The US spent more than 1 billion USD on drugs to treat COVID-19 (Artwork). The oral antiviral drug Molnupiravir, which prevents the development of COVID-19 disease, is used to treat the early stages of the disease. The current trial regimen is 2 doses per day for 5 days. According to Dr. John Whyte – medical director of Merck & Co Inc. Laboratories, the US needs therapeutic drugs to be ready for the new wave of COVID-19. “This is a Tamiflu-like drug that we use to treat the flu,” said Dr John Whyte. Now we still have to do some research to make sure this drug is effective for treating COVID-19. But this is a correct strategy to prepare for new waves of COVID-19 to emerge.” Merck & Co Inc expects to produce more than 10 million courses of Molnupiravir by the end of the year and said many other countries are in discussions with the company about pre-ordering Molnupiravir. Data on the global trial of molnupiravir is expected to be released next fall. If successful, Merck & Co Inc will apply for an emergency use license as early as the second half of this year.

Workers give an H9 bird flu vaccine to chicks at a farm in Changfeng district, Anhui province, April 14, 2013. Photo: Reuters. A 41-year-old man in eastern China’s Jiangsu province has been confirmed as the first case of a rare bird flu called H10N3, Beijing’s National Health Commission (NHC) said. The man, a resident of Zhenjiang City, was hospitalized on April 28 and was diagnosed with H10N3 on May 28, the NHC said on June 1, adding that his condition was stable. determined. The NHC did not give details on how the man became infected but said a check of his close contacts found no other cases and the risk of transmission was very low. What does the world know about H10N3? Little is known about this virus, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which appears to be very rare in birds and does not cause serious illness. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that although the source of the patient’s exposure to the H10N3 virus has not been identified and no other cases have been found in the local population, there is still no indication of the disease. person-to-person transmission. However, avian influenza viruses may have little effect on birds but can have much more severe effects in humans, such as the H7N9 strain that killed nearly 300 people in China during the winter of 2016-2017. The WHO says there are only rare cases of human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 virus. What is the risk of H10N3 infection? The risk of further transmission of H10N3 is currently thought to be very low, with experts describing the case as “sporadic”. Such cases occasionally occur in China, where there are large numbers of domestic and wild birds of many species. And with increased surveillance of avian influenza among the population, more and more cases of avian influenza virus infections are occurring. In February, Russia reported its first human case of the highly damaging H5N8 virus on poultry farms across Europe, Russia and East Asia last winter. Authorities said seven people infected with the virus had no symptoms. Experts would be wary of any cluster of H10N3 cases, but for now, a single case is not a cause for concern. The WHO told Reuters in a statement: “As long as avian influenza viruses are circulating in poultry, sporadic human infection of avian influenza is not surprising, it is a living reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic persists.” According to Filip Claes, regional laboratory coordinator of FAO’s Transboundary Animal Diseases Emergencies Center in the Asia Pacific regional office, only about 160 virus isolates have been reported. for 40 years to 2018. However, influenza viruses can mutate rapidly and mix with other strains circulating on farms or among migratory birds, known as “reclassification,” which means they can produce new strains of the virus. Genetic changes pose a threat of transmission to humans. What more will the world need to know? The genetic sequence of the virus that infects the patient has yet to be published and will be needed to fully assess its risk. Scientists will want to know how easily H10N3 can infect human cells to determine if it could pose a greater risk. For example, the H5N1 variant that first infected humans in 1997 is the most lethal, killing 455 people globally to date. It takes only a few mutations before the H5N1 variant is capable of spreading easily from person to person, said Ben Cowling, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health. Having the genetic information of the H10N3 variant will help assess whether it is “closer to the virus we should be worried about,” he said.

