Liz Szabo Profile picture
27 Oct, 10 tweets, 6 min read
Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab is giving a free online lecture through MIT about covid-19. The decline of covid-19 cases in the summer may have misled people into thinking it had gone away. It didn't. The decline may have shown the "seasonality" of virus. web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog…
LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab is doing a pilot study to test blood, looking for antibodies, to reconstruct introduction of virus into U.S. He asks, "Could we have early warning system for viruses like we have for hurricanes?"

web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog…
LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab says widespread antibody testing can be a better way to know what's going on in an outbreak than PCR testing, providing slightly faster answers.

web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog…
LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab explains difference between genetic/protein tests (PCR, antigen tests done with nasal swab) and antibody tests (blood tests).
LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab: "Before we ever detected a single case of coronavirus in NYC, there were probably tens of thousands of infections." Says we need equivalent of weather/hurricane forecasts for viruses to avoid "going into every flu season blindfolded."
LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab compares benefits/limitations of viral tests vs antibody tests. Testing for virus catches people while they're still transmitting, but will miss people. Good for surveillance when testing is frequent.

web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog…
LIVE: Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab: Antibody testing lags behind viral testing, picking up coronavirus cases 10-14 days after infection. Advantages of antibody testing for surveillance is that it misses fewer cases, can spot outbreaks, as opposed to stopping all cases.
Actually, this is only sort of live. There's a time delay between when epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab says something in his lecture and when I tweet it, because I'm constantly being interrupted.
Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab: Advantage of antibody testing for surveillance is that antibodies persist in your blood for at least months. So a test for the virus may turn negative once your body clears it; an antibody test would still be positive.

web.mit.edu/webcast/biolog…
Epidemiologist @michaelmina_lab says combining PCR testing/antibody testing can help you figure out if a nursing home outbreak is on the decline or about to explode. If 5% of residents test positive, but 55% of them have antibodies, that means outbreak is going down.

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More from @LizSzabo

7 Aug
Among other achievements, Dr. Tony Fauci was one of the architects of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (created under Republican President George Bush). PEPFAR has saved millions of lives.
Fauci said if we ALL do these five things, we can reopen the country.

Masks and social distancing
Avoid crowds
Outdoors is better than indoors
Washing hands
Stay away from bars
FAUCI: An AIDS vaccine is very very different than covid-19.

If you have a disease in which the body's natural response to the virus is inadequate, it is very very hard to make a vaccine... You've got to do better than natural infection to get a vaccine for HIV>
Read 21 tweets
31 Jul
What's the scoop on coronavirus vaccines? Follow this thread and read our story to get the essentials. 1/

scientificamerican.com/article/fauci-… via @sciam
@khnews asked Dr. Anthony Fauci about reports that antibodies to covid-19 fade after a few months. If true, would that mean that vaccine protection would wear off after a few months? He said, “If we don’t get as long a response as we want, we can always give a booster shot.” 2/
Leading covid-19 vaccine candidates are based on new approaches that have never resulted in a licensed vaccine. Moderna, a relatively young company, has yet to produce any approved vaccines.

“Even more so than usual, as we create vaccines, we’re sailing in uncharted water.” 3/
Read 20 tweets
31 Jul
Correction: Fauci just said that crowds of any kind put you at risk of transmitting coronavirus. He did not say protesting is dangerous. Although @Jim_Jordan pressed him about whether we should ban protests or arrest them, Fauci refused to say that.
"A stack of paper is not a plan," said @RepRaskin
@RepRaskin asked if children are "almost immune" to covid?
Fauci says no.
@RepRaskin: Will covid magically disappear?
Fauci: It is unlikely that it will disappear.
@RepRaskin: Is covid-19 a hoax?
Fauci: No.
Read 37 tweets
30 May
Really interesting presentation by @DrNancyM_CDC. Many more patients have heard of the “disadvantages” of vaccines. Thread
Look at how medical exemptions (which let unvaccinated kids attend school) cluster in Northern California. Hard to believe that this affluent area is more disease-ridden than rest of state
Staying at home is a good way to prevent spread of COVID-19. But it’s made parents stop taking kids for checkups and vaccinations. Increases the risk of measles ON TOP of COVID-19 and flu this winter
Read 14 tweets

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