The Times - UK (2021-11-11)

18 2GM Thursday November 11 2021 | the times

News

A scientific breakthrough could lead to
variant-proof Covid vaccines that pro-
tect against an array of coronaviruses
including those responsible for com-
mon colds, researchers said yesterday.
The inoculation could give long-
lasting protection, including from
future Covid-like infections that spread
from animals to humans.
The study looked at NHS workers
who were at a high risk of infection
during the early part of the pandemic
but had not fallen ill and developed no
protective antibodies.
The researchers found that, in fact,
they had been infected but they were
protected by their Tcells, another
aspect of their immune systems, which
can destroy infected cells.
A rapid Tcell response appears to
have been ready and waiting because
these people had been recently exposed
to other coronaviruses, which cause
about one in ten common colds.
Importantly, the work suggests that
any coronavirus would have met with
the same potent immune response.
“Previous common cold exposure

may have given these individuals a

head start against the virus, tipping the

balance in favour of their immune

system eliminating the virus before

it could start to replicate,” said Leo

Swadling of University College London

(UCL), who led the research.

The research promises to be valuable

for vaccines because it found that the

Tcells had recognised a set of proteins

First UK case of pet dog

catching virus from owner

George Sandeman

The UK’s first case of a pet dog being

diagnosed with Covid-19 has been con-

firmed with the evidence suggesting

that it caught the virus from its owner.

Christine Middlemiss, the chief vet-

erinary officer, said yesterday that the

pet was being treated for an unrelated

condition at a vet’s clinic when the cor-

onavirus was detected.

The infection was confirmed on No-

vember 3 following tests by the Animal

and Plant Health Agency at its labora-

tory in Weybridge, Surrey. In July last

year Middlemiss confirmed the first

case of a cat contracting Covid-19 with

the evidence also suggesting that it had

contracted the virus from its owners.

The dog is now recovering at home

with its owners, who had previously

tested positive for the virus. In a state-

ment, Middlemiss said: “It is very rare

for dogs to be infected and they will

usually only show mild clinical signs

and recover within a few days. There is

no clear evidence to suggest that pets

directly transmit the virus to humans.”

Dr Katherine Russell, consultant

medical epidemiologist at the UK

Health Security Agency, said: “Covid-

19 is predominantly spread from person

to person but in some situations the

virus can spread from people to

animals. In line with general public

health guidance, you should wash your

hands regularly, including before and

after contact with animals.”

The Department for Environment,

Food & Rural Affairs said that the

case had been reported to the World

Organisation for Animal Health in line

with the government’s international

commitments.

The first dog in the world to be diag-

nosed with Covid was reported to be a

pomeranian in Hong Kong where

authorities placed it in quarantine in

February last year. It died a few days

later in March after testing negative

and being allowed to return home, re-

ported the South China Morning Post.

Previous exposure to the common cold
could provide some protection against
Covid-19 by helping the body to elimi-
nate the virus before it starts to repli-
cate, a study has found.
Researchers at University College
London tracked 750 frontline medical
staff at high risk of contracting corona-
virus and found that some who had
never tested positive had higher levels
of T-cells, part of the immune system.
Dr Leo Swadling, the study author,

Suffering snuffles may protect from worse

said 58 of the healthcare workers they

examined were in this category. “Previ-

ous common-cold exposure may have

given these individuals a head start

against the virus, tipping the balance in

favour of their immune system and

eliminating the virus before it could

start to replicate,” he said.

“These T-cells are poised ready to

recognise Sars-CoV-2. Exposure alone

can induce T-cells without these indi-

viduals ever becoming PCR positive or

having an antibody response.”

However, the study noted that not all

colds would protect against existing

novel coronavirus infections because

only about 10 per cent of colds are

caused by coronaviruses.

In addition, the researchers only in-

vestigated the impact of the original

Wuhan strain of coronavirus, not the

more infectious Delta strain.

The researchers said that the discov-

ery could help to build on efforts to

create a new type of vaccine that would

activate T-cells, possibly halting the

coronavirus far earlier if the “replica-

tion process” could be disabled.

Kieran Gair

The national picture

There were 39,329 new cases reported

yesterday, bringing the total to 9,406,

or 140.8 for every 1,000 people

Daily cases

(based on seven-day moving average)

14.7% decrease from seven days ago

Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct

0

20,

40,

Seven-day 60,

average

National

R number

1.1 to 1.

