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Reduced use of convalescent plasma associated with higher COVID-19 mortality rate

A new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues suggests a slowdown in the use of convalescent plasma to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients led to a higher COVID-19 mortality during a critical period during this past winter's surge.

8 Jun 2021

Research finds key factors that could lead to further pandemics

Humans are creating or exacerbating the environmental conditions that could lead to further pandemics, new University of Sydney research finds.

30 Mar 2021

Diagnostic test helps identify the virulent forms of swine bacterial pathogens

A team led by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has developed a diagnostic test that can identify virulent forms of the swine bacterial pathogen Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus -- often referred to as "Strep zoo" -- which can cause severe illness and death in pigs, other animals and rarely people.

19 Mar 2021

Study reveals how SARS-CoV-2 spread in Wuhan before the lockdown

Using molecular dating tools and epidemiological simulations, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at the University of Arizona and Illumina, Inc., estimate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was likely circulating undetected for at most two months before the first human cases of COVID-19 were described in Wuhan, China in late-December 2019.

19 Mar 2021

Possible new antibiotic developed for drug-resistant pulmonary pathogen

Scientists from Johns Hopkins University and Medicine have developed a possible new antibiotic for a pathogen that is notoriously resistant to medications and frequently lethal for people with cystic fibrosis and other lung ailments.

8 Dec 2020

How COVID-19 highlights the uncertainty of medical testing

Dr. Jacqueline Chu considered the man with a negative coronavirus test on the other end of the phone, and knew, her heart dropping, that the test result was not enough to clear him for work.

1 Dec 2020

Experts call for transformative change to reduce future pandemics

Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics by 22 leading experts from around the world.

30 Oct 2020

In debate, Pence and Harris offer conflicting views of nation’s reality

The Trump administration's pandemic response: decisive action that saved lives, or the greatest failure of any presidential administration? During Wednesday's vice presidential debate, Vice President Mike Pence and the Democratic challenger, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, offered drastically different takes — from behind plexiglass screens — on how the president has handled the COVID-19 crisis.

8 Oct 2020

Bath scientists receive funding to monitor wastewater in cities in the UK and Africa

Chemists, biologists and mathematicians from the University of Bath have received funding to monitor wastewater in cities in the UK and Africa, to provide an early warning of the potential spread of COVID-19.

15 Sep 2020

Poultry farmers play active role in the dissemination of avian influenza

Small-scale poultry farmers in Vietnam tend to respond to viral outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) by rapidly selling their birds as a way to avoid financial loss, according to a new study by an international team of researchers.

28 Aug 2020

Democratic convention, night 1: Hitting Trump team on pandemic preparedness

On the first night of the Democrats’ 2020 national convention, one thing was clear. This time would be different. No crowds, buttons, placards or party swag. The coronavirus pandemic was an ever-present theme.

18 Aug 2020

Researchers explore social behavior of animals toward emerging infectious diseases

Humans are not the only social animal struggling with new infectious diseases. When Hamilton College Associate Professor of Biology Andrea Townsend began studying the social behavior of American crows, her work was complicated by West Nile virus, an emerging disease with devastating effects on crow populations.

13 Aug 2020

Researchers identify risk factors for fatty liver disease

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have uncovered an unexpected connection between an imbalance of electrons in liver cells and many metabolic problems that increase the risk for conditions such as cardiovascular disease and fatty liver disease.

29 May 2020

Study shows cats can harbor SARS-CoV-2 without any symptoms

A recent paper from Spanish researchers at the Hospital Universitario San Pedro-CIBIR, available on the medRxiv* preprint server, suggests that cats may act as asymptomatic dispersers of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), even though viral transmission from animals to humans still seems highly unlikely.

24 May 2020

Researchers analyze data on RNA structure of tick-borne encephalitis virus

Researchers from Sechenov University together with colleagues from several Russian institutes analyzed data on the RNA structure of tick-borne encephalitis virus.

22 May 2020

Evidence shows Obama team left a pandemic ‘game plan’ for Trump administration

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell alleged that the Obama administration did not provide the Trump administration with any information about the threat of a possible pandemic during a May 11 Team Trump Facebook Live discussion with Lara Trump.

15 May 2020

Study finds children at greater risk for severe complications from COVID-19

Children, teens and young adults are at greater risk for severe complications from COVID-19 than previously thought and those with underlying health conditions are at even greater risk, according to a study coauthored by a Rutgers researcher.

11 May 2020

Dead virus fragments are causing COVID-19 reinfection false positives

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has ravaged across the globe, infecting a staggering 3.5 million people, and taking over 251,000 lives. One of the most significant concerns in this global pandemic is the possibility of reinfection as previous reports in South Korea and Japan show people testing positive with the coronavirus again.

4 May 2020

ATS releases new guidance to help clinicians manage COVID-19 patients

An American Thoracic Society-led international task force has released a guidance document to help clinicians manage COVID-19 patients in the face of a worldwide pandemic and minimal empirical evidence to guide treatment.

6 Apr 2020

Putting an end to the pandemic

From the plagues of medieval Europe to the influenza pandemic of 1918, the specter of the next public health disaster has gripped the minds of scientists, captivated the imaginations of writers and vexed conspiracy theorists.

1 Apr 2020