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.

Around 132 million COVID-19 vaccinations administered in the UK in 2021

Around 132 million COVID-19 vaccinations were administered across all four nations of the UK in 2021, as part of the largest vaccination programme in British history.

2 Jan 2022

WHO lists the Comirnaty COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency use

The World Health Organization today listed the Comirnaty COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency use, making the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine the first to receive emergency validation from WHO since the outbreak began a year ago.

2 Jan 2022

TriSb92 as a potential inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2 variants including Omicron

New findings indicate that TriSb92 is a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection targeting a conserved site in the RBD of the spike, which is insensitive for immune escape mutations found in the relevant variants of concern, including Omicron

31 Dec 2021

Omicron infection induces cross-reactive immune responses

New research revealed that vaccine-breakthrough infections might elicit cross-reactive bNAbs against all variants of concern.

31 Dec 2021

SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant may be less severe than the delta variant

A new study reveals that omicron infections in South Africa are associated with lower rates of hospital admissions and lower disease severity compared to beta and delta infections.

31 Dec 2021

Impact of a pan-sarbecovirus dendritic-cell targeting vaccine on SARS-CoV-2 variants

A new study used in silico approaches for designing a next-generation CD40-targeting vaccine, CD40.

31 Dec 2021

Loss of smell is the best predictor of COVID-19

A large international team of researchers has conducted a crowdsourced cross-sectional study, in which they have investigated the reliability of the olfactory loss (or loss of smell, or anosmia) as a predictor of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19).

30 Dec 2021

Vaccine-induced T-cells vs. Omicron well preserved compared with all variants

A team of international scientists has recently revealed that T cell responses induced by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are able to cross-recognize different variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

30 Dec 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunity in pregnancy and fetal development

A review conducted by a team of researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Colorado, and Active Motif, Incorporated compiles information on SARS-CoV-2 virology, in utero transmission from infected pregnant mothers to fetuses, new findings on possible methods of SARS-CoV-2 cellular trafficking through exosomes, and the transcriptomic effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, in order to inform future studies aimed at a better understanding of COVID-19 and the development of therapeutic solutions against SARS-CoV-2.

30 Dec 2021

The use of monoclonal antibodies against infectious pathogens

Joshua Tan of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health wrote a review article in the journal DNA and Cell Biology about the role of monoclonal antibodies and briefly described a study on bispecific antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2.

30 Dec 2021

Clinical-grade soluble human ACE2 shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

New study findings show that the clinical-grade soluble ACE2 effectively inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, which proves the principle of an effective therapeutic approach against Omicron-driven COVID-19 infections.

30 Dec 2021

Reviewing myocarditis and pericarditis in immunosuppressed individuals following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination

A new study did not conclusively correlate the incidence of myocarditis or pericarditis with mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2.

30 Dec 2021

Recombinant adjuvanted zoster vaccination associated with lower risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and hospitalization

A new study suggests that RZV may elicit durable innate immune responses in the elderly conferring heterologous protection against COVID-19. .

30 Dec 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection can produce self-attacking autoantibodies

Infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 can trigger an immune response that lasts well beyond the initial infection and recovery - even among people who had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, according to Cedars-Sinai investigators.

30 Dec 2021

Booster doses of mRNA vaccines improve humoral immunogenicity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Researchers evaluated the humoral immunogenicity of a third COVID-19 mRNA vaccine dose in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

30 Dec 2021

UK emergency aid to help vulnerable countries tackle the Omicron variant

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has pledged up to £105 million of UK emergency aid to help vulnerable countries tackle the Omicron Covid-19 variant, with a particular focus on Africa.

30 Dec 2021

Successful weight-loss intervention helps lower risk of severe complications from COVID-19

A Cleveland Clinic study shows that among patients with obesity, prior weight loss achieved with bariatric surgery was associated with a 60% lower risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19 infection. The research was published in the journal JAMA Surgery.

30 Dec 2021

Intestinal organoids used to explain why bats infected with viruses do not succumb to diseases

Experiments attempting to explain why bats can be infected with many viruses at a time without succumbing to diseases such as COVID-19 - knowledge that could help us to reduce the threat to humans of infectious disease - have struggled until now with the fact that live wild bats make poor research subjects.

30 Dec 2021

Omicron will outcompete Delta variant for next 4-5 months globally: Genome study

A new study published in the pre-print server medRxiv* hypothesized that the emergence of more immune invasive or transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2 was associated with increased genetic distinctiveness from the original or previous strains.

29 Dec 2021

Researchers suggest hybrid convalescent plasma therapy neutralizes the omicron variant

New research suggests convalescent plasma from unvaccinated donors is not effective against the Omicron variant, however, “hybrid” convalescent plasma from donors who recovered from COVID-19 infection and are vaccinated provides considerable antibody protection.

29 Dec 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Around 132 million COVID-19 vaccinations administered in the UK in 2021

WHO lists the Comirnaty COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency use

TriSb92 as a potential inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2 variants including Omicron

Omicron infection induces cross-reactive immune responses

SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant may be less severe than the delta variant

Impact of a pan-sarbecovirus dendritic-cell targeting vaccine on SARS-CoV-2 variants

Loss of smell is the best predictor of COVID-19

Vaccine-induced T-cells vs. Omicron well preserved compared with all variants

SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunity in pregnancy and fetal development

The use of monoclonal antibodies against infectious pathogens

Clinical-grade soluble human ACE2 shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

Reviewing myocarditis and pericarditis in immunosuppressed individuals following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination

Recombinant adjuvanted zoster vaccination associated with lower risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and hospitalization

SARS-CoV-2 infection can produce self-attacking autoantibodies

Booster doses of mRNA vaccines improve humoral immunogenicity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

UK emergency aid to help vulnerable countries tackle the Omicron variant

Successful weight-loss intervention helps lower risk of severe complications from COVID-19

Intestinal organoids used to explain why bats infected with viruses do not succumb to diseases

Omicron will outcompete Delta variant for next 4-5 months globally: Genome study

Researchers suggest hybrid convalescent plasma therapy neutralizes the omicron variant

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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