Replies: 3
| visibility 130
|
Ultimate Clemson Legend [109239]
TigerPulse: 100%
64
Posts: 70860
Joined: 2002
|
Well, talk about timely reporting......
Sep 25, 2023, 4:55 PM
|
|
I know I've mentioned this a long time ago, about a year ago or at least 6 months ago I know. A scientist on Twitter first pointed it out. Patients who were hospitalized with covid and given molnupiravir, had unique mutations in the virus they carried in their bodies. These mutations, however, started spreading into other sequences from other samples, even people not hospitalized. This meant the drug was causing mutations that were spreading. The way molnupiravir works is by short-circuiting the virus' machinery to cause it to mutate wildly and randomly, in the host, to a point it becomes benign and disappears. While this is well and good, and the drug does help those infected and severely ill, when they recover they are still spreading the heavily mutated virus they carry. This increases genetic diversity in the general population and CAN BE very dangerous as the artificially created molnupiravir mutations can become part (and have) become part of the naturally evolving virus lineages.
Anyway, I guess today it was finally confirmed, in a study, that was finally peer reviewed, and finally published. This drug should be banned for use with covid, like....... months ago.
https://www.the-express.com/news/health/112809/covid-unexpected-mutations-virus-drug-molnupiravir
|
|
|
 |
TigerNet Icon [153953]
TigerPulse: 100%
68
Posts: 68579
Joined: 2000
|
If you're trying to figure out how to make everybody
Sep 25, 2023, 4:59 PM
|
|
WANT a drug that "treats" Covid, ban it.
|
|
|
|
 |
Ultimate Clemson Legend [109239]
TigerPulse: 100%
64
Posts: 70860
Joined: 2002
|
The mutations seen in molnupiravir patients are not
Sep 25, 2023, 5:15 PM
|
|
like those seen naturally occurring. The drug makes the virus hyper mutate into oblivion in a way it would never mutate naturally. So when a patient spreads it to their kid, for example, the kid gets the molnupiravir mutated-variant. The kid then spreads it, etc. As a result, these odd mutations enter the general population as it spreads, entering the covid family tree. That is very dangerous.
The original thinking (Merck) was the drug causes so many mutations the virus won't spread with them, and dies out in the host. That is NOT the case though.
The guy who originally noticed this posted entire lineages (family trees) with branches from the original patient treated with molnupiravir. They then saw other mutations in other lineages and traced them as well. The virus mutates plenty enough on its own, and in the general population those mutations are controlled. When you scramble them with molnupiravir, the genetic diversity of what is circulating in the general population is higher, making a nasty mutation more likely.
For example, you can count unique mutations in variants. Omicron had like 52, BA.2.86 (the new scariant) has about 32. Most have from 2-5 mutations. Molnupiravir-specific mutations are in the hundreds. Essentially, in a single patient treated with this drug, the virus mutates as much as it would in ANOTHER 3+ years in the general population, all at once. Then that spreads. Luckily there is no evolutionary selection at play with the molnupiravir mutations. So they likely confer no added danger. But the possibility they carry on could cause the virus to mutate to evade that drug, or something worse. General rule is you do not want to add to the genetic diversity as much as possible. The drug should be banned.
|
|
|
|
 |
Ultimate Clemson Legend [109239]
TigerPulse: 100%
64
Posts: 70860
Joined: 2002
|
|
|
|
Replies: 3
| visibility 130
|
|
|