Infectious Diseases News and Research

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COST Action creates “Task Force” of researchers to contribute to Covid-19 research

STRATAGEM COST Action (New diagnostic and therapeutic tools against multidrug resistant tumors) has created a "Task Force" of researchers contributing to Covid-19 research.

23 Apr 2020

Using 'own' immune cells to fight infectious diseases including COVID-19

A provocative paper from Duke-NUS Medical School, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in March 2020, discusses the possibilities of creating new receptors on a sick person's own immune cells as a means of controlling the infection. This therapy is already being used to treat certain cancers with marked success.

22 Apr 2020

Majority of women prefer LAI HIV therapy over daily pills

A new qualitative study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that the majority of women living with HIV would endorse a monthly long acting injectable (LAI) antiretroviral therapy over current daily pills.

22 Apr 2020

Scientists identify cells likely targeted by novel coronavirus

Researchers at MIT; the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard; and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; along with colleagues from around the world have identified specific types of cells that appear to be targets of the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic.

22 Apr 2020

Emergex partners with George Mason University for highly pathogenic RNA virus studies

Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited, a biotechnology company developing CD8+ priming set-point vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the George Mason University, based in Virginia, in the United States.

22 Apr 2020

The other COVID risks: How race, income, zip code influence who lives or dies

It started with a headache in late March. Then came the body aches.

22 Apr 2020

A first-in-human trial with promising MERS coronavirus vaccine

Over the past 20 years, coronaviruses have been responsible for large outbreaks, resulting in severe respiratory illness and a number of deaths.

22 Apr 2020

Convalescent plasma can be donated by COVID-19 survivors at Grifols’ donor centers

Grifols, a global healthcare company with a track record of more than 100 years and a recognized leader in the development and production of plasma-derived medicines, today announced it has begun identifying, screening and selecting volunteer donors who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma in select U.S. cities.

22 Apr 2020

Researchers are exploring potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases

The engineering of specific virus-targeting receptors onto a patient's own immune cells is now being explored by scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS), as a potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases, including the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2.

22 Apr 2020

Urban expansion is creating “new ecological niches” for spread of infectious diseases

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, and York University, Canada, investigated how the global trend towards urbanization has contributed to the rise in the total number of disease outbreaks per decade since the 1980s.

22 Apr 2020

Raw-type dog food contains high levels of multidrug-resistant bacteria

Microorganisms that infect animals, such as dogs, have the potential to jump to humans and cause illness. Zoonosis is a disease that can spread from animals to humans. These diseases pose health risks, mainly that some types can become life-threatening. Now, a study warns that raw-type dog food contains high levels of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which has the potential of transmitting the bacteria between dogs and humans.

21 Apr 2020

Pets have a low risk of transmitting multi-drug resistant bugs to owners, study finds

Zoonoses are diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans. About 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses, just like the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that’s caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Domesticated animals such as pets can carry parasites and other pathogens to people. However, a new study suggests that pets are not a significant source of transmission to humans.

21 Apr 2020

Researchers develop new 3D multicomponent dissolvable vaccine platform

In parallel to their current work on a potential coronavirus vaccine, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have developed a new vaccine delivery system for vaccines using live or attenuated viral vectors: a finger-tip sized patch that contains 400 tiny needles, each just half of one millimeter.

21 Apr 2020

Sino Biological Partners with Nanommune Inc. to Develop and Market a Novel Coronavirus Multiplex Serological Assay

Sino Biological, Inc. today announced a co-development agreement with Nanommune Inc., an Irvine, California based biotechnology company specializing in the development and application of multiplex array technology.

From Sino Biological Inc. 21 Apr 2020

The inside story of how the Bay Area got ahead of the COVID-19 crisis

Sunday was supposed to be a rare day off for Dr. Tomás Aragón after weeks of working around-the-clock.

21 Apr 2020

Does high COVID-19 viral load mean more risk of infection?

The risk of getting infected with COVID-19 disease is higher among healthcare workers who are in close contact with infected patients

21 Apr 2020

New review confirms effectiveness of MMR, MMRV and MMR+V vaccines

New evidence published in the Cochrane Library today finds MMR, MMRV and MMR+V vaccines are effective and that they are not associated with increased risk of autism.

20 Apr 2020

HIV-1 and influenza antivirals not effective for treating mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases

An exploratory randomized, controlled study on the safety and efficacy of either lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or Arbidol--antivirals that are used in some countries against HIV-1 and to treat influenza , respectively--as treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, suggests that neither drug improves the clinical outcome of patients hospitalized with mild-to-moderate cases of the disease over supportive care.

20 Apr 2020

Antibody detection for COVID-19 - promise and risks

Recently, several research groups emphasized how the pervasive screening for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies may prove pivotal in determining infection seroprevalence in a given population defining previous exposure, screening health care workers, but also identifying highly reactive individuals that may act as donors for the therapeutic use of their convalescent serum.

20 Apr 2020

CRISPR technology mobilized for rapid COVID-19 diagnosis

A group of authors from the United States published a study in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology in which they have described a CRISPR-Cas-based approach for rapid and accurate diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection – without the need for complex laboratory infrastructure.

20 Apr 2020