COVID levels are two to 19 times higher than numbers being reported around the world, a WHO official said Friday, citing wastewater data.
The news comes as the organization warns of the yet unknown dangers of repeat COVID infection, which can occur without symptoms.
Because most people have some immunity to COVID due to vaccination and/or prior infection, “we don’t necessarily know how often we’re getting infected,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonoses unit, said at a news briefing in Geneva.
“Five years, 10 years, 20 years from now, what are we going to see in terms of cardiac impairment, pulmonary impairment, neurologic impairment?
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As of Dec. 31, the pandemic’s official death count sat at 7 million. But the true total is likely at least three times higher, she said.
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Comment: We know enough to warn people that if they keep getting infected, the odds that they will get dementia and immune deficiency is significant.
Regardless of a person’s health status, each COVID-19 infection can raise the risk of developing blood clots, which can travel to the brain or lungs. That’s why Smith believes anyone who is eligible for antiviral drugs such as Paxlovid should take them, since controlling the virus as quickly as possible can reduce any potential long-term or lingering effects an infection can have on the body.
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“There is a mischaracterization in the public understanding that you can get an acute infection with fever, cough, malaise, and fatigue, get over it after a few days or a week or so, then bounce back, and it’s gone,” says Al-Aly. “The data are showing that [some] people still display increased risk of problems even two years after an infection.”
That’s what he found in his study. People who had multiple infections were three times more likely to be hospitalized for their infection up to six months later than those who only got COVID-19 once, and were also more likely to have problems with clotting, gastrointestinal disorders, kidney, and mental-health symptoms. The risks appeared to increase the more infections people experienced.
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But there is also growing evidence that in some people, getting COVID-19 the first time may compromise the immune response in a way that makes the body less likely to respond effectively the next time it sees the virus. That could leave certain organs and body systems, such as the brain, weaker for months after infection—and subsequent ones.
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“Each time you get hit, it does impact your body, so let’s try not to get it too many times,” says Smith. That’s easier said than done, since after three years, people are tired of taking precautions such as wearing masks and avoiding crowded public spaces. “We’ve lost the public-health battle; there is no appetite for public masking or stringent public health measures,” says Al-Aly.
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In the meantime, Smith says it’s important for people to understand that they still need to do everything they can to avoid getting COVID-19. That means staying up to date with vaccinations and taking some basic precautions, such as wearing high-quality masks indoors when cases are high, especially in crowded places and on public transportation.
“I wish we lived in a world where getting repeat infections doesn’t matter,” says Al-Aly, “but the reality is that‘s not the case.”
In a recent preprint* research paper uploaded to the Research Square server, researchers investigated the pathophysiology of post-COVID-19 cognitive defects. They used serum biomarkers and neuroimaging of 351 COVID-19 patients compared against 2,927 healthy controls. Their results highlight that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) infections were associated with enhanced levels of brain injury markers and reductions in cingulate cortex volume one year following cases’ hospital admissions. Cognitive defects were observed to be global and included both subjective and objective cognitive reductions. Investigations into potential future therapeutic interventions revealed that corticosteroid administration during the acute phase of the SARS‑CoV‑2 infection provided a protective effect against cognitive losses.
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Comment: Short version, yet another studying proving that Covid causes permanent brain damage. Question for you, what do you think is more likely – declining test scores among children is due to 1. having to learn remotely for a few months or 2. a virus we know kills brain cells and causes permanent brain damage.
Some politicians brag about how little they have done to protect children from Covid. I don’t think that will age well.
In summary, using multiple ‘omics’ analytical approaches, we found that LC [Long Covid] individuals exhibited phenotypic perturbations in both total and SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and changes in gene expression among CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, monocytes and B cells. We found higher proportions of CD4+ TCM cells, TFH cells and Treg cells in LC compared to R [fully Recovered] individuals. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells, but not total CD8+ T cells, more frequently expressed the exhaustion markers PD1 and CTLA4, consistent with ongoing stimulation by viral antigens. Further supporting a potential persistent reservoir was our observation of higher SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in LC individuals, consistent with reports of higher spike-specific IgG in LC compared to R individuals. CyTOF, flow cytometry and scRNA-seq indicated that CD4+ T cells from LC individuals preferentially expressed CXCR4, CXCR5 and CCR6. CXCR4 expression is elevated on bystander CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in fatal COVID-19 (ref. 4) and on pulmonary CD4+ T cells, B cells, macrophages and granulocytes in the context of LC following SARS-CoV-2 infection of mice. Although fully recovered individuals exhibited coordinated humoral and cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, this coordination was lost in LC individuals, consistent with observations that about half of individuals with LC with no detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have detectable SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses. How the humoral response becomes divorced from the cellular response is unclear, but could involve a misalignment between IL-4 and IL-5 production by TH2 cells, as indicated by our Olink analysis.
