Another day in the strange world of Covid
A new finding suggests Covid-19 doesn’t just bind to the ACE2 receptor, it also binds to a key pain receptor called neuropilin-1 receptor (NRP-1). This could explain why some people with a high viral load are asymptomatic and infectious but unaware they are unwell. It’s like the virus is arriving with it’s own morphine. In theory this might be a successful adaption from the virus’s point of view as it may increase the spread of the disease if infected people wander around able to shed virus for longer.
Despite being fed up with the WuFlu, the efficient perfidy is something to behold (at least to a microbiologist). It’s like a pocketknife.
On the down side, the virus may still be damaging tissues in this painless state, which might explain some of those findings of lung and heart damage even in mild or asymptomatic cases.
There is at least one potentially very nice payoff. The finding from the University of Arizona, may lead to the design of whole new painkillers based on the coronavirus spike that is “better than opioids”. The lead author says he has been contacted by people who had chronic pain, but noticed it disappeared while they were infected. The pain returned later as they recovered.
Perhaps we can dose people up on little parts of Covid spikes and stop a whole lot of pain and suffering in other diseases. We will get the better of this box of malware.
COVID-19 causing virus blocks the pain receptors
Neuropilins (both NRP1 and NRP2) are also associated with one of the pain pathways of the body.
According to the study published in Pain, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain, on 1 October 2020, the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 also bind to the neuropilin receptors exactly at the same spot as VEGF-A, thus interfering with the pain pathway.
To confirm their finding, scientists conducted a series of experiments on rodent models in the labs, where they used VEGF-A as a trigger to provoke the excitability of the nerve cells, thus creating pain. Following that the scientists injected the rodents with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
The scientists concluded that by designing small molecules against neuropilin receptors, they would be able to form a pain-relieving medication better than opioids.
Better than opioids?
He has received dozens of anecdotal emails since his study published from patients who had chronic pain conditions before getting sick. Then they got COVID and now their pain is gone,” he said. “I fully acknowledge that these are anecdotes … but it’s a recurrent theme. It’s mind boggling!” Once the COVID-19 infection subsides in the patients, their chronic pain comes back, he said.
Bear in mind, most symptoms are due to our own immune response. The fever, the coughing, the runny nose, are all efforts by our own immune system to defeat the germs. Presumably, these symptoms still occur eventually, despite the pain relief.
I expect covid-pain-killing would not explain most true asymptomatic cases. It may perhaps keep people on their feet shedding germs further during the early days of their disease when they are also the most infectious. True asymptomatic cases probably have some other way to defeat the virus — or who got lucky with a very small dose.
REFERENCE
Moutal et al (2020) SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein co-opts VEGF-A/Neuropilin-1 receptor signaling to induce analgesia,
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Interesting find – “could lead to” being the operative words. However the prevalence of chronic pain in “long-haulers” and every other form of post-viral syndrome (if they are in fact different) flags a warning. Maybe this blocking of pain receptors is part of what triggers of sensitized pain system in the aftermath. Needless to say I won;t be signing up as a volunteer in any trail regarding this. Disclosure – I’ve been “long hauling” since 1990.
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Yes Ken, interesting to ponder whether the pain killing is involved in long hauler problems, but I suspect it is more likely to be the autoimmune antibody reactions, or perhaps mitochondria/energy production is involved.
The long hauler toll is a sleeper. We wonder if that is the main and real issue with potential mystery bioweapons on loose. What does CCP know?
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Remibds me of mozzies…inject local anaesthetic while draining your blood….rather symbolic of the whole CCP virus really….
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Or of the CCP itself.
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The asymptomatics are a worry.
‘A Covid-19 patient who had no respiratory symptoms has suffered a neurological disorder in a case that has caused concern among some scientists.
‘The 30-year-old man from Texas had difficulty speaking and walking – signs of a malfunction in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls coordination and balance – but had no fever, cough, chest pains or other typical symptoms.’ SCMP
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Interesting. This is what you might want to do if you were making a virus to escape detection so that it could be used as a weapon.
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Indeed, an interesting question. Striking how well the virus bonds to the pain receptor. I wonder if this occurs in other viruses?
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Just when you think the sensationalism has no more legs……
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We have destroyed our wealth over a concern for a virus which 90% of us need to have a test to find out that we have it.
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It is indeed possible to further behold with incredible reverence that this virus is capable of manifesting religious mystical experiences unto the masses… This might explain, among other religious mystical things, why there are some who report wearing a mask feels subjectively very similar to a fig leaf 🙂
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“There is at least one potentially very nice payoff.
