WEBVTT - The Slim Chance of a Cure

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day one seven

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<v Speaker 1>since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main story

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<v Speaker 1>scientists are hunting for ways to treat the virus, but

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<v Speaker 1>our best defense against infection might lie in our own bodies.

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<v Speaker 1>But first, here's what happened in virus news today. In

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<v Speaker 1>the US, prospects for a COVID nineteen relief bill before

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<v Speaker 1>the November election are dwindling fast. How Speaker Nancy Pelosi

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<v Speaker 1>welcomed representatives back today, but that's unlikely to give fresh

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<v Speaker 1>impetus to the discussions. Republicans and Democrats both are testing

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<v Speaker 1>a risky strategy that the public and voters will blame

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<v Speaker 1>the other side for failing to deliver help to millions

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<v Speaker 1>of households and companies. Among the unlikely events that could

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<v Speaker 1>now break the deadlock, President Donald Trump changing tech amid

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<v Speaker 1>alarm about poll numbers, a sudden reversal of economic indicators

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<v Speaker 1>that have recently trended upward, and Pelosi or Senate Majority

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<v Speaker 1>Leader Mitch McConnell facing a revolt by their own vulnerable

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<v Speaker 1>moderate members. Israel's cabinet voted to impose a second nationwide

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<v Speaker 1>lockdown starting Friday amid a raging coronavirus outbreak. The move

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<v Speaker 1>defies business leaders who warn of economic strangulation, as well

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<v Speaker 1>as the powerful ultra Orthodox Jewish community. Ministers voted Sunday

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<v Speaker 1>to strictly limit movement, gatherings and economic activity for at

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<v Speaker 1>least three weeks, which coincides with a major Jewish holiday season.

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<v Speaker 1>Finally finds our Chief executive officer Albert Borla said it's

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<v Speaker 1>likely the US will deploy a COVID nineteen vaccine to

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<v Speaker 1>the public before the end of the year. Borla said

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<v Speaker 1>the company is prepared for that scenario, even though health

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<v Speaker 1>authorities have more cautious expectations. Borla said Sunday on CBSS

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<v Speaker 1>Face the Nation that he's quote quite comfortable that the

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<v Speaker 1>vaccine the company is developing in partnership with bio n

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<v Speaker 1>Tech is safe. He said it could be available to

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<v Speaker 1>Americans before one depending on whether the US Food and

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<v Speaker 1>Drug Administration approves it. And now for today's main story,

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<v Speaker 1>even after a vaccine is developed, the coronavirus is likely

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<v Speaker 1>to remain with US for years. That means researchers must

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<v Speaker 1>pursue efforts to find a cure for those who still

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<v Speaker 1>fall sick. Viruses are tricky to fight, and prevention with

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<v Speaker 1>vaccines has been far more successful than treatment with drugs.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, modern medicine has come up with a true

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<v Speaker 1>cure for only one viral infection. For many serious infections,

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<v Speaker 1>the best approaches are a cocktail of drugs that throws

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<v Speaker 1>speed bumps in front of the infection. I spoke with

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<v Speaker 1>Michelle Fake Cortez who reports that the best solution for

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<v Speaker 1>fighting viruses is often letting our own bodies attack them.

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<v Speaker 1>Viruses have been getting human sick for millennia, really, and

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<v Speaker 1>even with the advances of modern medicine, viruses are clearly

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<v Speaker 1>still causing millions of deaths each year. So what makes

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<v Speaker 1>viruses so hard to defeat? A virus is a very

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<v Speaker 1>unique thing, and it is not a living organism. It

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<v Speaker 1>has to be inside a cell in order to survive

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<v Speaker 1>and thrive and reproduce. You can actually kill a virus

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<v Speaker 1>very easily if it's outside of a cell. In fact,

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<v Speaker 1>it can't even survive outside of a cell. And if

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<v Speaker 1>you can get anything onto it, like disinfectant, like sunlight,

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<v Speaker 1>like almost anything, it can't exist without being inside of

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<v Speaker 1>a cell. So in order to kill a virus, or

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<v Speaker 1>destroy a virus, or slow down a virus, you have

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<v Speaker 1>to actually be operating inside a cell. And when you're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about something like coronavirus, that virus has gotten into

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<v Speaker 1>very important cells that we all need in order to

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<v Speaker 1>survive ourselves, so trying to slow it down is tricky.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not just ronavirus. We actually only have medicine that

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<v Speaker 1>can cure a virus for one condition, and that's hepatitis C.

