Accidents in US virus labs

According to all that we have learned, and from what leading virologists have concluded, the Covid virus arose in the wild. But certain virus labs deserve close attention, and in the US accidents at several virus labs — and gain of function research — deserve close inspection and, in some cases, better protocols.

For example, as discussed in the first part of this series published in The Intercept, when a lab employee is exposed to a dangerous virus, being quarantined at home seems inadequte.

The whole series is worth reading:

PART 1: Student Infected With Debilitating Virus in Undisclosed Biolab Accident

PART 2: Accident With 1918 Pandemic Virus Raises Questions About Pathogen Research

PART 3: Lab That Created Risky Avian Flu Had “Unacceptable” Biosafety Protocols

Using the Astronomicum Caesareum Book

All Possible Plots by Major Authors

For the readers, God bless them. In The Fence magazine:

We praise canonical authors for their boundless imagination. Then why do all their plots feel the same?

Anthony Trollope

Your happiness is put on hold when it transpires your fiancé failed to correctly cash a cheque. This lasts for 130 chapters. Everyone else is ordained.

Evelyn Waugh

The spectre of God’s grace haunts your attempts to hang out with people posher than yourself.

Henry James

You declined an invitation, not wishing, to wit, for it to be understood that you might have deliberately allowed yourself to be put at a disadvantage. Now your ruin is certain.

Graham Greene

Your only desire is to preserve an inconceivably small piece of your dignity. You are denied this, because of a prior engagement with the British Foreign Office. This novel is called The Way of the Thing.

W Shakespeare (I)

You become King. This turns out to have been a very big mistake.

Samuel Richardson

‘Dearest Mama, An alluring yet unvirtuous rake has designs on my Innocence and has placed me in a sack to be transported to Covent Garden. Fortunately the sack is so designed as to allow the writing of several letters.’

David Foster Wallace

. . .

Continue reading.

‘Unappreciated’ Ties Between COVID and Gut Dysbiosis

I have not hand Covid — knock on wood — but this article indicates that 

Interesting finding reported in Medscape by Megan Brooks:

The SARS-CoV-2 infection disrupts the normal mix of gut bacteria, allowing harmful bacteria to enter the bloodstream and raising the risk for potentially life-threatening secondary bloodstream infections (BSIs), new research suggests.

“Collectively, these results reveal an unappreciated link between SARS-CoV-2 infection, gut microbiome dysbiosis, and a severe complication of COVID-19, BSIs,” the study team reports in Nature Communications.

“Our findings suggest that coronavirus infection directly interferes with the healthy balance of microbes in the gut, further endangering patients in the process,” microbiologist and cosenior author Ken Cadwell, PhD, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York City, adds in a news release. “Now that we have uncovered the source of this bacterial imbalance, physicians can better identify those coronavirus patients most at risk of a secondary bloodstream infection.”

Two-Pronged Study

In a mouse model, the researchers first demonstrated that the SARS-CoV-2 infection alone induces gut microbiome dysbiosis and gut epithelial cell alterations, which correlate with markers of gut barrier permeability.

Next, they analyzed the bacterial composition of stool samples from 96 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2020 in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut.

In line with their observations in mice, they found that the SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with “severe microbiome injury,” characterized by the loss of gut microbiome diversity.

They also observed an increase in populations of several microbes known to include antibiotic-resistant species. An analysis of stool samples paired with blood cultures found that antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut migrated to the bloodstream in 20% of patients.

This migration could be due to a combination of the immune-compromising effects of the viral infection and the antibiotic-driven depletion of commensal gut microbes, the researchers say.

However, COVID-19 patients are also uniquely exposed to other potential factors predisposing them to bacteremia, including immunosuppressive drugs, long hospital stays, and catheters, the investigators note. The study is limited in its ability to investigate the individual effects of these factors, they add.

“Our findings support a scenario in which . . .

Continue reading.

So far I have been Covid-free (knock on wood), but if I did get it, I would certainly eat a good amount of my fermented vegetables. Live-culture sauerkraut (from the refrigerated section) and, for those who eat dairy, live-culture yogurt would also be a good idea, along with lots of fresh fruit (also a probiotic as well as a prebiotic). 

Best, of course, is to avoid Covid altogether. I have had all possible booster shots, most recently the bivalent Covid booster, and I continue to mask when indoors in public (for example, while grocery shopping), and in general avoid public places (for example, no eating in restaurants). Fortunately, I enjoy my own company.  Extroverts must be having a hard time with social restrictions (though I imagine some just ignore the restrictions and take their chances).

Loving the iKon Short Comb with a lavender lather and classic aftershave

My Maggard 22mm synthetic-knot brush easily aroused the lather latent in Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Lavender shaving soap, and the classic fragrance of lavender was very appealing on a somewhat dark and rain-threatening morning. 

The iKon Short Comb is one of the Shavecraft series — cast aluminum heads on stainless-steel bulldog handles. I find that this razor prefers the handle to be far from the face so that it can glide along on the edge of the cap. With that technique, the Short Comb is supremely comfortable and highly efficient.[

Three passes produce a perfect shave, and a splash of Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Classic aftershave finished the job.

The tea this morning is Murchie’s Editors’ Blend: “a rich and smooth blend of black teas: Ceylon adds depth and a brisk sparkling finish, Yunnan provides smoothness and sweetness and Keemun ties it together.”