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Covid Immune Response Study Revealing Potential Reason Some People Avoid Infection 

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In a new study from the University College London, scientists have discovered potential differences in immune responses that could reveal why some individuals avoid infection from Covid-19. 

The study, according to The Guardian, intentionally gave healthy adults a small nasal dose of Covid-19. The results showed that specialized immune cells in the nose could fight off the virus in the early stages of development before a full infection can form. 

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“These findings shed new light on the crucial early events that either allow the virus to take hold or rapidly clear it before symptoms develop. We now have a much greater understanding of the full range of immune responses, which could provide a basis for developing potential treatments and vaccines that mimic these natural protective responses,”  said Dr Marko Nikolić, senior author and honorary consultant in respiratory medicine. 

36 healthy adult volunteers without a previous history of having Covid and were unvaccinated were given a small dose of the virus through the nose. The study was done in 2021 at the height of the pandemic. 

16 of the volunteers were monitored specifically within the immune cells of the blood and the lining of the nose.

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“These participants were found to fall into three distinct groups: six people developed a sustained infection and became ill; three people became transiently positive but without developing a full infection; and seven experienced an ‘abortive infection.’ This subset never tested positive, but the tests showed they had mounted an immune response,” according to Hannah Devlin, a Science Correspondent for the Guardian. 

The abortive and transient groups had samples taken pre-exposure, and showed high activity levels in a gene called HLA-DQA2. 

“These cells will take a little bit of the virus and show it to immune cells and say: ‘This is foreign: you need to go and sort it out,’” said Dr Kaylee Worlock of UCL, first author of the study.

The study suggested that those with high levels of activity of the gene may have a more efficient immune response to Covid, however, they were not completely immune. 

The study could provide a basis for developing further and more effective treatments and vaccine options that can replicate the initial immune response that the cells in the nose provide.

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Scientists Develop New Antibiotic to Kill Drug-Resistant Bacteria

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Scientists have developed a novel antibiotic to combat bacteria resistant to existing antibiotics. The bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii, causes infections in the lungs, urinary tract and blood and has a high mortality rate.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that it is resistant to a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics known as carbapenems, and it kills a significant number of people via invasive infection.

In 2017, the World Health Organization released a list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens,” listing Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in its critical category. The organization describes pathogens of this designation as “ multidrug-resistant bacteria that pose a particular threat in hospitals, nursing homes, and among patients whose care requires devices such as ventilators and blood catheters.”

Data from the CDC shows that the bacteria caused 700 fatalities and 8,500 infections in hospitalized patients in the US that year. Being a Gram-negative bacteria, protected by inner and outer membranes, makes CRAB incredibly difficult to treat. The US Food and Drug Administration has not authorized a new class of antibiotics to treat it in over 50 years.

However, Acinetobacter baumannii can be effectively killed with the new antibiotic Zosurabalpin, according to researchers from Harvard University and the Swiss healthcare company Hoffmann-La Roche.

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Dr. Kenneth Bradley, one of the researchers and global head of infectious disease discovery with Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, stated that the drug is in its own chemical class and has a unique method of action.

The study’s primary objective was to discover and optimize a molecule capable of penetrating bacterial double membranes and killing them. “These two membranes create a very formidable barrier for entry of molecules like antibiotics,” he said.

“This is a novel approach, both in terms of the compound itself but as well as the mechanism by which it kills bacteria.”

The research found that Zosurabalpin was effective against over 100 CRAB clinical samples. To develop the drug, the scientists researched 45,000 small antibiotic molecules known as tethered macrocyclic peptides to find those that could inhibit bacterial growth. Researchers spent years honing the effectiveness and safety of a select few compounds before settling on a single modified molecule.

By blocking the transport of lipopolysaccharides, which are big molecules essential for maintaining the integrity of the outer membrane and ultimately leading to cell death, Zolofalacpin inhibits the growth of Acinetobacter baumannii.

According to the study, the antibiotic significantly decreased bacterial levels in mice with CRAB-induced pneumonia. Additionally, it prevented the death of mice infected with bacterial sepsis.