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<v Speaker 1>It took an awfully long time to come up with

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<v Speaker 1>that medicine and we just haven't had that much time

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<v Speaker 1>when it comes to coronavirus now. In terms of what

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<v Speaker 1>our bodies are able to do naturally, I mean, how

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<v Speaker 1>do our immune systems, without the help of a vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>or other drugs, how does it naturally try to fight

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<v Speaker 1>off a virus. The human immune system is an amazing thing.

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<v Speaker 1>It produces millions upon millions of what are essentially infection

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<v Speaker 1>fighting drugs. Every day, one of the millions of antibodies

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<v Speaker 1>that we have out there launches onto a foreign invader,

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<v Speaker 1>which is called an antigen, and once it identifies that

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<v Speaker 1>the immune system is like all in, it sends everybody

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<v Speaker 1>to that spot and starts reproducing and multiplying and creating

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<v Speaker 1>more and more antibodies to shut down whatever that attacker is.

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<v Speaker 1>Once that's happened, everything recedes, but not to the level

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<v Speaker 1>that it was before, because now the body is aware

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<v Speaker 1>that that threat is out there, so those antigens keep

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<v Speaker 1>circulating and patrolling so that if they see that virus again,

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<v Speaker 1>it can just go straight into attack mode. That's why

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<v Speaker 1>we don't have to worry about infections over and over again.

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<v Speaker 1>That's how our body primes itself to keep us healthy,

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<v Speaker 1>and it does that naturally. It's one of the amazing

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<v Speaker 1>things that our body knows how to breathe, It knows

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<v Speaker 1>how to regulate our blood sugar and our insulin levels,

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<v Speaker 1>and it keeps us healthy for us trying to do

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<v Speaker 1>that outside of the body. We are getting better at it,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's still not anywhere near as efficient. And so

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<v Speaker 1>let's talk about those tools that we use to fight viruses.

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<v Speaker 1>So how do drugs or vaccines mimic what our immune

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<v Speaker 1>system is already doing with antibodies? That is solutely what

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<v Speaker 1>research is built on across almost every plane that we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about. When you talk about convalescent plasma for example.

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<v Speaker 1>That is literally just trying to take those antibodies out

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<v Speaker 1>of someone who's already fought the infection and put it

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<v Speaker 1>into someone new. But there are more efficient ways to

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<v Speaker 1>do that. There are researchers who have been able to

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<v Speaker 1>actually create monoclonal antibodies. That means they're building those antibodies

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<v Speaker 1>outside of the body, directly targeted for the antigen that's

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<v Speaker 1>of interest in this case, the one that causes coronavirus.

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<v Speaker 1>Those monoclonal antibodies can be infused into the patient and

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<v Speaker 1>go directly to killing that antigen, to directly killing that

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<v Speaker 1>that attacker. Now, what a vaccine does is it tries

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<v Speaker 1>to build on that underlying process of how the immune

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<v Speaker 1>system works. It introduces just a tiny piece of that

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<v Speaker 1>virus to give the heads up to the immune system

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<v Speaker 1>that hey, this guy could be coming and it could

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<v Speaker 1>cause problems for you, so you should ratchet up your

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<v Speaker 1>production of antibodies against this target. So it's just a shortcut.

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<v Speaker 1>Not only that, because it's only a piece of the virus,

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<v Speaker 1>or an inactivated part of the virus, you get the

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<v Speaker 1>benefit without having had the harm. Why are we often

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<v Speaker 1>talking about a combination of drugs versus a single vaccine.

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<v Speaker 1>When we're talking about drugs or therapeutics for a virus, coronavirus,

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<v Speaker 1>or any other virus, as we discussed, we can't go

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<v Speaker 1>in there and just blow them up, because then we

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<v Speaker 1>would be blowing up the human cells. So what they do,

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<v Speaker 1>what these medicines do, is they look for weaknesses in

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<v Speaker 1>the virus, and generally that's around the replication, how the

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<v Speaker 1>virus causes itself to multiply. In order to do that,

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<v Speaker 1>you can attack it in more than one different way,

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<v Speaker 1>and as you're hitting it from all these various sides,

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<v Speaker 1>you have a better result. Not only that, viruses are

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<v Speaker 1>very good at mutating, so if you're hitting it from

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<v Speaker 1>just one direction, it's just going to move. So hitting

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<v Speaker 1>it with more than one approach generally leads to a

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<v Speaker 1>better effect. There's often also a lot of discussion about

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<v Speaker 1>the role of a vaccine in creating herd immunity, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's more of a population discussion, and I was wondering

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<v Speaker 1>if you might just touch on that, how a vaccine

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<v Speaker 1>can play a role in not just helping to fight

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<v Speaker 1>off a virus within an individual, but also within a population.

