Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Analysis reveals the prevalence of loneliness at a problematic level in 113 countries

Loneliness at a problematic level is widespread in many countries, finds an analysis of evidence from 113 countries and territories during 2000-19 published by The BMJ today.

10 Feb 2022

Excess COVID-19 mortality in Eastern Europe linked to lower vaccination rates and weak implementation of regulations

Researchers assessed the association between excess COVID-19 mortalities with vaccination rate, and regulation enforcement, in Eastern European countries that witnessed high COVID-19 mortalities throughout 2021.

10 Feb 2022

Screening assays identify TMPRSS2 inhibitors from drug repurposing candidates useful as COVID-19 therapeutic

Researchers used an assay toolset for discovering new transmembrane protease serine 2 inhibiting drug repurposing candidates, that can be useful as therapeutics for COVID-19 treatment.

10 Feb 2022

Clinical severity of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 variants and the effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against them

A recent study examined the clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Delta, and Omicron VOCs and compared vaccine effectiveness against each VOC.

10 Feb 2022

New research confirms the safety of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for people with cancer

New research in the February 2022 issue of JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network confirms that mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 are just as safe for people with cancer as they are for cancer-free individuals.

10 Feb 2022

Neutralizing antibody ABP-310 found to be highly potent against SARS-CoV-2 variants including Omicron

In a new study, a team of researchers described the efficacy of ABP-310, a neutralizing antibody, against SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron.

10 Feb 2022

Study explores protection against Omicron and Delta infections by COVID-19 vaccination and previous infection

A new study demonstrated that infection- and vaccine-induced protection induced by the primary COVID-19 vaccination was much reduced for the Omicron BA.1 infection compared to the Delta infection.

10 Feb 2022

Protective efficacy of BNT162b2 and Ad26.COV2.S against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron challenge in nonhuman primates

The study highlights the significance of mix-and-match vaccine regimens to diversify the immune responses against highly mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2 such as Omicron.

10 Feb 2022

The effect of Omicron mutations at the fundamental atomic scale level

The present study provided interesting insights into the interactions of AAs at the interface between SARS-CoV-2 spike and human ACE2 receptors.

10 Feb 2022

Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 test performance by sample type and modality in close contacts of SARS-CoV-2 cases

In this study, researchers looked at how well molecular and antigen testing performed in symptomatic and asymptomatic close contacts of SARS-CoV-2 positive people.

10 Feb 2022

Omicron resists antibodies, causes less severe disease than previous SARS-CoV-2variants

In two recent studies, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found evidence that the omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 causes less severe disease than previous variants — at least in rodents — but that many antibody-based therapies may not be effective against it.

10 Feb 2022

Regular surveillance testing of a community can prevent Covid-19 outbreaks

Covid-19 is often asymptomatic and can lead infected individuals to spread the disease without knowing it. Yet, regular surveillance testing of a community can catch these cases and prevent outbreaks.

10 Feb 2022

U.S. workers experience clusters of socioeconomic vulnerabilities to COVID-19

COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on people's physical and mental health and has caused economic hardship. However, this adversity has disproportionately hurt certain populations - including essential workers and women - deepening existing disparities.

10 Feb 2022

Study tests efficacy of molnupiravir against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs in various animal models

A study published on the bioRxiv* preprint server evaluates molnupiravir against a panel of relevant VOCs using three efficacy models: primary human airway epithelium organoids, a ferret model of upper respiratory disease, and a Roborovski dwarf hamster model for severe COVID-19.

9 Feb 2022

Machine learning highly effective at identifying SARS-CoV-2 variants

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9 Feb 2022

Researchers identify a potent new combination of antiviral drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2

The recent success of Paxlovid has encouraged researchers to develop new anti-covid drugs. With this in mind, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have been investigating a new synergistic treatment. Their research is released early as an unedited version of the manuscript to be published in the journal Nature.

9 Feb 2022

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Analysis reveals the prevalence of loneliness at a problematic level in 113 countries

Excess COVID-19 mortality in Eastern Europe linked to lower vaccination rates and weak implementation of regulations

Screening assays identify TMPRSS2 inhibitors from drug repurposing candidates useful as COVID-19 therapeutic

Clinical severity of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 variants and the effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against them

New research confirms the safety of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for people with cancer

Neutralizing antibody ABP-310 found to be highly potent against SARS-CoV-2 variants including Omicron

Study explores protection against Omicron and Delta infections by COVID-19 vaccination and previous infection

Protective efficacy of BNT162b2 and Ad26.COV2.S against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron challenge in nonhuman primates

The effect of Omicron mutations at the fundamental atomic scale level

Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 test performance by sample type and modality in close contacts of SARS-CoV-2 cases

Omicron resists antibodies, causes less severe disease than previous SARS-CoV-2variants

Regular surveillance testing of a community can prevent Covid-19 outbreaks

U.S. workers experience clusters of socioeconomic vulnerabilities to COVID-19

Study tests efficacy of molnupiravir against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs in various animal models

Machine learning highly effective at identifying SARS-CoV-2 variants

Researchers identify a potent new combination of antiviral drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2

Poll: Most people over age 50 aren’t using mobile health-related apps

Impact of genetic changes in Omicron variant on an immunodominant T-cell epitope

New reagent-free SARS-CoV-2 detection technique based on machine learning and Raman spectroscopy

Economic hardships and reliance on outside hep associated with high COVID-19 rates in older Latinos

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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