As expected -- not enough people getting vaccinated quickly enough to stop the generation of new variants, new very infectious Covid variants, waning immunity and other factors have made the concept of herd immunity for Covid mute. Herd immunity was sold as the path out of the pandemic. Here’s why we’re not talking about it any more https://theconversation.com/herd-im...why-were-not-talking-about-it-any-more-183918
There is now a low cost blood test available for determining T-Cell response for Covid. During the Delta wave and earlier it was noted in studies that T-Cell response was not found within a week of a person not demonstrating any detectable anti-body immunity level. It will be interesting if broad testing during Omicron shows that T-Cell response can last longer than a week after detectable anti-body levels are not present. As noted in the article - "T cells won't stop an infection from happening, but they can prevent a patient from becoming severely ill from Covid". Earlier claims from posters on ET claiming that T-Cell response would somehow stop someone from catching Covid even if no detectable antibody immunity level is present is pure bunk. How strong is your Covid immunity? A blood test could offer some insight The newly developed test focuses on the part of the immune system that confers long-term protection by prompting the body to “remember” the virus. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/sci...d-immunity-blood-test-offer-insight-rcna33258 A newly developed blood test that measures a specific immune response in the body could help doctors gauge how much protection a person has against Covid-19, according to a new study. The test, which focuses on the part of the immune system that confers long-term protection by prompting the body to "remember" the virus, could help make sense of the complex tangle of Covid immunity that now exists from person to person. The test can, for instance, measure immunity regardless of whether someone has developed a level of protection from one or more natural infections or from vaccinations and booster shots. Others, who may have much lower levels of protection because they are immunocompromised, could also use the test to assess their vulnerability and see how they responded to the vaccines, said Ernesto Guccione, an associate professor of oncological sciences and pharmacological sciences at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. "Ideally, it will give you a full picture of where you stand and a comprehensive picture of your immune protection," said Guccione, one of the authors of the study published Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology. The researchers said they are focused next on clinical trials in order to gain approval from both the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. The test involves taking a small blood sample at a clinic and mixing it with snippets of proteins from the virus. Researchers then look to see if the so-called T cells are activated in the sample. T cells are the cornerstone of the immune system's long-term memory and typically lie in wait until they detect the presence of foreign invaders. Unlike antibody levels, which can wane following vaccinations or infections, T cells can recall a virus years, and sometimes decades, later. Whether through vaccinations or infections, T cells are primed to "recall" fragments of a virus, including from variants that can dodge protective antibodies. This means that T cells won't stop an infection from happening, but they can prevent a patient from becoming severely ill from Covid. Previous studies have found that T cells can recognize all the known variants of concern, including omicron, but Guccione said it's an active area of research. The scientists are continuing to refine the test and are studying how well T cells are responding against different variants. "The data coming out so far are very encouraging," he said. "The good news is that we develop immunity against multiple proteins from the virus, and many of them do not tend to be mutated by the variants." Tests to detect T cells have mostly been limited to labs for research purposes, and the process is usually expensive and difficult to do on a large scale, Guccione said. The new kit, however, is designed to be used widely, and results can typically be delivered in less than 24 hours, he added. More research is needed, but he said the accuracy of the results is comparable to similar tests run in research labs. Currently, the test can detect the activation of T cells, but the researchers are hoping that subsequent versions may be able to provide more granular detail, said Jordi Ochando, an assistant professor of oncological sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and one of the study co-authors. "To look at the degree of intensity of T cell immunity and have that correlated with protection — we're not at that level yet," he said. "But we hope to be at some point." Future iterations may, for example, be able to provide details on the magnitude and the duration of a person's immunity to Covid. Each test costs roughly $50 to run, but Ochando said it's possible that companies that license the product could include a markup on the price. The test was developed by researchers at Mount Sinai and the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. It is commercially available in Europe, as part of a licensing agreement with Hyris, a biotechnology company based in the United Kingdom.
Interesting. Looks like they are coming out with wrist-trackers which can detect if you have Covid-19 -- even before you have symptoms. Think of this being added as a feature to your smart watch or fitbit --- in the future. Wearable activity trackers and AI might be used to pick up pre-symptomatic COVID-19 https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-06-wearable-trackers-ai-pre-symptomatic-covid-.html Wrist-worn trackers can detect Covid before symptoms, study finds Sensor tech can alert wearer to Covid early, helping to prevent onward transmission https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-can-detect-covid-before-symptoms-study-finds
Just a matter of time until a more severe variant develops -- and the world is doing little to identify and track new variants currently. “We’re playing with fire,” warns WHO Covid-19 Chief as infections multiply across the globe “The number of sequences that have been shared that we can analyze has dropped precipitously. And we’re looking at very very few sequences right now,” Kerkhove said. https://www.financialexpress.com/li...infections-multiply-across-the-globe/2568761/