This is the second time this summer I’ve learned of a serendipitous discovery during a seriously bad situation. I’m assuming this virus-pain thing will advance. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/bombing-and-breakthrough-180975505/
This is about (nitrogen) mustard gas, white blood cells, and leukemia. It is also the story of a smart man, Stewart Alexander, education and training, and being at the right place – horrific as it was.
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John,
It is an ill wind that blows no one any good.
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Philip, tis many bad things wrapped into one, but on the upside, it could have been a lot nastier, and the next one is coming, but people will be much more prepared when it does.
And I have never seen the BioTech research world so focused. It’s been set on fire. There will be many great discoveries and insights that flow from this. (Assuming no civil wars to slow it down etc.) Sigh. It’s not clear that great research will necessarily get to the GP’s office though.
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Hurrah!
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Jo, that’s the good coming from bad: bu_ut the Next one is coming….. how do we get prepared for that? I mean to say =LOOK, L@@k at what we’ve been doing – ALL of us, nations, No reason, Just a RHYME. Now it hit me today seeing a report of / with our BORIS leaving No. 10 for his car – wearing a MASK …. WHY? He’s had it and by all acounts ( most ) is immune and can’t pass it on …….. the discredited Science isn’t settled – nor are the politicians.
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Saighdear — What we do next time is what I recommended in February this time.
Shut the borders and keep the virus in China where all bioweapons belong.
We shut the borders anyway, but it cost us $20 billion or so plus ‘000,000s of deaths because we were too late. We must disband the WHO, they are agents of China, and can never be accountable or useful to democratic nations.
If we had kept the virus in China we would have been free to fly to all other nations on Earth all of 2020, except if one or two got an outbreak.
We need a real pandemic plan — not just a 56 page rehashed Spanish Flu document.
We need PPE from the start. Local manufacturing.
We need drugs and supply lines secure.
We don’t need a national CDC — look how they have failed the UK and USA.
We need the ability to make and manufacture tests for any virus. We need to educate the population better in microbiology (hygiene) so they are able to practice better infection control most of the time. We should have prewarned the masses about stocking up on essentials from the start so there was no need for a run on shops. Every household should have masks, and be aware that if they choose to use them they may cut infection rates of all airborne disease by 25 – 70%.
We need a cutting edge biotech industry. After the borders are shut the urgent task is to figure out:
1. How bad is this virus.
2. How do we treat it (starting with cheap pharma). This includes cheap drugs, monoclonal antibodies, nanobodies, RNA, stem cells, etc etc… with vaccines (maybe) in the long term.
3. What are the long term sequelae? hospitalization rates. ICU rates. At risk groups?
4. best protection plan for at risk groups is to keep the virus out until we have a good treatment. Otherwise at risk groups must be essentially “exiled” from society. not much of a civilization.
Assuming that next time the CCP might release the virus in Africa, closing borders still works, and we are then obliged, and able to help said poor nation as much as possible. Better for everyone except the CCP.
The old way of thinking is that we “have to catch germs”, we need “herd immunity” (a Big Pharma marketing message that many have picked up) and that vaccines are the only solution. Herd immunity didn’t save us from many nasties. It didn’t stop the Spanish Flu doing three rounds of boom and bust. Herd immunity didn’t save us from HIV or Ebola or Rabies or RSV or corona common colds.
The era of Antivirals is now upon us. We no longer have to be slaves to stupid viruses, just as we conquered the world of bacteria after WWII.
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Do we really have objective proof that the Cov-19 virus exists?
I ask since the Perth Group is still waiting for confirmation of Luc Montagnier’s claim to have isolated and purified HIV which they dispute.
A critique of the Montagnier evidence for the HIV/AIDS hypothesis
http://www.theperthgroup.com/SCIPAPERS/MHMONT.pdf
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Jo,
There is another aspect to this.
Has anyone thought to include analgesic effects in laboratory tests?
Not an easy thing to study when you cannot ask the question directly.
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Jo, when a real pandemic hits there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Millions will die, possibly even billions if it’s a big one.
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PeterS,
What you can and should do, is
get your personal affairs in order.
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Correct, and I have, with our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus.
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Isn’t this thread now obsolete since the great one has decreed that anyone who worries about this is a loser and all you need to do is be brave?
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You mean the POTUS has surrendered to herd immunity because, like Europeans, they cannot afford the luxury of continual lockdowns. Its the old world order.
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Or reality. Australia’s patient zero might be a week or a year away. Your presumption presumably is that Australia can isolate forever. Let’s see how that one turns out…
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Neither can we afford continual lockdowns. So what’s your point? You like the lockdowns to remain? You hate Australia that much?
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We won’t have continual lockdowns because we are heading towards isolation. Obviously the regions are better situated than capital cities, where occasional clusters may breakout.
