Deadly ‘Climate Change’ Fungus Targeted In Drug Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Dundee University team leading fight against Candida auris, a type of yeast that causes severe illness and spreads easily among hospital and care home patients.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A rapidly growing deadly fungus, thought to have emerged in humans due to climate change, is one of the targets of a £17.9 million drug project.
Candida auris is a type of yeast that can cause severe illness and spreads easily among patients in healthcare facilities. It was first seen in Japan in 2009 and has spread worldwide, with outbreaks in hospitals in the UK, South Africa, India and parts of North and South America.
These are points from the rest of a must-read article.
- The first cases in the UK were recorded in 2014 and numbers have been rising yearly since 2020.
- Found particularly in hospitals and care homes.
- Many infections occur when medical devices such as catheters or ventilators are fitted to patients.
- I’ve had my fill of catheters, when I had my stroke in Hong Kong.
- Immunocompromised people are most at risk.
I may be coeliac, but I tend to believe my immune system is like a platoon of SAS soldiers on steroids. It certainly gave the AstraZeneca viral vector Covid-19 vaccine a good kicking. But it welcomed the second dose, like a long-lost friend.
I asked Google if there was any interaction and got this reply.
While Candida auris is a serious fungal infection, it is not directly linked to celiac disease. However, Candida albicans, another type of yeast, has been implicated in the development or exacerbation of celiac disease through mechanisms like cross-reactivity and molecular mimicry.
I shall act responsibly and hope for the best.
But.
- Research at the University of Padua has shown, that diagnosed coeliacs sticking to their gluten-free diet, don’t get serious doses of Covid-19.
- Research at the University of Nottingham has shown, that diagnosed coeliacs sticking to their gluten-free diet, have a lower cancer rate, than the general population.
- I’ve very rarely had colds, flu and other infection, since my diagnosis as a coeliac and going gluten-free in 1997.
- I’ve never had Covid-19.
A Floridian restauranteur once called me one of the Devil’s children, as I was a coeliac. If that is true, she certainly looks after her own!
Moonshot Is The Spanner In The Covid-19 Works The Country Needs
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-title of the article.
Antivirals like molnupiravir are the third line in our long-term fight against coronavirus.
The article describes how scientists in Oxfordshire looked for an antiviral that could be Covid-19’s nemesis, which Tom Whipple called molecular kryptonite.
The American pharmaceutical[ molnupiravir has been the first antiviral to be licenced for Covid-19, but it is pricey.
But helped by the Diamond Light Source, it appears that, progress has been made in Oxfordshire.
Tom Whipple says this.
After 18 months of study they last week gained funding from the Wellcome Trust to narrow the options to one, in a project called Covid Moonshot.
And this.
The goal of Moonshot is a generic drug that is cheap, plentiful and, a stipulation of the project, off-patent from the beginning.
Has the Diamond Light Source has struck again?
- The Diamond Light Source And COVID-19
- The Diamond Light Source And Ebola
- The Diamond Light Source And Malaria
The Diamond Light Source might have cost £ 400 million and needs a budget of £ 40 million a year to run, but it is certainly starting to pay back the investment.
The Anonymous Widower 