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Comment: Similar to other studies, this report indicates that individuals suffering from Long Covid have objectively identifiable abnormalities related to a dysregulated immune system. In my opinion, these results are consistent with the possibility that individuals with long covid are either immunodeficient or on this path, and may be much more vulnerable to reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and also more vulnerable to severe symptoms after infection with other, usually more benign pathogens.
Almost 10,000 coronavirus deaths were reported in December, and admissions to hospitals and intensive care units surged, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said — with data indicating that holiday gatherings fueled increased transmission of the virus.
“We cannot ignore the evidence” that Omicron may be evolving into a more severe form of itself, Dr. Shan-Lu Liu—professor and co-director of the Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program at Ohio State University, and lead author on the first study—told Fortune.
Increasing COVID hospitalizations in the U.S. and around the globe potentially bolster the argument, he added.
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Some experts contend that Omicron—highly mutated compared to previous strains—originated in animals, then spilled back over into humans (as opposed to developing in a human with a long-term infection, as others contend). Regardless, animals serve as an underappreciated wild card, Liu contends. Case in point: Nearly every white-tailed deer in Ohio has tested positive for COVID, affording the virus an entire additional population in which to mutate.
Another, perhaps larger concern of Liu: the possibility that COVID recombines with another, more deadly coronavirus like SARS or MERS, which had case fatality rates around 10% and 34%, respectively. In contrast, COVID’s case fatality rate, among unvaccinated Americans, sat around 1% prior to Omicron, and around 0.11% after.
“Anything can happen,” Liu said. “It’s really hard to predict what’s going to come next, but nature can do amazing things.”
Scientists at the center of the “lab leak” controversy visited Anthony Fauci’s institute at the National Institutes of Health in 2017 to discuss their research — just months before NIH lifted a pause on high-risk virology, and two years before a novel coronavirus emerged near their lab in Wuhan.
Wuhan Institute of Virology Senior Scientist Shi Zhengli passed a security screening to visit National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases staffers in June 2017, where she gave a presentation about novel coronaviruses, emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know show.
Shi is known internationally as the “Bat Lady” for her work with bats and their coronaviruses. Though ostensibly a civilian lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has conducted research projects “for defensive and biosecurity needs of the military” since at least 2017, according to U.S. intelligence.
EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S. research organization, partnered closely with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, subcontracting NIAID funding to Shi’s lab, and arranged the meeting.
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Daszak arranged the meetings at NIH with the program officer overseeing his research there, Erik Stemmy, who managed coronavirus research at NIAID’s Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
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Fauci did not mention this 2017 meeting with Daszak in a 2022 sworn deposition with the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana.
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The revelation comes just days before Fauci will give sworn testimony to congressional investigators. Fauci is slated to testify in a closed door transcribed interview on January 8-9.
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A May 24, 2017, email shows Daszak seeking a security clearance for Shi as well as Peng Zhou, an associate professor at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, ahead of a June visit to the U.S.
The title of a joint talk by Daszak and Shi was billed as “SARS, MERS and the risk of novel viral emergence from bats,” the email shows.
A June 16, 2017, email shows an EcoHealth Alliance staffer sharing security screening information with Stemmy.
A June 29, 2017, email from Daszak suggests that Chinese collaborators on the project were present at the NIAID.
“Thanks for hosting us as NIAD [sic] today … nice to have a chance to introduce our collaborators to you personally,” Daszak said.
It’s not clear whether ties between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese military factored into Shi’s security screening.
Highly redacted State Department cables obtained by U.S. Right to Know last year show that the U.S. possesses “cyber evidence” of military “shadow labs” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
A 2021 State Department fact sheet stated that “despite the WIV presenting itself as a civilian institution,” it has conducted classified research on behalf of the Chinese military “since at least 2017.”
PLA researchers conducted virological research at the Wuhan lab, and the lab’s civilian scientists have worked alongside scientists associated with the PLA, according to a declassified assessment released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last year.
The emails raise yet more questions about the rigor of U.S. regulations on virology experiments that may generate new pandemic viruses, including how and why high-risk research was outsourced to a rival nation.
