The good news is all patient outcomes were uneventful.
Curious to know the Ct values of natural immunity plus delta variant.
The argument for boosters is based on neutralizing antibodies which seem irrelevant in this study.
Paper uses the term Viral Load but doesn’t really have one.
This PCR kit doesn’t have an internal control. There is no delta-delta qPCR.
Just a Drosten like E-gene PCR compared to a standard curve.
They should have a human Ct signal to normalize for the NP swab for a load.
That an 8 Ct shift (250) so even without the internal control, it does line up with other papers that suggest more RNA from delta variants.
Need some Vero cell confirmation to know if this is more sgRNA or full length gRNA.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Viability PCR exists.
Why is it not being utilized in C19?
What is Viability PCR?
Aka Capsid Integrity PCR.
It’s a method for only amplifying RNA that is inside a viral capsid.
Seems important for C19 given all the concerns over PCR Vs infectiousness.
There are several techniques which achieve this. The use of intercalating dyes is perhaps the oldest.
These dyes bind to free floating DNA or RNA and cross link it under UV.
Cross linked DNA/RNA doesn’t amplify.
DNA/RNA protected by a capsid is left unaffected.
So why isn’t the testing industry all over this?
It’s well known that your infectious window is 7 days and you can be PCR posture for over 30 days.
5X more people are positive if you don’t do this.