WORRISOME— #COVID19 mutation becomes more concerning. The coronavirus can mutate swiftly in one person’s body.

New case study: #SARSCoV2 “resurged again & again in the body of an infected man, eventually killing him while showing fast-paced evolution”.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w

2) doctors “followed the course of #COVID19 in a 45-year-old man with autoimmune disorder, who was on immunosuppressants.”

Roughly 40 days after he first tested positive, follow-up tests indicated that virus was dwindling — but it surged back, *despite antiviral treatment*.

3) “The man’s infection subsided and then returned 2x more before he died, five months after his first #COVID19 diagnosis.

“Genomic analysis showed that the man had not been infected multiple times. Instead, the virus had lingered and **quickly mutated in his body**.”

4) we don’t know for sure what this means for vaccine, but virus can gain mutations by allowing it to replicate over and over. there is something known as “passaging”—usually serially in animals—allowing accumulate mutations quickly—could be good/bad. This case in 1 person though

5) In another news, a widespread mutation of #SARSCoV2 called N439K has the potential to **evade the immune response** that some people mount after infection. (Thomson et al. https://doi.org/fhnp ; 2020).... https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w

6) “researchers found the mutation could hinder (read: block) the activity of potent neutralizing antibodies that block the virus.”

Among the neutralizing antibodies obstructed were those in the blood of people who had recovered from #COVID19.

This could affect reinfection.

7) And worse, mutation N439K even inhibited neutralizing antibodies from “manufactured ‘monoclonal antibodies’ that are being developed into treatments”!

Basically this mutation could maybe thwart synthetic antibodies in Renegeron & Eli Lily drugs that Trump & Christie used.

8) Folks—not making any of this stuff up! It’s all from a Nature news summary!

Scroll down to:

“11 November — A coronavirus mutation could weaken antibodies’ power”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w

9) All this affects not only the drugs, but also reinfection and possibly the vaccine (no data yet). But we do know reinfection can happen — officially 25 confirmed cases via virus comparison. And 572 more suspected reinfections according to @BNODesk: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/08/covid-19-reinfection-tracker/