XBB.1.5 now dominates all other “Variants of Interest” of low daily cases in the US – PLUS a quick look at RT-PCR and its amplification cycles

From here:

Warning over new Covid variant that evades immune system as US cases double in one week (msn.com)

Re-posting an article published by the UK’s Daily Express.

So what is all the fuss about?

Here’s some context.

Current estimated variants circulating:

The bivalent (Original + BA3.BA5) “booster” authorized by the FDA only has relevance for the BF7 (which is a BA.5 sub-lineage variant) plus BA.5 itself – less than 6% of variants currently circulating. Seems an excellent opportunity to come up with an XBB.1.5 plus BQ.1.1 plus BQ.1 booster (plus non-existent original strain according to the FDA decision making processes?), right? So we can more billions to big pharma to FORCE/create yet another variant. Maybe call it FU.2.Death or similar.

Anyway, the top 3 circulating variants making up just under 93% of all circulating variants are XBB.1.5 = 40.5%, BQ.1.1= 26.9% and BQ.1 = 18.3%.

The BF7 variant that is rampaging through China is just 2% - maybe they have XBB.1.5 and have made a mistake!

So how significant is this “prevalence”.

Let’s check out “case” rates which can, presumably, magically distinguish between variants by sticking a brain-scratching swab up your nose and magnifying what is pulled out

Daily C19 cases in the US

Daily cases are running around 50-75,000 as we enter the winter flu seson. A long way below the peaks of other waves, but not increasing markedly, as yet.

Worth keeping an eye, for sure, but does it comport with the “triggering” headline?

Before I sign off, here is a table showing the number of amplifications used in RT-PCR test to determine “presence” of the SARS-COV2 virus (and its variants?) in wide use throughout the world.

Dr McCullough suggests using around 28. Others say that 24 is the maximum that should be used. Most countries use somewhere between 30 and 40. Maybe they should use something similar to detect spike proteins post one, two, booster and “up the wazoo” injections after one, three, six, 12 months and longer!

From here:

“Each cycle of PCR includes steps for template denaturation, primer annealing and primer extension. The initial step denatures the target DNA by heating it to 94°C or higher for 15 seconds to 2 minutes. In the denaturation process, the two intertwined strands of DNA separate from one another, producing the necessary single-stranded DNA template for replication by the thermostable DNA polymerase. In the next step of a cycle, the temperature is reduced to approximately 40–60°C. At this temperature, the oligonucleotide primers can form stable associations (anneal) with the denatured target DNA and serve as primers for the DNA polymerase. This step lasts approximately 15–60 seconds. Finally, the synthesis of new DNA begins as the reaction temperature is raised to the optimum for the DNA polymerase. For most thermostable DNA polymerases, this temperature is in the range of 70–74°C. The extension step lasts approximately 1–2 minutes. The next cycle begins with a return to 94°C for denaturation.”

Onwards!

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