fitness advantage Archives

What Makes SARS-CoV-2 More Infectious.

12 February 2022

The Role Of The RBM:ACE2 Interface. A little over a year ago, we set out how increased infectiousness meant greater vulnerability, i.e. a new variant may be more infectious but it is also more susceptible to destruction by the innate immune response. The chances are that most people now know what a structural spike protein […]

How Each Of Us Causes Every Variant.

31 January 2022

The Four Nucleobases. Almost exactly twelve months ago, we explained how increased transmissibility also meant greater vulnerability, i.e. a new variant may be more infectious but it is also more susceptible to detection by the immune system. This was first evidenced by our study of SARS-CoV-2-SG614, also one year ago now. Despite there being virtually […]

How Low Is The SARS-CoV-2 Mortality Rate?

13 September 2021

We All Grew Up With Coronaviruses, As Did All Our Ancestors. To understand the relevance of mortality rate, you have to appreciate that coronaviruses first became pathogenic to humans in the range 12,000 – 10,000 years ago, as a consequence of the first interaction between humans and livestock that occurred in the early Holocene. Mankind […]

Why Delta / B1.617.2 Is NOT A Problem.

6 July 2021

Just What Is Different About Delta? B1.617.2/Delta is apparently still spreading. This is unsurprising given that it has been occurring globally for over eight months. At least the WHO has finally applied a nomenclature to the main SARS-CoV-2 variants, adding to the existing PANGO and Nextstrain designations. This validates something we first highlighted four months […]

Is Ivermectin Another ‘Wonderdrug’?

21 April 2021

Is This Remdesivirmania Redux? Ivermectin is the subject of increasing coverage and concomitant hysteria around it being another ‘wonderdrug’ for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. It has been touted as a potential treatment since the days of remdesivir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir. We picked apart remdesivir in October 2020, days after it was approved by the […]

The ‘Third Wave’ That Has Been Here All Along.

24 March 2021

B1.1.7 v B1.1.28 v B1.351. As we have previously explained, SARS-CoV-2 neither thinks nor acts geographically. Yet the misleading designation of SARS-CoV-2 variants on a geographical basis continues to dominate media coverage and government obsession, with the putative ‘third wave’ being down to either the Brazilian variant or the UK variant dependent upon whether you […]

Why Geographical Naming Of Variants Is Wrong.

5 March 2021

B1.1.28 and B1.351 – They Are All ‘Johnny Foreigner’ Variants To The Government. In recent months, the government has made much of the emergence of new ‘killer mutations of death’, obsessing about ‘South African’ and ‘Brazilian’ geographical variants. Before going further, one should refer to these variants by their correct designations: the Brazilian variant is […]

More Infectious Equals More Vulnerable.

28 January 2021

Infectiousness And Infectivity Are Not The Same. Infectiousness is how easily a pathogen can spread and infectivity is the level of disease severity it can cause. We explained this in more detail earlier this month in response to the UK government’s regular – and one would predicate deliberate – confusion of the two. S-VoC / […]