0

2,

4,

Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct

Hospital admissions

Seven-day

average

How many are in hospital?

How many people have Covid-19?

There are 8,859 patients in hospital

being treated. 1,023 patients are on

ventilators. An additional 823 patients

have been admitted, down 8.4 per cent in

the seven days to November 6 when this

data was last updated

Yesterday, there were 214 deaths

reported, bringing the total number of

deaths in the past seven days to 1,157. The

rolling average number of daily deaths is

165.3, up from 163 a day a week ago

How many have died?

2020/

0

10,

5,

20,

15,

Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct

Deaths

0

500

1,

1,

Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct

Seven-day

average

How does 2021 compare?

There were 10,987 deaths from all

causes recorded in England and Wales in

the week to October 29, of which the

coronavirus accounted for 7.8 per cent.

The number of weekly deaths was 1,

higher than the five-year average for the

same time of year

Five-year average

How Britain compares

Percentage of population who have

received at least one vaccine dose

(total doses administered in brackets)

UAE 97.7% (21.4m)

Portugal 88.8% (16.2m)

Malta 83.8% (892k)

Spain 81.5% (72.8m)

Canada 78.7% (59.3m)

Italy 77.5% (91.3m)

Ireland 76.8% (7.3m)

France 76.1% (100.2m)

Brazil 75.1% (279.1m)

Australia 75.1% (37.1m)

UK 74 .1 % (107.1m)

Daily

(Nov 9)

First dose

39,

Boosters

in UK

(daily)

340,

First dose

50.3m

Second

45.9m

Second

21,

UK total

10,920,

People

vaccinated

in UK

News Coronavirus

Freedom of the city The lord mayor-elect of London, Vincent Keaveny, tries out the

Covid vaccines to

defeat variants...

and common cold

Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent inside the Covid virus that allow it to
multiply. These proteins are known as
the replication–transcription complex
(RTC) and are virtually identical across
all types of coronavirus. They do not
seem to mutate to the same degree
as the spike proteins targeted by the
vaccines being used in the UK.
That could mean that a vaccine de-
signed around an RTC protein could, in
theory, be effective against all known
coronaviruses.
“These proteins — required for the
earliest stage of the virus’s life cycle as
soon as it enters a cell — are common to
all coronaviruses and remain ‘highly
conserved’, so are unlikely to change or
mutate,” said Mala Maini of UCL,
senior author of the research.
“A vaccine that can induce Tcells to
recognise and target infected cells ex-
pressing these proteins... may have the
added benefit that they also recognise
other coronaviruses that currently in-
fect humans or that could in the future.”
Scientists say that an mRNA vaccine
could be designed in days to prompt the
body to make the RTC protein.
The researchers estimate that about
10-15 per cent of the population might
have had the pre-existing immunity to
the Covid virus. It would have relied on
them having been exposed to another
coronavirus recently and probably on
them having an immune system with
certain genetic features.
Their Tcells could fight off the virus
in the very earliest stages of infection.
This meant that these people had
“abortive infections” — where the virus
failed to gain a foothold and was
cleared so quickly that antibodies were
not needed. The findings may explain
scenarios where one person in a house-
hold seemed to stay Covid-free while
everybody around them fell ill.
The vaccines used at present in the
UK focus on a different part of the
virus, the so-called spike protein that
sticks out of its surface. The issue here
is that mutations can change the shape
of the spike. This, in turn, may lessen
the protection offered by the jabs.
Maini believes that new vaccines
could be developed that combine the
spike and RTC protein, to drive strong
production of antibodies and Tcells.
Alexander Edwards of Reading Uni-
versity, who was not involved in the re-
search, said: “Insights from this study
could be critical in the design of a differ-
ent type of vaccine.” The research was
published in the journal Nature.

Virus

Coronavirus

Current vaccine New vaccine

Killer T-cells

recognise protein

and learn to kill

infected cells

RTC proteins

Jab exposes body

to the RTC protein,

common to all

coronaviruses

Jab exposes

immune system to

the spike protein

This generates

antibodies that

recognise and stop

virus from infecting

new cells