The warehouse was converted into an isolation area for infected people during the 1918 flu pandemic. Photo: According to Live Science “The research results, although not directly applicable to the Covid-19 pandemic, show that humans can eventually overcome their variants. This is being expected by the world in the context of the corona virus outbreak. evolved with many dangerous mutations today,” evolutionary biologist Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, lead author of the study, told Live Science. According to Spencer, as now, when focusing on studying the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic, the research team questioned whether its new variants worked differently from the original? Since then, the team has studied six human lungs dating from the pandemic years of 1918, which are preserved in formalin at pathological archives in Germany and Austria. The researchers determined that three of the six sample lungs – two from young soldiers who died in Berlin, the other from a young woman who died in Munich – contained the 1918 flu virus. “The virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic is still around today. But it’s more attenuated, mainly because we are descendants of people who survived the outbreak 103 years ago. Because So we’ve inherited some form of genetic immunity,” explains Calvignac-Spencer. Estimates suggest that the 1918 strain of influenza infected about 1 billion people, while the global population was only 2 billion. About 50-100 million people may have died in three consecutive outbreaks then. The first wave of the pandemic occurred in early 1918, it was less deadly than later waves: “The preserved lungs of two German soldiers were determined to be dead at this time”, the research team at the Institute of Robert Koch confirmed. The researchers extracted viral RNA from those lung samples. Both German soldiers died on the same day and when decoding the genome of the virus that killed them there was almost no difference. Spencer added: “But the form of the flu virus found in the soldiers’ lungs, is somewhat genetically different from the form of the virus that infected the young woman who died in Munich. Presumably, the woman. did not survive a subsequent outbreak.” The scientists also compared viral genomes from the US and Germany, and conducted laboratory studies with synthetic copies of virus samples. They wanted to learn to assess the infectivity and replication ability of different strains inside cells. The findings of German scientists also show that the 1918 flu virus has mutated to make the next outbreak stronger and more dangerous than the previous one, by evolving to overcome the human ability to “defence”. The genetic mutations that emerged between the first and second waves may have made the virus better adapted for human-to-human transmission, rather than between birds, its natural host. The other mutation may have changed the way the virus interacts with a human protein called MxA, which helps regulate the body’s immune response to new pathogens. Although the scientists are not sure how the variants changed the “strength” of the virus, “it can be predicted that these changes helped the virus avoid one of the mechanisms by which cells respond.” to kill the flu virus,” Calvignac-Spencer said. The evolution of the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic has similarities to the current Covid-19 pandemic, such as consecutive outbreaks with many different strains, and the following outbreaks are more dangerous than the previous one. . Thanks to the advancement of science, today when understanding the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers can better understand the 1918 influenza pandemic: “The more we understand about the current pandemic, that The more we can understand the pandemic in the past, rather than vice versa,” Calvignac-Spencer emphasized. One significant advance is that researchers have been able to accurately sequence the viral genome in human tissue preserved in formalin for more than 100 years – something that has hitherto been thought to be very difficult. “Thanks to new techniques, the study ended up being much easier than we expected,” added Calvignac-Spencer, adding: “We can now sequence the viral genome from infected humans. buried in permafrost for up to 1,000 years, because the cold can help preserve DNA even longer.” The team of German scientists also wanted to sequence viral genomes that could have been stored in the bodies of ancient Egyptian mummies – the earliest mummies are about 5,000 years old.”The mummies were prepared to prevent biological processes, and that’s exactly what we want. So we will also embark on research to better understand other diseases of the past,” the German scientist said. about the group’s future plans.

