New COVID variant detected in South Africa, most mutated variant so far

A new coronavirus variant, C.1.2, has been detected in South Africa and a number of other countries, with concerns that it could be more infectious and evade vaccines, according to a new preprint study by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform. The study is awaiting peer review.

Scientists first detected C.1.2 in May 2021, finding that it was descended from C.1, which scientists found surprising as C.1 had last been detected in January. The new variant has "mutated substantially" compared to C.1 and is more mutations away from the original virus detected in Wuhan than any other Variant of Concern (VOC) or Variant of Interest (VOI) detected so far worldwide.

While first detected in South Africa, C.1.2 has since been found in England, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland.

The scientists believe that the number of available sequences of C.1.2 may be an underrepresentation of the spread and frequency of the variant in South Africa and around the world. The study found consistent increases in the number of C.1.2 genomes in South Africa on a monthly basis, rising from 0.2% of genomes sequenced in May to 1.6% in June and then to 2% in July, similar to the increases seen with the Beta and Delta variants there.



https://www.jpost.com/health-science/new-covid-variant-detected-in-south-africa-most-mutated-variant-so-far-678011

Bonus Tweet of the Day

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FLASHBACK: Reagan condemns Beirut bombing, 241 Marines dead. Oct. 23, 1983

On this day in 1983, President Ronald Reagan voiced outrage over what he termed the “despicable” destruction of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. The president initially called on the nation to be more determined than ever to keep the force there and resist “the bestial nature of those who would assume power.”

The terror bombing killed 241 U.S. service personnel, an event that unsettled many Americans and marked the worst loss of lives for the Marines since World War II. Reagan had sent the troops to Lebanon earlier in 1983 in hopes of helping stabilize that country, which was being ravaged by a civil war....

“Bodies were lying around all over,” said one rescuer. “Other people were trapped under the concrete. I could hear them screaming: ‘Get us out. Don't leave us.’ I just started digging, picking men out.”




https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/23/reagan-condemns-beirut-bombing-oct-23-1983-921655

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IRON BUTTERFLY - IN A GADDA DA VIDA

Clamoring for ivermectin, some turn to a pro-Trump telemedicine website

When users visit the telemedicine website SpeakWithAnMD.com, they are immediately hit with a warning: “Due to overwhelming demand, we are experiencing longer than usual wait times.”

The demand is for ivermectin, a drug primarily used to deworm animals that has become the latest false cure for Covid-19. And the website, in partnership with the organization America’s Frontline Doctors, whose founder stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, has become well-known in the Facebook groups and Reddit communities where anti-vaccination sentiment thrives.

In those groups, people trade dosing directions and purchasing advice for ivermectin.

“Please consider that even if you can get an Rx for IVM, the pharmacy may not fill it for 1-3 days claiming they don’t have it in stock, which is pure bulls---,” a Reddit user wrote in the ivermectin community this month. “HAVE SOME HORSE PASTE ON HAND,” the user added, referring to the tube form that ivermectin meant for horses comes in.

Originally introduced as a veterinary drug for livestock animals in the late-1970s, ivermectin quickly proved useful in combating certain human diseases caused by parasites, a discovery that won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2015. It comes in pills and pastes, in versions meant for humans and for animals.




https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ivermectin-demand-drives-trump-telemedicine-website-rcna1791

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