My point is that the Trans-Tasman Bubble will become a reality and Australia is sitting pretty as a tourist destination of choice for the rich and fatuous. On the other side of the Great Divide the people don’t wear masks.
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So heres the thing – cov19 is infectious, yup, but in reality not that dangerous unless youre elderly and quite sick. Stringent biosecurity around retirement homes should fix that.
The OberFuhrer is truly playing with fire doing exactly what was predicted in that he is jerking people around like yoyos on the end of a bit of string promising relief from lockdowns to fix a now-trivial disease – only to remove said relief.
Its galling to watch such behaviour, and I suspect the southerners have done it tough, and as the number of people who can be sacrificed under the bus is dwindling, something has to give as the all consuming fire is getting close to his feet now.
And who is to say the figures arent totally made up to play this sick & twisted medical theatre out for more time?
What is the definition of sociopath?
If this is the breed of pollie people want to re-elect, voters would have to be irretrievebly stupid.
But heres the recent screamer from the USA, that only serves to prove my point about how much this thing is pure theatre….
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/shock-report-week-cdc-quietly-updated-covid-19-numbers-9210-americans-died-covid-19-alone-rest-serious-illnesses/
“So let’s get this straight – based on the recommendation of doctors Fauci and Birx the US shut down the entire economy based on 9,000 American deaths due entirely to the China coronavirus?
We were first to report that the Director General of the WHO on March 3, 2020 created panic with his highly flawed statement:
“While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity. That means more people are susceptible to infection, and some will suffer severe disease.
“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.
“The WHO leader’s coronavirus death rate number of 3.4% was false and we proved this in our post at the time.
“The Gateway Pundit reported, that the coronavirus fatality rate reported by the liberal mainstream media was completely inaccurate and the actual rate more typical to a seasonal flu – the media was lying again.
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So you are for herd immunity? Good luck with that.
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I guess you could stay in lockdown forever……enjoy that….
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As I said, west of the Blue Mountains its Covid Free, life is back to normal. We are enjoying life immensely and not dependent on foreign students or tourists.
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El gordo – a slightly different take on your herd immunity statement. https://youtu.be/gJq8MBgYJ4Q. Interesting that you have used the term several times in comments. I heard similar statements from the new world order ranks where they frequently use the term “denier”….
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The Victorian solution is to aim for zero cases before all lockdowns are lifted. That was admitted today. Good luck with that one. Lockdowns are well past their use by date. NSW has proved there is a better way. The Victorian government can’t admit to that as they don’t want to lose face. It’s sickening to see people locked up for so long with the prospect of it going on for many more weeks if not months. IMHO it’s criminal.
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Old World Disorder
‘UK in three tier lockdown as cases rocket: England’s north hit hardest by Boris Johnson’s three tier system of lockdown measures as hospitalisations rise to March levels.’ Oz
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‘UK in three tier lockdown as cases rocket ‘ .. Heard on radio this morning “…..Local authorities not getting £££££££ from Central Gov whilst in Tier2, but If / when they reach Tier3, they will get a lot of £££££££££££££….” Isn’t this REALLY the case, – the Problemm ££££££££££££££££ -NOT !
see from Climate Realists https://twitter.com/talkRADIO/status/1315593946022719488
wrong to equate coronavirus cases with positive tests. etc etc – seen all this before, haven’t we?
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The Great American Mask Rip-Off
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Aye for sure …. The Herd, eh? Happy to saay that I am not a member of the Herd – Teecher tocht me to think for myself…. ever since then I’ve managed. I didn’t jump in the fire when I was cold, nor jump in the river when I was hot. A William Golding’s Novel springs to mind again. He was a Nobel Prize winning British author – so much for Awards, you hardly hear of him / the book. Probably it doesn’t fit the Data…..
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shine on man.
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Saighdear
Lord of the Flies.
Read it.
Horrific novel.
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“horrific” – does that mean good or bad ? some things in NE England are ‘hellish good’ as an example.; Novel sums up a lot of folk I know in real life: – the Jealousy and ENVY – the worse of the two: Destructive, even. “If I can’t have it, you must lose it too.” ring any bells ?
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Do I really need to do this?
Sigh.
Horrific
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Where is that decree GA?
As for this thread being obsolete, my observation would be that it remains of interest as a study of the mechanism by which the body after being tested positive for the most dangerous ‘thing’ may distract you from your chronic pain symptoms. I would like to know if the lab rodents were given access to CNN in order to promote a feeling of imminent doom prior to being injected with the virus.
Anyway, off to the laundry to ‘deep clean’ the contents of my swear jar after listening to the latest CSIRO missive on virus stability.