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Fauci has dismissed the relevance of this research to the worst pandemic in a century. He falsely claimed in Senate testimony in 2021 that NIAID did not fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
In an interview last year with Australian media, Fauci downplayed the significance of NIAID’s funding to EcoHealth and its collaborators in Wuhan.
But emails obtained through FOIA show that Fauci was alerted by January 27, 2020, that his institute had funded “among the biggest players in coronavirus work,” namely EcoHealth Alliance and its collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Fauci had been alerted by February 1, 2020, that this research included gain-of-function experiments.
In the very early hours of February 1, 2020, Fauci dispatched his aide Hugh Auchincloss to investigate whether his institute had funded the gain-of-function collaboration. It had.
Comment: What can I say about this? Fauci et al. completely lost their minds and did the stupidest thing possible and covered it up by smearing anyone who tried to tell the truth, using the full weight of the federal government and a compliant press. None of this will see the light of day under the current administration and, I think, not in the next administration, no matter who wins. Too many people are implicated.
Col Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former commander of Nato’s Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Defence Forces, said: “The apparent lab leaks in this country alone show we are all sitting on a ticking time bomb.
“It seems highly likely that (Covid-19) was man-made, though also likely an accident at a lab, rather than deliberate.
“The next pandemic is highly likely to be man-made, given the ease and unregulation of synthetic biology, and could kill millions of people.”
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The Chatham House report identified laboratory-acquired infections in 309 individuals from 51 pathogens globally between 2000 and 2021, including 16 incidents of pathogen escape from biocontainment facilities, most occurring in research and university laboratories.
Monotreme's Blog 
COVID levels are up to 19 times higher than reported, WHO says as it warns of the potential dangers of repeat reinfection: ‘We don’t know everything about this virus’
https://fortune.com/well/2024/01/12/covid-jn1-pandemic-world-health-organization-warns-dangers-repeat-covid-infection-cardiac-pulmonary-neurologic/
Erin Prater January 12, 2024
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Comment: We know enough to warn people that if they keep getting infected, the odds that they will get dementia and immune deficiency is significant.
Is It Dangerous to Keep Getting COVID-19?
https://time.com/6553340/covid-19-reinfection-risk/
Alice Park January 11, 2024
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Research reveals COVID-19’s lasting impact on brain function and structure
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240110/Research-reveals-COVID-19s-lasting-impact-on-brain-function-and-structure.aspx
Hugo Francisco de Souza Jan 10 2024
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Comment: Short version, yet another studying proving that Covid causes permanent brain damage. Question for you, what do you think is more likely – declining test scores among children is due to 1. having to learn remotely for a few months or 2. a virus we know kills brain cells and causes permanent brain damage.
Some politicians brag about how little they have done to protect children from Covid. I don’t think that will age well.
Long COVID manifests with T cell dysregulation, inflammation and an uncoordinated adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-023-01724-6
Roan, Nadia R.
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Comment: Similar to other studies, this report indicates that individuals suffering from Long Covid have objectively identifiable abnormalities related to a dysregulated immune system. In my opinion, these results are consistent with the possibility that individuals with long covid are either immunodeficient or on this path, and may be much more vulnerable to reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and also more vulnerable to severe symptoms after infection with other, usually more benign pathogens.
Covid kills nearly 10,000 in a month as holidays fuel spread, WHO says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/01/11/covid-deaths-holidays-world-health-organization/
Jennifer Hassan January 11, 2024
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New, highly mutated COVID variants ‘Pirola’ BA.2.86 and JN.1 may cause more severe disease, new studies suggest
https://fortune.com/well/2024/01/08/covid-omicron-variants-pirola-ba286-jn1-more-severe-disease-lung-gi-tract-symptoms/
Erin Prater January 8, 2024
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Scientists at the center of the ‘lab leak’ controversy met with NIH, Fauci
https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/daszak-shi-visits-nih-fauci/
January 6, 2024 Emily Kopp
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Comment: What can I say about this? Fauci et al. completely lost their minds and did the stupidest thing possible and covered it up by smearing anyone who tried to tell the truth, using the full weight of the federal government and a compliant press. None of this will see the light of day under the current administration and, I think, not in the next administration, no matter who wins. Too many people are implicated.
Lab leaks and accidents up 50pc since pandemic began as fears grow dangerous bugs could escape
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/06/lab-leaks-accidents-pandemic-viruses-bacteria-wuhan/
Sarah Knapton January 6, 2024
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