Coronavirus

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Carth

Does anyone have the figures for 'Flu' this year?

No, I can't be bothered to go looking myself

https://www.gov.uk/government/statis...to-2022-season

Originally Posted by Carth

Does anyone have the figures for 'Flu' this year?

If its not Covid, no one cares
Remember, if you think you have a cold, its covid.
If you think its the flu, its covid.
If you got hit by a bus, its covid.

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Paul

If its not Covid, no one cares
Remember, if you think you have a cold, its covid.
If you think its the flu, its covid.
If you got hit by a bus, its covid.

Then you have a PCR test, and they find out if it is/was covid or not.

[Carth]

Originally Posted by Paul

If its not Covid, no one cares
Remember, if you think you have a cold, its covid.
If you think its the flu, its covid.
If you got hit by a bus, its covid.

To be fair, I did have a quick peruse of Google . . and found lots & lots of 'Flu' mentioned in the URL links, yet nothing but Covid in the (mainly medical) articles they linked to.

I did find a medical stats page (from Nov 2021) that proclaimed - in bold - that "Flu was not present in Wales"

. . and another medical stats site, with lots of Covid graphs, and one chart that showed/stated that Covid deaths were 5 times higher than Flu deaths . . but the chart and data only dealt with men & women over 75 years of age.

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

There are one or two experts on here that are at liberty to correct me.

But, OB has been right all along in that if you cocoon people in their homes or otherwise reduce their natural exposure to germs, then the immune system has had nothing to attack and so immunity wanes. Simples or what?

You and OB may wish to contact all the Researchers & Professors of Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases, and Virology, as you may have found something they’ve overlooked…

https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-upd...immune-systems

I’ve been hearing people say that staying home and social distancing is harming our immune systems. The reasoning is that if we don’t come into contact with many germs, our immune systems weaken. This means that once we all start coming out of the house more, we’ll be more susceptible to colds and flu and even the new COVID-19 illness. Is this true?

We’ve been hearing this theory too, and we can assure you that this is NOT the way your immune system works.

Many people have heard of the “hygiene hypothesis” — the idea that individuals who are exposed to a variety of microbes (i.e., germs) in childhood build better immunity. In fact, there is evidence that young children who have early exposure to different types of germs are less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune disorders such as hay fever, asthma, or inflammatory bowel disease.

However, by the time you are an adult, you have already spent years being exposed to many types of bacteria and viruses. You’ve created a robust immune system that can respond to these microbes. Your immune system “remembers” viral and bacterial markers, and as soon as one of these markers shows up, your body starts making antibodies to destroy that intruder.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Hugh

You and OB may wish to contact all the Researchers & Professors of Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases, and Virology, as you may have found something they’ve overlooked…

https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-upd...immune-systems

The missing element of explanation in that article is why immunity from Covid-19 wanes after 10 weeks. Squaring that circle would be helpful.

Your immune system “remembers” viral and bacterial markers, and as soon as one of these markers shows up, your body starts making antibodies to destroy that intruder.

.. and yet our immunity apparently wanes, over a period of months, or even weeks, with talk of a 2nd booster jab now, in early 2022.

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

The missing element of explanation in that article is why immunity from Covid-19 wanes after 10 weeks. Squaring that circle would be helpful.

Can I ask what that has to do with your previous question re "immune system weakening", as most of the people who I know have been vaccinated/boostered aren’t confining themselves at home?

Originally Posted by Paul

.. and yet our immunity apparently wanes, over a period of months, or even weeks, with talk of a 2nd booster jab now, in early 2022.

Thats specific to COVID, not general immunity response, which Sephiroth was referring to…

That article also mentions this, after the bit you quoted.

But that doesn’t mean social distancing will have no effect on your immune system. The psychological effects of social isolation can affect your immune system. The culprits are loneliness and stress.

Research shows that our anti-viral response is suppressed when we feel lonely.

Stress has similarly harmful effects on immune function, because the hormones involved in a stress response

Agreed, but most people are now out and about…

From the actual report.

https://assets.publishing.service.go...riefing-33.pdf

Vaccine effectiveness

Repeated VE analysis continues to show lower VE for symptomatic Omicron disease compared to Delta. There is evidence of waning of protection against symptomatic disease with increasing time after dose 2, and by 10 weeks after the booster dose, with a 15 to 25% reduction in vaccine effectiveness after 10 weeks. This waning is faster for Omicron than for Delta infections. There are insufficient severe cases of Omicron as yet to analyse vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation, but this is expected to be better sustained, for both primary and booster doses. This analysis will be iterated next week, although numbers may still restrict a robust analysis of protection against more severe outcomes. The VE data will also appear in the weekly COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report published routinely on a Thursday.

Originally Posted by Hugh

Agreed, but most people are now out and about…

They were, not so much atm.

You quoted that article to question Sephiroth's original post about "cocooning people in their homes" affecting their immunity.
It actually agrees that isolation/lockdown does have an effect (just not quite for the reason he originally stated).

[Sephiroth]

My original comment (the one about OB being right) takes us back to the earlier days of Covid and all references I make to the immune system is in that context.

There isn't a fully open society right now but the high Omicron uptake is bound to set the immune system going.

Hugh wasn't representing me correctly.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

The missing element of explanation in that article is why immunity from Covid-19 wanes after 10 weeks. Squaring that circle would be helpful.

One of my concerns is over the interpretation of antibody levels. The way the immune system works is that it isn't pumping out antibodies for everything for the rest of your life. A few months after an infection or vaccination, the level of antibodies for the infection goes away quite naturally.
All vaccinations actually do is prepare the immune system to be able to respond a bit quicker to a reinfection. It doesn't have to work out the antibody to deal with it, it already knows what to do.
If covid is too quick for that response, then antibodies need to be present. If covid isn't that quick, then boosters aren't really required and all the talk of low antibody levels being a problem is misleading.

[Mad Max]

Project fear in full swing, get a life people, and stop living under the stairs it's actually quite nice outside, honestly, no scary monsters.