Last month’s Coronavirus Open Thread did a fantastic job at being a place for coronavirus-related information and questions that didn’t merit a top level post, but at almost 400 comments, many of which were great at the time but are now obsolete, it’s getting a little creaky. So for the next month (probably. Who knows what’s going to happen in that month) this is the new spot for comments and questions about coronavirus that don’t fit anywhere else and aren’t worth a top level post.
Wondering what happened in last month’s thread? Here are the timeless and not-yet-eclipsed-by-events highlights:
- Spiracular on why SARS-Cov-2 is unlikely to be lab-created.
- Two documents collating estimates of basic epidemiological parameters, in response to this thread
- Discussion on whether the tuberculosis vaccine provides protection against COVID-19.
- Suggestive evidence that COVID-19 removes sense of taste and smell.
- Could copper tape be net harmful?
Want to know what’s coming up in the future? Check out the Coronavirus Research Agenda and its related questions.
Wondering why the April thread is going up on 3/31? Because everything’s a little more confusing on 4/1 and I didn’t want the extra hassle.
Exactly like variolation, except you do it intelligently to minimize lung infection.
SARS and SARS-Cov2 are both ACE2 dependent for cell entry.
ACE2 expression in AT2 cells in the lower respiratory track is known to be on the apical surface, that is the side of the cell facing airspace, not the basal surface facing vasculature. Hypothesis would be that lung infection is much more efficient and virulent by droplet delivery rather than by virus circulating in blood stream. I am also under the understanding that the kidney and heart complications are due to poor oxygenation due to the respiratory distress, not a primary viremia in those organs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15141377
Tissue distribution of ACE2 protein, the functional receptor for SARS coronavirus. A first step in understanding SARS pathogenesis.
"In conclusion, ACE2 is abundantly present in humans in the epithelia of the lung and small intestine, which might provide possible routes of entry for the SARS-CoV. "
ACE2 expression by colonic epithelial cells is associated with viral infection, immunity and energy metabolism
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.05.20020545v1.full.pdf
The digestive system is a potential route of 2019-nCov infection: a bioinformatics analysis based on single-cell transcriptomes
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.30.927806v1.full.pdf
Covid-19 and the Digestive System.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32215956
"Studies have identified the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in stool specimens of infected patients, and its viral receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was found to be highly expressed in gastrointestinal epithelial cells. These suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can actively infect and replicate in the gastrointestinal tract. This has important implications to the disease management, transmission, and infection control."
Severe acute respiratory syndrome and its lesions in digestive system
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4611772/