Researchers wear protective gear at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Photo: Xinhua US President Joe Biden announced last week that the US intelligence community had questioned two possible origins of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Human contact with infected animals or a laboratory incident. “. He ordered a new investigation “to bring us closer to a final conclusion”. According to Bloomberg, no matter where the investigation leads, the history of laboratory safety shows that leakage of pathogens has happened, sometimes with deadly consequences. Smallpox virus leak By the late 1970s, smallpox had been eradicated from the wild, but research on the disease continues in several laboratories around the world, including one in Birmingham (UK). where a virulent strain of smallpox virus is handled. In the summer of 1978, a medical photographer working there named Janet Parker became ill. When pustules spread on her body, the local doctor diagnosed it as a severe case of smallpox. Victim Janet Parker in the smallpox virus leak from the laboratory. It was the third leak of the smallpox virus in that decade from a UK laboratory. The British government has drastically stopped the outbreak by urgently isolating hundreds of people and vaccinating many others. Thanks to those efforts, only one other person became infected, and that was Parker’s mother. However, the female photographer experienced a painful, lonely death in quarantine, and is believed to be the last known fatal victim of smallpox. But there are other victims of the incident. At that time the press mentioned the director of the laboratory in Birmingham, a smallpox virus expert named Henry Bedson. Although there was no evidence, the media still blamed him for the incident. Quarantined at home and in despair, Bedson slit his own throat and died shortly thereafter. The British government has organized a thorough investigation into the outbreak. An investigation found Mr Bedson may not have followed adequate safety procedures and speculated that Parker contracted smallpox from a virus that leaked into the gas pipeline. Technicians at a laboratory in Rockville, Maryland (USA), where smallpox vaccine is produced. A lawsuit later dismissed this explanation, and raised the disturbing possibility that Parker herself had entered one of the workspaces without proper protection. To this day, the debate over the Parker incident remains unresolved. Anthrax spores from the lab When laboratories let pathogens leak in a secret environment, it is much harder to confirm the source of the outbreak. A case in point is the anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk, a rather isolated city in the former Soviet Union. In 1979, rumors of anthrax killing dozens, even thousands, began to spread to the West. Later that year, Soviet newspapers confirmed some reports, noting that more than 100 people had contracted anthrax after eating contaminated meat, and over 60 had died. It was a tragedy, but perhaps unavoidable because anthrax is readily apparent in local animal populations. However, US intelligence officials are not convinced by that. Satellite images show disinfecting truck-like objects around the city, with a significant focus of activity on a mysterious military facility known as Complex 19. CIA analysts have reported hypothesized that the Soviet Union leaked a weaponized form of anthrax. The Soviets reacted indignantly to this allegation. In 1980, Russia’s official news agency Itar Tass published a rebuttal titled “A Seed of Deception,” accusing the US of making false statements to gain geopolitical advantage. Sverdlovsk was once one of the military secret cities of the Soviet era. Then, under the administration of President Ronald Reagan, the CIA sought to better handle what happened. They asked Matthew Meselson, a distinguished geneticist at Harvard who worked on the bioweapons ban program, to directly assess the evidence. Mr. Meselson was not convinced by the US intelligence findings. In the 1980s, he rejected another theory that the Soviet Union used some kind of fungal weapon in Laos – and he initially held the same view on the anthrax case, endorsing the main explanation. information from the Soviet Union, with one important caveat: Without a thorough investigation in Sverdlovsk, it would be impossible to know for certain what happened. Essentially, Mr. Meselson supported the explanation that the meat was tainted, judging it to be “completely reasonable and consistent” based on what was known about anthrax. He also arranged meetings with Soviet scientists to add credence to this interpretation, with slides of pathology samples taken from the victims. The US intelligence community, however, remains skeptical. And in this case, the intelligence agencies, not the scientists, turned out to be right. