[Wage Slave]

What about the vaccine almost everyone here had back in the autumn? Maybe there was something in the formulation that gives partial/half decent immunity so there is sufficient herd immunity to slow the virus right down.

Or is that ridiculous?

What vaccine is that?

The regular influenza vaccine.

[Russell]

What about the vaccine almost everyone here had back in the autumn? Maybe there was something in the formulation that gives partial/half decent immunity so there is sufficient herd immunity to slow the virus right down.

Or is that ridiculous?

What vaccine is that?

The regular influenza vaccine.

Influenza is different from Corona-based diseases, and medicines or vaccines against it have not been shown to be effective against this new virus, unfortunately.

There are some reports, though, that the BCG jab against tuberculosis may also be somewhat effective against this new Corona virus.

In fact, there is now a large-scale effort underway to test whether existing medicines help against the new Corona virus. This route is especially fruitful since these medicines have already gone through clinical trials, so they are mostly safe and they can be quickly employed.

[Wage Slave]

What about the vaccine almost everyone here had back in the autumn? Maybe there was something in the formulation that gives partial/half decent immunity so there is sufficient herd immunity to slow the virus right down.

Or is that ridiculous?

What vaccine is that?

The regular influenza vaccine.

Influenza is different from Corona-based diseases, and medicines or vaccines against it have not been shown to be effective against this new virus, unfortunately.

There are some reports, though, that the BCG jab against tuberculosis may also be somewhat effective against this new Corona virus.

In fact, there is now a large-scale effort underway to test whether existing medicines help against the new Corona virus. This route is especially fruitful since these medicines have already gone through clinical trials, so they are mostly safe and they can be quickly employed.

I see, thanks. A completely different type of virus so no relationship. If a person has had a corona based disease in the past and recovered could that possibly confer some immunity?

Also, was there ever a vaccine developed for SARS or MERS? If so, how many people have received it?

[Russell]

What about the vaccine almost everyone here had back in the autumn? Maybe there was something in the formulation that gives partial/half decent immunity so there is sufficient herd immunity to slow the virus right down.

Or is that ridiculous?

What vaccine is that?

The regular influenza vaccine.

Influenza is different from Corona-based diseases, and medicines or vaccines against it have not been shown to be effective against this new virus, unfortunately.

There are some reports, though, that the BCG jab against tuberculosis may also be somewhat effective against this new Corona virus.

In fact, there is now a large-scale effort underway to test whether existing medicines help against the new Corona virus. This route is especially fruitful since these medicines have already gone through clinical trials, so they are mostly safe and they can be quickly employed.

I see, thanks. A completely different type of virus so no relationship. If a person has had a corona based disease in the past and recovered could that possibly confer some immunity?

Also, was there ever a vaccine developed for SARS or MERS? If so, how many people have received it?

I have not read reports about immunity against SARS or MERS or more harmless (and common) Corona-viruses (like common cold) that help against the new Corona virus, and I think it is unlikely to do so.

There have been reports in the press that people could catch this new Corona virus twice, so that immunity against it would not work. However, this appears to be mostly an effect of the unreliability of the tests of whether one is infected or not. Infusing blood plasma of people who have been cured appears to be effective in curing the new Corona disease, suggesting that immunity against it is possible.

Development of vaccines against SARS and MERS was stopped after these diseases were contained in the traditional way. Here is an interesting article concerning vaccine development of SARS-like diseases.

What makes the new Corona virus so different from other Corona viruses? The difference is in how well it binds to the so-called ACE2 receptor on the surface of human cells. Many of these receptors are found in our lungs. Though SARS and MERS also bind to this receptor, they do so much less effectively. This appears to be the reason why the new Corona virus spreads so quickly. In order to find a cure, it is important to find a substance that binds to the binding sites of the virus, to prevent it from binding to human cells. Here is one effort to this end. There are also efforts to screen existing drugs for effectiveness against the new Corona virus that work by whatever mechanism.

[Wage Slave]

Thank you. It is very useful to consult with someone who understands the science.

[Thanatos' embalmed botfly]

great, just fucken great, another mega-rich tone-deaf celeb on social media... https://spraguedawley.com/worlds-riches ... a-message/

[kurogane]

Thank you. It is very useful to consult with someone who understands the science.

And remember, you can read, but don't read any fiction. There's a reason they called it the Novel Coronavirus, until the Librarians' and Booksellers' cabal demanded they rename it.

[Russell]

Abenomasks...



Twitter feed here!