“Drug discovery that targets harmful Gram-negative bacteria is a long-standing challenge owing to difficulties in getting molecules to cross the bacterial membranes to reach targets in the cytoplasm. Compounds typically must possess a certain combination of chemical characteristics.”

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Dr. Michael Lobritz, the global head of infectious diseases at Roche Pharma Research and Early Development and an associate participant in the study, stated that the continued absence of effective treatments for antibiotic resistance means that the public health risk of this phenomenon is still a major one on a global scale, regardless of the new finding.

According to CNN, an analysis published in the Lancet in 2022 estimated that antimicrobial resistance was directly responsible for the deaths of about 1.3 million people worldwide in 2019. When put side by side, that year, 860,000 people died from HIV/AIDS and 640,000 from malaria.

The CDC stated in its 2019 Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report that more than 2.8 million cases of infections resistant to antibiotics are reported annually in the United States. Over 35,000 of those individuals lose their lives.

More antibiotics have been developed to treat Gram-positive infections in the last few decades, according to Lobritz. Gram-negative bacteria are more resistant to antibiotics and generally more dangerous. “These  Gram-negative bacteria, they’ve been accumulating resistance to many of our preferred first-line antibiotics for a long time.”

“Innovations are hard to come by. It’s taken us ten years of effort on this project to get it to where it is now, and there’s still more clinical trials to go before it can be determined whether or not it’s a medicine.”

According to the researchers, the method that was used to limit the growth of Acinetobacter, blocking the creation or formation of the outer membrane, could be useful for other difficult-to-treat bacteria such as E. coli. The drug is now in phase 1 clinical trials to assess for safety in humans.

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New Study Reveals Which Animals Can Contract Covid-19

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Researchers working at the University of California, Davis recently discovered a way to find out which species of animal are susceptible to being infected by the coronavirus. Many researchers have attempted to figure out ways of testing this since the beginning of the pandemic, however, no one was able to come up with a way to do it without potentially harming the animal by infecting them on purpose; until now. 

The study was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS). The research showed that any animal that has the same enzyme in their cells that SARS-CoV-2 uses to infect human beings with the coronavirus would be at risk. The enzyme is referred to by scientists as ACE2, and is found within multiple types of cells in the human body, specifically our lung, nose, and mouth cells; the areas the coronavirus impacts the most initially. 

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When the coronavirus enters our bloodstream it binds itself to 25 amino acids (the particles that build proteins) and the ACE2 enzyme. Animals that have the same specific enzyme and 25 amino acids have the highest risk of potential infection while animals who have the enzyme but not all 25 specific amino acids are at a much lower risk. 

Prior to this study, we were already aware that the coronavirus could potentially infect dogs and cats, as it already has multiple times. Last month, Buddy the german shepard went viral online after being the first dog in America to contract Covid-19; Buddy unfortunately lost his life to the virus as well. House cats and wild cats are also at major risk, you may remember a couple of months ago when three African lions at the Bronx Zoo contracted the virus, however, there is no record of any type of cat dying from the virus. So this study wanted to focus more on other species that may be overlooked in terms of the coronavirus conversation. 

“Among 103 species, 41 (40%) are classified in one of three ‘threatened’ categories (vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered), five are classified as near threatened, and two species are classified as extinct in the wild. This represents only a small fraction of the threatened species also.”

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12 marine mammals, including dolphins, are at high risk as well as many different species of rodent, three types of deer, and more. Giant anteaters and the Angolan colobus monkey also made the list of high-risk for infection. The main goal of this entire study was not only to figure out which animals could potentially get the virus, but also to find new ways that humans and animals may be transmitting it to each other. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already stated that there is no evidence that infected dogs or cats could give the virus to humans, and person-to-person will always be the number one source of infection. Asymptomatic individuals being the most dangerous demographic of individuals, as they could be unknowingly spreading it around. 

The research concluded that household pets really aren’t at risk, as they normally are always socially distancing from other animals and people by staying at home, however, it’s important to note that it’s unclear as to whether or not humans can give the virus to their pets. So remain diligent in your own health and safety procedures not only for your own safety, but also for the furry friends who rely on you everyday to take care of them.