Think All Viruses Get Milder With Time? Not This Rabbit-Killer.

Posted on June 20, 2022August 31, 2022 by Matt Kristoffersen

The New York Times, June 20, 2022

As the Covid death rate worldwide has fallen to its lowest level since the early weeks of the pandemic in 2020, it may be tempting to conclude that the coronavirus is becoming irreversibly milder. That notion fits with a widespread belief that all viruses start off nasty and inevitably evolve to become gentler over time.

“There’s been this dominant narrative that natural forces are going to solve this pandemic for us,” said Aris Katzourakis, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford.

But there is no such natural law. A virus’s evolution often takes unexpected twists and turns. For many virologists, the best example of this unpredictability is a pathogen that has been ravaging rabbits in Australia for the past 72 years: the myxoma virus. Continue reading “Think All Viruses Get Milder With Time? Not This Rabbit-Killer.” →

Ivermectin Has Little Effect on Recovery Time From Covid, Study Finds

Posted on June 12, 2022August 31, 2022 by Matt Kristoffersen

The New York Times, June 12, 2022

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The antiparasite drug ivermectin does not meaningfully reduce the time needed to recover from Covid, according to a large study posted online Sunday. It is the largest of several clinical trials to show that the drug, popular since the early pandemic as an alternative treatment, is not effective against the virus.

The new trial, conducted by researchers at Duke University and Vanderbilt University, tested more than 1,500 people with Covid, about half getting the drug and the others a placebo. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

“Given these results, there does not appear to be a role for ivermectin outside of a clinical trial setting, especially considering other available options with proven reduction in hospitalizations and death,” Dr. Adrian Hernandez, the executive director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute who led the trial, said in a statement on Sunday night. Continue reading “Ivermectin Has Little Effect on Recovery Time From Covid, Study Finds” →

Mysteries Linger About Covid’s Origins, W.H.O. Report Says

Posted on June 9, 2022August 31, 2022 by Matt Kristoffersen

The New York Times, June 9, 2022 (with Benjamin Mueller)

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In its first report, a team of international scientists assembled by the World Health Organization to advise on the origins of the coronavirus said on Thursday that bats likely carried an ancestor of the coronavirus that may have then spilled over into a mammal sold at a wildlife market. But the team said that more Chinese data was needed to study how the virus spread to people, including the possibility that a lab leak played a role.

The team, appointed by the W.H.O. in October as the organization tried to reset its approach to studying the pandemic’s origins, said that Chinese scientists had shared information with them, including from unpublished studies, on two occasions. But gaps in Chinese reports made it difficult to determine when and where the outbreak emerged, the report said. Continue reading “Mysteries Linger About Covid’s Origins, W.H.O. Report Says” →

F.D.A. advisers recommend the authorization of Covid shots by Novavax, a latecomer in the vaccine race.

Posted on June 7, 2022August 31, 2022 by Matt Kristoffersen

The New York Times, June 7, 2022 (with Rebecca Robbins)

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A federal advisory committee on Tuesday voted to recommend that regulators authorize a Covid-19 vaccine made by Novavax, an early beneficiary of the government’s Operation Warp Speed program.

If the Food and Drug Administration accepts the panel’s recommendation on the Novavax two-dose vaccine, it would become the fourth shot to win clearance for adults in the United States. But before the agency could authorize the shots, the F.D.A. would need to sign off on Novavax’s manufacturing process, which has stumbled again and again over the course of two years.

Those ongoing issues are likely to mean the vaccine would not be available for weeks, in contrast to the already cleared Covid vaccines that became available just days after the same committee endorsed those shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must also recommend use of the shots before they could become available. Continue reading “F.D.A. advisers recommend the authorization of Covid shots by Novavax, a latecomer in the vaccine race.” →

Tooth of an Ancient Girl Fills Gap in Human Family Tree

Posted on May 17, 2022August 31, 2022 by Matt Kristoffersen

The New York Times, May 17, 2022

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A tooth found inside of a mountain cave in Laos has solved one of the biggest scientific mysteries of the Denisovans, a branch of ancient humans that disappeared roughly 50,000 years ago.

Since 2010, when Denisovan teeth and finger bones were first discovered, DNA testing has revealed that the enigmatic hominins were among the ancestors of people alive today in Australia and the Pacific.

But scientists didn’t understand how the Denisovans, whose scant remains had been found only in Siberia and Tibet, would have been able to interbreed with the group of humans who expanded east from Africa through Southeast Asia before reaching Australia, New Guinea and other islands in the Pacific. Continue reading “Tooth of an Ancient Girl Fills Gap in Human Family Tree” →