"Researchers at the Doherty Institute have made a breakthrough in understanding influenza B, identifying promising targets for vaccine development. They discovered specific immune responses that effectively neutralize the virus, potentially leading to more effective vaccines against influenza B strains in the future."
JN.1.11 has totally fizzled out (that's the difference between how it looks in a lab compared to actual infectivity) but there is a new variant that is being VERY closely scoured for by geneticists: JN.1.23 (that's JN One Dot Twenty-Three.)
This variant has an absolutely astounding ACE2Binding ability (which means it's easier to "stick" to lungs) + very good escape rate (which means it looks different than anything else before it and the body isn't sure how to react to it).: https://ibb.co/B45zX5B
It has already been found on 3 continents (South America/Brazil, North America/California, and Asia/India) and also in Canada/Alberta. it's now being tracked on Rajnarayanan's Tableau chart for the US.: https://ibb.co/xMwRyyC
This also has so much binding ability, it has the most potential to even "spend" some of its infectivity on other mutations that will benefit its children, sacrificing it for more severity or more innate infectivity....which would be very bad.
The good news is that this variant has only 2 differences between it and what we're already dealing with. Despite the very good ACE2 binding, XBB.1.5 vaccines and prior infections with JN.1 should hold against it at least a little while.: https://ibb.co/42D30fZ
(Note: don't get infected to prevent infection. That's silly. There's NO sure way to know if you were infected with JN.1 unless you get your case sequenced. Get vaccinated and use source control. That's smart and NOT silly.)
Wastewater
Wastewater SARS2 material is rising in the US again. Not a good sign.: https://ibb.co/DGx889k
Regionally, all regions except the West are starting to tick upwards again.: https://ibb.co/dtKpRsK
In PA, the 5 stations that report to Biobot are showing very volatile elves, but Chester, Lackawanna, Luzerne, and MontCo are handling it. :canparrot: GOOD GOING. Source control keeps those numbers down!!!: https://ibb.co/JxZX7YC
BucksCo is on an uptick, now above national averages. Please be cautious and keep working at it for Spring!!! 💐
The PA DoH Wastewater dashboard reflects these rising levels, with levels especially rising in Monroe County. PLEASE USE SOURCE CONTROL. Wear a quality respirator, clean the air with MERV-13 or HEPA filters, and STAY HOME if you are sick!: https://ibb.co/DwtcNgd
Year-Over-Year
Want to remind everyone that this year has the highest national wastewater numbers of all COVID years at this time.: https://ibb.co/WP98zxT
(I changed the color of the 2024 year because the original color used to represent it was...pretty unseeable.)
MORE people are getting infected/reinfected more quickly, and you can see the general trend is for the absolute baseline rising throughout the year.
This is in addition to, on WastewaterSCAN, high levels of other respiratory pathogens like RSV, FluA and FluB and the gastro-disturbing (and just gross) Norovirus.: https://ibb.co/ggyxfBt
Wash hands to prevent especially non SARS pathogens.
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Wash fruits and veg too before you eat them!
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Guys, this is us on our way to a high tide that will never drop IF we don't use source control.
But if we do, we can prevent life, learning, and financial loss going into spring and have a LOVELY and healthy new season soon! 💐