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No need for CNN. One look at Victoria’s virtual dictator would be enough. His powers are working well as it appears most Victorians are loving the taste of the draconian nonsense. I’ve now placed Victoria on my list of places never to reside, not far behind North Korea.
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We’re stuck here. Why should we have to abandon what we have done here? We have had to move home and countries so many times we thought we were done with it. I hope enough eyes have been opened for Dan to be given the push.
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I obviously sympathise with your position. What concerns me is how long does it take for the other shoe to drop? The lockdowns were never meant to be kept on for more than a few weeks to allow other appropriate actions and procedures to be prepared and implemented. The idea that lockdowns are required to eliminate the virus are ridiculous. I expect though Andrews is not completely insane. He must realise the lockdowns have to be lifted sooner rather than later unless he wants an economic disaster and a revolt with perhaps a mass exodus of Victorians.
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We should expect that some suburbs will become isolated ghettos, due to cluster outbreaks, while the rest of the state returns to normalcy.
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Victoria has been in that state for many months already. Andrews though doesn’t see it that way.
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WHO envoy asks that governments should not use lockdowns as they are counter productive
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/uk-who-envoy-urges-world-leaders-to-halt-lockdowns/
Is he an outlier or will this nonsensicall policy become official doctrine ?
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https://www.betfair.com.au/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.172902063
Resignation Date market quotes on Dan and Gladys.
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Should also have bets on whether he will be criminally charged for trying to cover up his blunders.
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Notice too the media frenzy over Gladys. How many people died as a result of the alleged love affair with her “close friend”? Compare that to how many have died over the mishandling of the hotel affair over the virus. As usual the MSM have their priorities up-side-down.
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No Need for being “brave”.
Initial studies at the UOQ indicate that the controlled release of natural gases based on methane can afford significant deterrence to spread of the CV19.
It seems that clothing that has been impregnated with even small quantities of the gas can be effective, although there are issues with this strategy being used on public transport where it’s most needed.
More studies are planned once grants become available with one of the main issues being combustibility of methane in enclosed spaces.
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You should take up satire as a career.
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Pass us the ciggie lighter…….
*click*
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I don’t know about everyone else , but I have learned a lot about cellular biology and viruses while being locked up in PRV. It would appear that in future we (the public) will be better informed about what we are dealing with when the next virus emerges. Judging by recent history that is inevitable (SARS,MERS etc). I hope our politicians will also have a learning experience too….
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Hi Jo, can you tell me what you think of this, MIT phd says it’s not the virus but your immune system attacking your own body https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ibLPX4HKhfI
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“The immune system is your operating system” is an interesting metaphor. Since it can kill you in a few minutes (anaphylaxis) there is some truth to that.
He’s right on a lot (as I’ve said, Vit D etc) but it’s a bit too simplistic to say “everyone” and “no one”. He ought to know better. He’s not dealing with original antigenic sin, ADE, or any of the other very real problems. Vitamins and a healthy diet is very important but it’s not a magic ray gun.
Even young marathon runners are getting long covid and ending up in the ICU. (Which may not be a coincidence, but if marathoning is Too much exercise, how many km a day is perfect? Ans: We don’t know exactly.
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Thanks Jo. Have you seen this meta analysis, high dose vitamin c may help those in ICU? “In three trials in which patients needed mechanical ventilation for over 24 hours, vitamin C shortened the duration of mechanical ventilation by 18.2% ” https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/4/708/htm
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“COVID-19 infection is accompanied by an aggressive inflammatory response with the release of a large amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines in an event known as “cytokine storm.” The host immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus is hyperactive resulting in an excessive inflammatory reaction. Several studies analyzing cytokine profiles from COVID-19 patients suggested that the cytokine storm correlated directly with lung injury, multi-organ failure, and unfavorable prognosis of severe COVID-19 ”
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01446/full
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I swear, seems like science has become the the Medieval Church.
Climate Change, the original sin, ya’ know cause human activity is “unnatural” and we will all die unless we repent.
The non-believers deny the mask.
Now, a never ending projection of the consequences of heresy.
I renounce the Devil.
And white you know what.
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Original antigenic sin is a microbiology term.
Your first encounter with a virus means your antibodies are “set” to respond in a certain way. People born in the years of 1968 appear to the doomed to get H2N3 worse even 50 years later, rather than others — because the H2N3 virus shifted a few years later, and their original antibodies are less than ideal, which means their immune system responds to H2N3 infections with a poor response, the virus spreads further, and then they have to “catch up”, dump the “back up” plan and start again.
They cached the wrong response. Does that help?
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That is factually incorrect. Original antigenic sin is the concept that the immune system, having made an effective response against a first challenge, ‘misses’ the change in antigenicity of the new mutant virus, and is deceived into making a response to the original, and not to the change.
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