Re:What we can learn from the 1918 flu pandemic
by op00to on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @06:26AM
(#22544585)
Two strains. Stop spreading rumors.
Re:What we can learn from the 1918 flu pandemic
by animal531 on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @07:03AM
(#22544739)
I'm looking at: https://nextstrain.org/ncov
What defines a strain? I know about the L/S sub-types, but there have been a great number of splits.
Re:What we can learn from the 1918 flu pandemic
by saiya-jin on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @07:42AM
(#22544930)
Exactly. Anyway, the topic is that simply getting through the infection doesn't grant immunity so one doesn't have to care about covid-19 anymore.
Plus thinking that when we have few (even if 2) variants of the virus within first 3 months there won't be any more mutations is a bit naive IMHO.
Re:What we can learn from the 1918 flu pandemic
by ajross on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @10:52AM
(#22546296)
Realistically it's more than that, though. Viruses mutate rapidly and this one is into the hundreds of thousands of human transmissions now and still picking up steam. We just don't have the PCR bandwith available to sequence them as fast as they're spreading. Pretty much any direct pronouncement on the "kinds" of SARS-CoV-2 is going to be speculation, so it's all "rumors".
But strains don't correlate perfectly to immune respnse, so the upthread point about reinfection risk remains speculation. We just don't know yet. But all endemic viruses eventually reach equilibrium with the population immune response (and vaccination regime), even if it requires regular updates a-la the yearly change in flu shots.
Last time I checked there are at least 3 or 4 different strains circulating now. That's why some folks who got cured got it again. So don't have such naive hopes that all will be rosy on its own soon.
If the story will be similar to flu, we're pretty much fucked - every year the strain is so different that prior vaccinations/immunity doesn't work on them. I certainly hope that's not the case, too early to tell.