Of Laura Della Pasqua
1. Millions of positive mice in New York
2. With infection premature aging
3. The antiviral Molnupiravir does not reduce mortality
1. Millions of positive mice in New York
Mice could cause another epidemic. It is known that the metropolis is inhabited by colonies of rats resistant to any disinfestation campaign and in New York this problem is felt particularly urgently. A study published in the journal mBioargues that the millions of mice that populate the streets of the Big Apple could pose a threat, as a vehicle of Covid.
The passage of the virus from animals to humans has never been verified, indeed recently the thesis has emerged that the pandemic would have originated from an accident in the Chinese laboratory of Whuan. The research the magazine is talking about mBio reports that rodents are very sensitive to the virus and all its variants. The team behind the study looked at 79 rats in the fall of 2021, found mainly in Brooklyn parks, and thirteen of them (16.5%) had antibodies that showed a Covid infection: in 9 of them it was a past contagion, while in 4 it was still ongoing. Molecular tests performed on the latter showed that the infection was caused by a strain of virus that had spread in the US about a year earlier. Rats were also potentially susceptible to the Delta and Omicron variants. Researchers fear the virus could circulate among mice and then jump species, spreading, with other variants, among men. Expanding the positivity rate to the rodent population of all of New York (about 8 million), one can speculate that about 1.3 million mice could be infected. The head of the researchers though he does not want to create alarmism and said “further monitoring of the virus in rat populations is needed to determine how extensively it is circulating and evolving into new strains that could pose a risk to humans.”
2. With infection premature aging
There is a lot of talk about long Covid and its aftermath even after some time. According to a study by some Italian scientists published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, the virus would cause damage to the cells’ DNA, making repair impossible and causing cellular aging and chronic inflammation. The research was coordinated by Fabrizio d’Adda of Fagagna, of the Foundation Institute of Molecular Oncology (Ifom) and of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the National Research Council (Ign-Cnr), and conducted in collaboration with the International Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Icgeb) of Trieste, San Raffaele of Milan, the University of Padua, the Besta Neurological Institute and the University of Palermo. “What we have observed is that Covid, once it enters the cell, hijacks its fundamental processes,” said the first two authors of the research, Ubaldo Joy And Sara Tavellaboth from Ifom.
The mechanism they have described is this: the virus forces the cell to block the production of deoxynucleotides, which are considered a bit like the “building blocks” of DNA, to make it produce ribonucleotides, which are instead useful for synthesizing the cell’s RNA and, above all, that of the virus. A dramatic consequence of this exploitation of cellular mechanisms by the virus is the shortage of deoxynucleotides. Added to this is the blockage of cell repair, also caused by Covid. Two processes that have dramatic effects on the cell. “In this way it is no longer able to adequately replicate its DNA and accumulates damage in its genome”, underline the researchers. One he effects on cells is the premature aging, called cellular senescence.
Other scientists are addressing this issue. A study on this issue was published last October in the scientific journal immunology and conducted by a group of researchers from the University of Queensland, which showed how Covid not only creates an inflammatory and coagulative decompensation, but also real modifications of cellular DNA.
3. The antiviral Molnupiravir does not reduce mortality
After the EMA, the European Medicines Agency, the stop of Aifa, the Italian counterpart, has arrived. There pill Molnupiravir it produces no benefit for reducing mortality and hospital admissions. The drug, long considered an ally against the most serious effects of Covid, was thus stopped. “In the meeting of the Technical-Scientific Commission (Cts) of 10 March 2023 – reads the note published on their website -, it was decided to suspend the use of the antiviral medicine Lagevrio (Molnupiravir) following the negative opinion formulated by the Committee for medicinal products for human use Chmp of the European Medicines Agency EMA on 24 February 2023, due to the lack of demonstration of a clinical benefit in terms of reduction of mortality and hospitalizations”. AIFA points out that “no particular safety problems related to the treatment have been identified”. Molnupiravir was initially made available – recalls the national regulatory body – for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid, through authorization for emergency distribution.
