Not Just Vaccines in the Armamentarium?

Vaccines will be central in our attempts to return to normality but there are other medical developments that are helping. The Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care Consortium, led by Edinburgh University, has compared the DNA's of nearly 2,250 critically-ill patients from more than 200 UK intensive care units with strands from healthy controls (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/11/coronavirus-uk-scientists-identify-drugs-that-may-help-severe-cases). Their work has already found differences in 5 genes (sections of DNA that code for a particular protein), which partially explain why some sick patients become critically ill (rather than having a mild infection). Identifying the genes and knowing what they do, enables the consortium (and other scientists with whom the information is shared) to predict, already developed medicines that are likely to help particular patients. For example, one gene appears associated with dangerous levels of inflammation of the lungs. The team are able to predict that a rheumatoid arthritis drug, baricitinib, might reduce this inflammation. The drug is already safety-checked and rapid trials can follow. This kind of development is likely to reduce mortality before 'herd immunity' is attained.