Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague, joins TWiV for a wide-ranging discussion of infectious disease and public health, including emerging infections, the role of wildlife markets in spillovers, and missteps in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
In COVID-19 clinical update #68, Daniel Griffin discusses children acquiring infection at birthday parties, immunogenicity of vaccines in solid organ transplant patients, reinfection rates in recovered patients, lack of efficacy of azithromycin, bacterial and fungal infections in hospitalized patients, effect of monoclonal antibody treatment on clinical outcomes of ambulatory patients, and reduction in mortality of hospitalized patients treated with remedesivir.
A TWiV trio reveals the 100 million year old history of bornavirus infections hidden as EVEs in vertebrate genomes, and identification of novel bat coronaviruses that provide evolutionary insight into the origins of SARS-CoV-2.
In COVID-19 clinical update #67, Daniel Griffin reviews antibodies to the virus early in the US, serology testing of blood donations, MIS-C in children under 21, myocarditis in competitive athletes, ER visits for suspected suicide attempts, delta variant in Scotland, Novavax vaccine phase 3 results, vaccine coverage in pregnant women, early monoclonal administration reduces hospitalization and mortality, casirivimab and imdevimab recovery trial results, and CDC guidance on postacute sequelae.
On this episode of TWiV, Novavax COVID-19 vaccine demonstrates 90% overall efficacy, preventing an antigenically disruptive change during growth of influenza virus vaccine in chicken eggs, and MIS-C is driven by loss of the gut mucosal barrier.
TWiV describes how human behavior, not increased transmissibility, led to increased spread of a SARS-CoV-2 variant throughout Europe in summer 2020, and nanobodies from camelid mice and llamas that efficiently neutralize variants of concern.
In COVID-19 clinical update #66, Daniel Griffin covers treatment guidelines from IDSA, hospitalization of adolescents, estimating epidemiological dynamics from viral load distributions, incidence of infection according to baseline antibody status, assessment of reinfection in Italy, need for vaccination in previously infected individuals, assessment of protection against reinfection, antimicrobial use in hospitalized patients, effect of single dose ivermectin, and a trial of aspirin in hospitalized patients.
David joins TWiV to relate how his near-death experience with Castleman’s disease motivated him to found the Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment & Laboratory and the CORONA project to identify and track all treatments reported for COVID-19 in an open-source data repository.
TWiV reviews the new nomenclature for SARS-CoV-2 variants, effectiveness of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against variants, modified Moderna vaccine against variants, impact of COVID-19 interventions on influenza in China and the US, and binding of RaTG13 spike protein to ACE2 of multiple species.
In COVID-19 clinical update #65, Daniel Griffin summarizes effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions, updated summer camp guidance from CDC, serology testing not recommended by FDA, antigen tests during a music event, inhibition of vaccine immunogenicity by methotrexate, phase 3 trial results for colchicine, and small airway disease as a post-acute sequelae.
The Hosts of TWiV
Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D.
Brianne Barker, Ph.D.
Rich Condit, Ph.D.
Alan Dove, Ph.D.
Daniel Griffin, M.D.,
Ph.D., CTropMed CTH
Angela Mingarelli, DVM
Jolene Ramsey, Ph.D.
Kathy Spindler, Ph.D.