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Meselson and other researchers finally had access to pathological samples taken from the victims’ lungs, which showed they had died from inhaling anthrax spores. Subsequent revelations added to the picture of what happened. Turns out Complex 19 is a biological weapons facility. Here they produce anthrax spores. According to the Laboratory Director of Complex 19 at the time, a filter connected to the spore dryer was clogged. This still happens often. The military officer in charge left a message for his replacement on the next shift but did not enter the logbook as is customary. When it came to the next shift, the replacement team looked at the notebook, saw nothing, and restarted the purifier. A series of anthrax spores quickly spread throughout the vicinity. Mr. Meselson eventually pieced together all the data and published a paper in the journal Science, which combined wind data with interviews, pathological samples and other evidence to describe the outbreak. Coal killed more than 60 people. That was in 1994, 15 years after the incident. Mysterious flu virus leak In addition, there is another incident that took place in the Soviet Union that is still a mystery. In the same decade that witnessed the leaks of smallpox in Britain and anthrax in the Soviet Union, there was also an unusual strain of flu at the time, called H1N1. Laboratory virus leaks have had deadly consequences. Photo: Atlantis In 1977, an H1N1 outbreak broke out on the border between China and the Soviet Union. The epidemic eventually spread worldwide that year, causing an unusual proportion of young patients. The mortality rate from epidemics is relatively low compared to some strains of influenza. But that’s not the problem. The worrying aspect of the epidemic is that this particular strain of H1N1 has not been present since 1950, when it was superseded by other strains of influenza. The appearance of that kind of “back in time” was confusing. Some researchers speculate that the virus may have “escaped” from a laboratory in the Soviet Union or China, but both countries deny this theory. However, the matter remains a puzzle for virologists. Many theories have been born and come to explain the so-called “frozen evolution”, among which the most prominent is the hypothesis that the virus spread to humans from a laboratory, possibly testing a vaccine to neutralize the disease. swine flu. A scientist involved in the development of a vaccine. Photo: Reuters The exact origin of COVID-19 may not be known All of the above incidents occurred in the 1970s. Laboratory safety was expected to have improved since then, but that has not always been the case. After the SARS outbreak in 2003, laboratories around the world began studying the virus. Since that time, there have been no less than 6 laboratory leaks of SARS. The first occurred at the National University of Singapore, where a student contracted the virus from a sample of the virus. This was followed by an incident in Taiwan/China, where a researcher contracted the virus, possibly during the disinfection of waste products from the laboratory. After that, several leaks happened at the National Institute of Virology of China. In one incident, a researcher infected her mother with the virus, and she died of SARS. In all cases, human negligence, mainly exacerbated by inadequate safety protocols, was the cause of the pathogen leakage. History has supported the theories being put forward that the current COVID-19 pandemic may not have a natural origin, but we are not in a position to rush into judgment. When it comes to lab leaks, the investigation and review process often takes a long time, and sometimes the answers remain unsatisfactory and incomplete. In the case of the COVID pandemic, we must prepare for the possibility that the world may never know the exact origins of a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives.

You can cure a stuffy nose by simple ways. Nasal congestion or nasal congestion is congestion of one or both sides of the nose due to an obstruction of inflamed mucus or mucous membranes. The lining lining inside the nasal cavity is an effective dust filter with the vascular system and constantly moving hair. The air entering the nose carrying dirt, dry and cold will be cleaned, warm and moist quickly before being transported to the next organs. That is why this is also the most susceptible place to be infected if any lesions are encountered. The dry air entering the nose is the cause of many diseases because it dries the nose, the nasal discharge becomes sticky, causes the fibrous cells to stick and causes many unpleasant symptoms. How to cure a stuffy nose Use normal saline Another quick way to treat nasal congestion that should be applied early is saline nasal drops. This method helps increase moisture in the sinuses, thin mucus. Besides, it also helps reduce inflammation of the blood vessels in the sinuses. You can easily buy normal saline at pharmacies across the country. How to get rid of congestion by washing the nose Washing your nose with a special tool with distilled or sterile water is also a quick way to get rid of a stuffy nose. The way to wash the nose is done as follows: Stand in front of the sink, place the tip of the nasal lavatory on the side of your nostril, pump or tilt your head until the water is running in your nose. Water that goes into one nostril will flow through the other nostril, carrying the mucus out. Do the nasal wash for about 1 minute and switch sides. You can easily find nasal washers at pharmacies or order them online on online stores. How to treat a stuffy nose with a warm bath One very simple way to treat a runny nose at home that is very simple that you cannot ignore is a warm bath. The mechanism of this method is simple: breathing the warm water in the bathroom helps the mucus in your sinuses loosen and reduce inflammation. Therefore, if you have a runny nose, take a warm shower or soak in a warm bath with warm water. Tips to treat stuffy nose, runny nose with steam Similar to a warm bath, you can also get rid of your congestion quickly with the following steam steps: Prepare a small tub of hot water. You can add conditioner or lavender for a pleasant scent. Cover your head with a large towel to allow the steam in the tub to rise. Proceed to inhale for about 10 minutes. Repeat 2-3 times / week to treat stuffy nose. One thing to keep in mind when using this remedy is to keep a safe distance between your face and the hot tub so you don’t burn.