[Russell]

So, while all members of the government wear normal masks, we had to endure the sight of Abe with a menstrual pad attached to his face for a couple of days now.

Finally, I connected the dots. That is the type of mask they are going to distribute to 50 million households in Japan, two for each household. Though I appreciate the gesture (NOT!), I fear that few people will want to put such a monstrosity on their faces, even more so since it looks less than effective.

Fur god's sake...

[yanpa]

So, while all members of the government wear normal masks, we had to endure the sight of Abe with a menstrual pad attached to his face for a couple of days now.

Finally, I connected the dots. That is the type of mask they are going to distribute to 50 million households in Japan, two for each household. Though I appreciate the gesture (NOT!), I fear that few people will want to put such a monstrosity on their faces, even more so since it looks less than effective.

Fur god's sake...

I wonder where Mrs. Abe is wearing hers?

[Wage Slave]

So, while all members of the government wear normal masks, we had to endure the sight of Abe with a menstrual pad attached to his face for a couple of days now.

Finally, I connected the dots. That is the type of mask they are going to distribute to 50 million households in Japan, two for each household. Though I appreciate the gesture (NOT!), I fear that few people will want to put such a monstrosity on their faces, even more so since it looks less than effective.

Fur god's sake...

I wonder where Mrs. Abe is wearing hers?

Maybe it is big enough for Mrs Abe. Mr Abe clearly finds it difficult to cover his mouth and nose at the same time. It's quite funny watching him trying to pretend everything is fine. Maybe the manufacturer is a member of Mrs Abe 's extended family/circle?

[dimwit]

It's a kiddie lunch serving mask used by elementary school students. My thinking is that he got it from Moritomo Gakuen since they don't need them anymore.

[Russell]

So, while all members of the government wear normal masks, we had to endure the sight of Abe with a menstrual pad attached to his face for a couple of days now.

Finally, I connected the dots. That is the type of mask they are going to distribute to 50 million households in Japan, two for each household. Though I appreciate the gesture (NOT!), I fear that few people will want to put such a monstrosity on their faces, even more so since it looks less than effective.

Fur god's sake...

I wonder where Mrs. Abe is wearing hers?

That might explain why two masks are handed out.

[kurogane]

So, while all members of the government wear normal masks, we had to endure the sight of Abe with a menstrual pad attached to his face for a couple of days now.

I wonder where Mrs. Abe is wearing hers?

Polite golf applause, and thanks for the health chuckles.

hey, Yanps. How's Nerima?

[Grumpy Gramps]

"America First" has been achieved!

Global confirmed COVID-19 cases top 1.1 million: Johns Hopkins University

The number of COVID-19 cases around the world surpassed 1.1 million on Saturday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The United States now has the most cases, with more than 277,000 infections and over 7,000 deaths confirmed.

The CSSE has recorded over 58,900 deaths from the coronavirus worldwide. Italy tops the chart with over 14,000 deaths followed by Spain with over 11,000 deaths.

Globally, over 226,000 patients have recovered from the disease, said the CSSE.

Is it really so that they have the government they deserve, as the saying goes?

[yanpa]

Still got a way to go on the deaths front before they win gold in the Corona Olympics.

[yanpa]

Meanwhile Tokyo cruises in to a 3-figure daily infection rate: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/202004 ... 31000.html

[Russell]

[Thanatos' embalmed botfly]

worst headline in news history

[Grumpy Gramps]

India fights corona with MASCOTS

If that's not going to be a success, I don't know, what is.

[yanpa]

Not as impressive as nearly fucking up your national grid for a cheap stunt.

[Russell]

Japan Declared a Coronavirus Emergency. Is It Too Late?

Some medical experts said the move amounted to a tacit admission that the approach the country had adopted for months was no longer working.

For months, Japan has confounded the world by reporting a relatively low rate of coronavirus infections without imposing the kind of stringent measures used by other nations.

As the country now declares a state of emergency in the face of a worrisome rise in cases, medical experts are wondering whether the move on Tuesday has come just in time to avoid calamity, or is too little, too late.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in announcing that the declaration would apply to Japan’s biggest population centers for the next month, painted an optimistic picture. By asking citizens to significantly reduce human-to-human contact, he said, “the expansion of infections can be turned to a decline in two weeks.”

But some experts said the state of emergency amounted to a tacit admission that the approach the country had stood by for months was no longer working, as Japan reached 3,906 confirmed cases on Tuesday, exactly double the number a week earlier.