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<v Speaker 1>The way that we stop an outbreak is by creating

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<v Speaker 1>immunity to that virus, so that the virus as it's

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<v Speaker 1>going from one person to the next literally can't catch

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<v Speaker 1>on to the next person and as a result dies out.

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<v Speaker 1>That's what happens with herd immunity, and that is the

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<v Speaker 1>goal of vaccination. Think about it. The IRUs gets into

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<v Speaker 1>your body, it repopulates, repopulates, repopulates, and then goes to

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<v Speaker 1>the next person and does the same thing. They're taking

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<v Speaker 1>over everyone's body as it moves to the next person.

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<v Speaker 1>If you have been infected and now your immune system

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<v Speaker 1>is protecting you, you are no longer a host. It

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<v Speaker 1>can't take hold in your body and get to the

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<v Speaker 1>next person. That's the same way that the vaccine works,

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<v Speaker 1>and so if you vaccinate enough people, the vaccine won't

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<v Speaker 1>be able to continue on and it will essentially die

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<v Speaker 1>where where it lives. If you think about it. With measles,

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<v Speaker 1>we do still have measles, and we have outbreaks, but

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<v Speaker 1>they don't generally last. That's because there's enough people in

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<v Speaker 1>the world who have been vaccinated against measles. So you

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<v Speaker 1>might get into a small pocket of people who haven't

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<v Speaker 1>gotten vaccinated, and then you'll see an outbreak there, but

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<v Speaker 1>before it can get to broader population, it starts running

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<v Speaker 1>into these fire breaks essentially, and it dies out. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>we've had coronavirus in various forms for hundreds, if not

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of years. Why don't we have a vaccine already?

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<v Speaker 1>I suppose it's the simple question. It's a great question,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's a complicated question. We do have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of coronavirus is out there, but generally they're pretty benign.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're gonna have a common cold, which is what

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<v Speaker 1>most coronaviruses cause, that's something that the body can handle

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<v Speaker 1>pretty efficiently. So how much time or researcher is going

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<v Speaker 1>to spend trying to cure something that your body cures

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<v Speaker 1>almost all the time with pretty minimal damage when they

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<v Speaker 1>could be working on something more significant. How much money

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<v Speaker 1>are people willing to spend if they have a shot

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<v Speaker 1>at maybe recovering from a cold one day faster. The

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<v Speaker 1>other thing is is that there are thousands and thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of viruses, so you don't know exactly the one that

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<v Speaker 1>you have, So you don't even know if there was

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<v Speaker 1>a treatment, if it was going to work against that one,

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<v Speaker 1>or if it would mutate if you if it was

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<v Speaker 1>faced with some kind of of a therapeutic. But there

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<v Speaker 1>have been other coronaviruses that were really significant, most specifically

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<v Speaker 1>STARS and MERS. Those are the two new outbreaks that

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<v Speaker 1>occurred within the last twenty years, and they did cause

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<v Speaker 1>some pretty major devastation. They were very deadly. The thing

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<v Speaker 1>is is that they did burn out pretty quickly. When

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<v Speaker 1>it comes to STARS and MERS is still spreading in

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<v Speaker 1>the Middle East. Now, had we continued the work that

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<v Speaker 1>we started when those two diseases emerged, then we might

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<v Speaker 1>be further along when it comes to this coronavirus. And

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<v Speaker 1>this is not something that is going to stop. Just

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<v Speaker 1>like we had STARS in two thousand and three, just

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<v Speaker 1>like we had MERRS subsequent to that. Just like we

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<v Speaker 1>have this new coronavirus, there will be another one coming.

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<v Speaker 1>So we are hoping that the money and the effort

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<v Speaker 1>and the attention put on this coronavirus will can tinue

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<v Speaker 1>once we're past this, so that we're better equipped for

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<v Speaker 1>the next outbreak. That was Michelle Fake Wortez and that's

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<v Speaker 1>it for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak

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<v Speaker 1>from one and twenty bureaus around the world, visit bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>dot com, slash Coronavirus and if you like the show,

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<v Speaker 1>please leave us a review and a rating on Apple

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<v Speaker 1>Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more

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<v Speaker 1>listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Toph for foreheads Jordan Gaspore, Magnus Hendrickson and

0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:47.960
<v Speaker 1>me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Michelle

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<v Speaker 1>fake Cortez. Original music by Leo Sedrin. Our editors are

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<v Speaker 1>Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head

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<v Speaker 1>of podcasts. Thanks to listening m