According to Politico, Pentagon officials have passed intelligence on the suspected attacks to US lawmakers. However, a Defense Department spokesperson told the site that the agency was ignorant of direct energy attacks against US troops in Syria. US military soldiers in Syria. Photo: US Army Even so, according to two former US national security officials involved in investigative efforts, direct energy attacks on US soldiers abroad, suspected of being behind by Russia, are becoming. of such concern that the Pentagon’s Office of Special Operations and low-intensity conflicts began an investigation last year. It is unclear exactly how many US soldiers were injured or how badly they were injured. Direct energy attacks are used to describe directing certain energy sources to a specific target, such as using lasers or microwave energy, to cause total harm to human health. The investigation is part of a broader effort to investigate direct energy attacks on US government officials and agencies, Politico said. Previously, many US officials in Cuba, China and Russia mysteriously fell ill, with the main reasons allegedly being affected by microwave radiation sources.

1. You may have kidney stones Animal protein contains many compounds called purines. These break down into uric acid, and if your body has too much of these acids, you could develop kidney stones. 2. Dehydration Due to the excess uric acid mentioned above, you may feel more thirsty than usual. Your kidneys need water to get rid of harmful substances, so make sure to drink enough water throughout the day. 3. Constipation Meat dishes are high in protein, but not high in fiber. So eat more fruits and vegetables to make sure you get enough fiber. 4. Headache Dehydration can cause headaches. Dehydration makes the blood thicker, which means reduced oxygen flow to the brain. 5. Heart diseases If you eat too much meat, especially red meats (pork, beef, chicken …), the risk of heart disease increases by 3 times. Because red meat contains a lot of saturated fat, which increases the bad cholesterol level in the body. 6. Frequent colds and flu The saturated fat found in red meat and processed meats does not contain the antioxidants needed by the body to fight the airborne viruses. Please supplement this substance by eating more fruits and vegetables. 7. Smelly breath A diet high in protein and fat, but lacking in carbs, can cause the body to produce ketones. Ketones are released through the breath and they have a bad smell. 8. Skin and Hair Problems Meat products are very low in vitamin C, a vitamin that plays an important role in the formation of collagen, a protein that helps skin, hair, nails, and bones to be smooth, healthy and beautiful. 9. Weak bones High protein intake can increase calcium loss in the body. Calcium is essential for strong bones. The human body cannot produce calcium on its own, but only absorbs it through food or supplements. 10. Feeling tired Meat-based foods are harder to digest than vegetables and fruits, so your body will spend more energy digesting it and this can be tiring if you eat too much meat.