“Japan has been screwing up,” said Kenji Shibuya, director of the Institute for Population Health at King’s College London. The confirmed cases, he said, are “just the tip of the iceberg,” adding that a surge of patients could cause Tokyo’s health care system to collapse.

More

Hmm, fasten your seat belts...

[Russell]

Hmm, somewhat fascinating article from the Daily Male. Provided one can ignore the Kardashians, this outlet sometimes contains surprisingly interesting contents.

Wuhan lab was performing coronavirus experiments on bats from the caves where the disease is believed to have originated - with a £3m grant from the US

• Wuhan Institute of Virology undertook coronavirus experiments on bats
• They were captured more than 1,000 miles away in Yunnan
• Sequencing of the Covid-19 genome has traced it to bats from Yunnan's caves
• Accident at the laboratory in the Chinese city was 'no longer being discounted'

The laboratory at the centre of scrutiny over the pandemic has been carrying out research on bats from the cave which scientists believe is the original source of the devastating outbreak.

Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday show the Wuhan Institute of Virology undertook coronavirus experiments on mammals captured more than 1,000 miles away in Yunnan – funded by a $3.7 million grant from the US government.

Sequencing of the Covid-19 genome has traced it to bats found in Yunnan's caves.

It comes after this newspaper revealed last week that Ministers here now fear that the pandemic could have been caused by a virus leaking from the institute.

Senior Government sources said that while 'the balance of scientific advice' was still that the deadly virus was first transmitted to humans from a live animal market in Wuhan, an accident at the laboratory in the Chinese city was 'no longer being discounted'.

According to one unverified claim, scientists at the institute could have become infected after being sprayed with blood containing the virus, and then passed it on to the local community.

Now The Mail on Sunday has learned that scientists there experimented on bats as part of a project funded by the US National Institutes of Health, which continues to licence the Wuhan laboratory to receive American money for experiments.

Results of the research were published in November 2017 under the heading: 'Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus.'

The exercise was summarised as: 'Bats in a cave in Yunnan, China were captured and sampled for coronaviruses used for lab experiments.

'All sampling procedures were performed by veterinarians with approval from the Animal Ethics Committee of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

'Bat samplings were conducted ten times from April 2011 to October 2015 at different seasons in their natural habitat at a single location (cave) in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. Bats were trapped and faecal swab samples were collected.'

[...]

Senior Ministers say that while the latest intelligence does not dispute the virus was 'zoonotic' – originating in animals – it no longer rules out that the virus first spread to humans after leaking from a Wuhan laboratory.

Last week, further doubt was cast on the animal market theory after Cao Bin, a doctor at the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, highlighted research showing that 13 of the first 41 patients diagnosed with the infection had not had any contact with the market. 'It seems clear that the seafood market is not the only origin of the virus,' he said.

The £30 million Wuhan Institute of Virology, the most advanced laboratory of its type on the Chinese mainland, is based ten miles from the now infamous wildlife market.

Last night, Anthony Bellotti, president of the US pressure group White Coat Waste, condemned his government for spending tax dollars in China, adding: 'Animals infected with viruses or otherwise sickened and abused in Chinese labs reportedly may be sold to wet markets for consumption once experiments are done.'

While this may seem unlikely, researchers' mindsets of profiting from "free meat" can not be discounted.

I personally witnessed more than 25 years ago that a visiting researcher from Poland prepared a rabbit in the canteen's kitchen of an institute after it had been "sacrificed" for harvesting some tissue from it. It is hard to get the image out of my mind of this sizeable woman cooking the rabbit, while having a cigarette in her mouth. Needless to say, I declined the invitation to join the party...

[...]

A letter from the Chinese Embassy, responding to our report last week about the possible leak from the Wuhan Institute, is published in today's edition.

It says: 'Hasty and reckless allegations, such as naming China as the origin in an attempt to shift the blame before any scientific conclusion, is irresponsible and will definitely do harm to international co-operation at this critical time.

'China and the UK exchanged views seriously on the origin of the virus and reached consensus.

'In his telephone conversation with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that 'alarmingly, some people are attempting to politicise the epidemic, label the virus and stigmatise China...'

'Raab expressed the UK's firm opposition to politicising the Covid-19 outbreak and fully agrees with China that the source of the virus is a scientific issue that requires professional and science-based assessment.'

More

While I agree that research into the origin of the virus should not be politicized, the Chinese government is doing just that.

China clamping down on coronavirus research, deleted pages suggest

Move is likely to be part of attempt to control the narrative surrounding the pandemic

China is cracking down on publication of academic research about the origins of the novel coronavirus, in what is likely to be part of a wider attempt to control the narrative surrounding the pandemic, documents published online by Chinese universities appear to show.

Two websites for leading Chinese universities appear to have recently published and then removed pages that reference a new policy requiring academic papers dealing with Covid-19 to undergo extra vetting before they are submitted for publication.

Research on the origins of the virus is particularly sensitive and subject to checks by government officials, the notices posted on the websites of Fudan University and the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) said. Both the deleted pages were accessed from online caches.

Prof Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said the Chinese government had had a heavy focus on how the evolution and management of the virus is perceived since the early days of the outbreak.

“In terms of priority, controlling the narrative is more important than the public health or the economic fallout,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the economy and public health aren’t important. But the narrative is paramount.”

With the virus having infected more than a million people worldwide and caused heavy casualties particularly across Europe and the US, details about its origin and the first weeks of the pandemic – when there was a cover-up by local officials – may be considered particularly sensitive.

“If these documents are authentic it would suggest the government really wants to control the narrative about the origins of Covid-19 very tightly,” said Tsang of the reports of new regulations.

China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) appears to have published and then deleted new requirements that academic papers dealing with the origins of the virus be approved by China’s ministry of science and technology before publication.

The university’s academic committee was expected to first go through the research “with an emphasis on checking the accuracy of the thesis, as well as whether it is suitable for publication,” the regulation said.

“When the checks have been completed, the school should report to the Ministry of Science and Technology [MOST], and it should only be published after it has [also] been checked by MOST,” it said.

Despite its name, the geosciences university announced elsewhere on its website that it was carrying out coronavirus research.

[...]

A separate document obtained by the Guardian, which could not be independently verified, appears to be from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University and also said publication of research into the origins of Covid-19 would need approval from the science and technology ministry.

Another notice, which appears to have been published on 9 April by the school of information science and technology at Fudan University in Shanghai, called for “strict and serious” management of papers investigating the source of the outbreak.

Papers could only be submitted for publication after being approved by a special office. Email, names and phone numbers provided on the notice suggested that office was part of China’s ministry of education.

A source who alerted the Guardian to cached versions of the websites, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they were concerned by what appeared to be an attempt by Chinese authorities to intervene in the independence of the scientific process.

The person said researchers submitting academic papers on other medical topics did not have to vet their work with government ministries before seeking publication.

A technical analysis of the cached websites indicated that the posts were published on verified university websites before they were removed. The Guardian could not independently verify that they reflected a new government policy.

The notices appear to be part of a broader push to manage research on the virus. The science and technology ministry said on 3 April that ongoing clinical research on the coronavirus must be reported to authorities within three days or be halted.

In March China’s president, Xi Jinping, published an essay that included “tracing the origin of the virus” on a list of national priorities. It was referenced by the science and technology ministry shortly before the universities posted their orders.

The Chinese government did not reply to a request for comment sent by the Guardian to the Chinese embassy in Washington.

More

The lack of straightforwardness from the Chinese government makes me biased into thinking that, indeed, this virus originates from a leak from a laboratory in or near Wuhan. For the time being, that is my working hypothesis.

Then there is this:

Mining coronavirus genomes for clues to the outbreak’s origins

Strong evidence suggests the marketplace played an early role in spreading 2019-nCoV, but whether it was the origin of the outbreak remains uncertain. Many of the initially confirmed 2019-nCoV cases—27 of the first 41 in one report, 26 of 47 in another—were connected to the Wuhan market, but up to 45%, including the earliest handful, were not. This raises the possibility that the initial jump into people happened elsewhere.

[...]

Concerns about the institute predate this outbreak. Nature ran a story in 2017 about it building a new biosafety level 4 lab and included molecular biologist Richard Ebright of Rutgers University, Piscataway, expressing concerns about accidental infections, which he noted repeatedly happened with lab workers handling SARS in Beijing. Ebright, who has a long history of raising red flags about studies with dangerous pathogens, also in 2015 criticized an experiment in which modifications were made to a SARS-like virus circulating in Chinese bats to see whether it had the potential to cause disease in humans. Earlier this week, Ebright questioned the accuracy of Bedford’s calculation that there are at least 25 years of evolutionary distance between RaTG13—the virus held in the Wuhan virology institute—and 2019-nCoV, arguing that the mutation rate may have been different as it passed through different hosts before humans. Ebright tells ScienceInsider that the 2019-nCoV data are “consistent with entry into the human population as either a natural accident or a laboratory accident.”

More