NDV-HXP-S is the first vaccine in clinical trials to use a new molecular design that is expected to produce more antibodies than current vaccines. With that, new vaccines could be made much easier than current vaccines. Low- and middle-income countries can either produce the NVD-HXP-S vaccine on their own or buy it back at low cost from neighboring countries. Photo: NY Times Existing vaccines from companies such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson must be made in specialized factories using ingredients that are difficult to buy. Meanwhile, the new vaccine can be produced from eggs. According to the NY Times, eggs are the raw material that produces billions of doses of flu vaccine each year in factories around the world. If the NDV-HXP-S vaccine is proven to be safe and effective, influenza vaccine manufacturers are capable of producing more than one billion doses of the vaccine each year. Low- and middle-income countries that are currently having trouble buying vaccines from richer countries can make NDV-HXP-S vaccines themselves or buy them at low cost from neighboring countries . “That was amazing. This is going to be the game changer, ”said Andrea Taylor, assistant director of the Center for Global Health Innovation at Duke University (USA). First, clinical trials have to determine that NDV-HXP-S is indeed effective in humans. The first phase of clinical trials will end in July, and the final phase will take a few months. However, animal trials have raised hope about the prospects of the new vaccine. The key to the Covid-19 vaccine The Covid-19 vaccine works by activating a natural immune mechanism in the human body. SARS-CoV-2 virus has a round shape and many spines surrounding the surface. These spikes are also known as ‘prickly proteins’, and they act as keys to help viruses enter cells. The vaccine will cause the body to produce resistance that helps to block these dendritic cells. However, injecting only mutant proteins into the body is not the best way to make vaccines because mutant proteins sometimes assume the wrong shape and prompt the immune system to produce the wrong antibodies. This happened long before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. In 2015, another coronavirus appeared to cause Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Jason McLellan, a biologist at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, and colleagues have begun building a MERS vaccine. Researchers want to use mutant protein surges as a target, but they have to take into account the fact that mutant protein is a shape-altering substance. When the protein is about to fuse with a cell, it changes from a tulip-like shape to a javelin-like shape. McLellan and colleagues have discovered a way to keep proteins locked in a tulip-like shape is to change 2 of the more than 1,000 building blocks in the protein into a compound called proline. The protein spike to the two new proline molecules is more likely to assume tulip shape called 2P. The researchers injected the 2P mutation into mice and found that the animal could easily fend off the MERS-CoV infection. Scientists have published research on this mutant protein boost, but received little public attention. By the end of 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has appeared and spread around the world. McLellan and his colleagues got into action, designing the 2P mutant for SARS-CoV-2. Within days, Moderna used that information to make the Covid-19 vaccine. Other companies quickly followed suit, applying the 2P mutation to Covid-19 vaccine makers and starting clinical trials. All three vaccines licensed so far in the US, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, use 2P. Other vaccine manufacturers are also using 2P in vaccine trials. Novavax has had strong results with 2P mutant hemp protein increases in clinical trials and is expected to apply to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an emergency license within a few weeks. next. Eggs – the simple ingredient that makes up the vaccine The first wave of Covid-19 vaccine development required the use of specialized and expensive materials for its fabrication. Moderna’s RNA-based vaccines, for example, require genetic building blocks called nucleotides as well as fatty acids. These ingredients make up a vaccine produced in purpose-specific construction factories. Meanwhile, the production of the flu vaccine is based on just one study. Many countries have huge factories to produce low-cost flu vaccines, made up of eggs. The team at the PATH Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access wondered if scientists could create a cheap Covid-19 vaccine grown in chicken eggs. In this way, a vaccine factory for the flu can also produce Covid-19 vaccine. In New York (USA), a team of scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai already knew how to create such a vaccine using a bird virus called the harmless Newcastle virus. people. For years, scientists have been studying the Newcastle disease virus to create vaccines for a wide range of diseases. To develop the Ebola vaccine, for example, researchers added an Ebola gene to the unique Newcastle virus genome. Then, the scientists put the genetically modified virus into eggs, because this is a virus that causes disease in poultry, it multiplies rapidly in the eggs. Researchers have found that the Newcastle virus is prevented by Ebola proteins. Researchers at Mount Sinai have found that the NDV-HXP-S vaccine can protect mice well from disease. “I can say, this vaccine can protect all mice against the virus SARS-CoV-2. However, many people still do not understand the effects of this vaccine on humans, “said Peter Palese, lead researcher said. According to the NY Times, one egg can make 5-10 doses of the NDV-HXP-S vaccine, compared with just 1-2 doses of the flu vaccine. “We are very excited about this, because this could be a way of making a vaccine at low cost,” said Peter Palese. For some countries, the prospect of self-production of Covid-19 vaccine is highly desirable. However, Madhavi Sunder, an intellectual property expert at the Georgetown Law School, warns that the NDV-HXP-S vaccine will not help countries like Brazil get out of pandemic immediately when they are facing the tide. New Covid-19 translation wave. “We’re not talking about billions of doses of vaccine production. Instead, this strategy will be important for long-term vaccine production, not only for the Covid-19 epidemic but also for other possible pandemics in the future, ”Madhavi Sunder said.