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.

Survey shows significant decrease in percentage of adolescents reporting substance use in 2021

The percentage of adolescents reporting substance use decreased significantly in 2021, according to the latest results from the Monitoring the Future survey of substance use behaviors and related attitudes among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders in the United States.

15 Dec 2021

Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in mothers and infants

A new study assessed nAb activities against five strains of SARS-CoV-2 in paired maternal and infant cord blood samples.

15 Dec 2021

Largest declines in adolescent use of illicit drugs reported in 2021

Declines in adolescent use of illicit drugs reported in 2021 were the largest and most sweeping ever recorded in the past 46 years, according to the Monitoring the Future study.

15 Dec 2021

UB researchers analyze pandemic-related shifts in alcohol sales across 16 U.S. states

An analysis of data from 16 U.S. states suggests that the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic saw increases in wine and spirit sales, accompanied by notable changes in the relationship between alcohol sales and people's visits to businesses that sell alcohol.

15 Dec 2021

Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron's immune evasion potential

Researchers use VSV vector and Omicron spike protein containing all 32 mutations to create the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (PV-Omicron).

15 Dec 2021

Signatures of rising SARS-CoV-2 Delta infections in New York

Researchers estimate the probability of breakthrough infections by the Delta variant as compared to other variants.

15 Dec 2021

Mask laws could prevent unnecessary COVID-19 deaths, study shows

A study of the impact of national face mask laws on COVID-19 mortality in 44 countries with a combined population of nearly one billion people found that, over time, the increase in COVID-19 related deaths was significantly slower in countries that imposed mask laws compared to countries that did not.

15 Dec 2021

Researchers spot signs of 'pre-resistance' in bacteria for the first time

Scientists have spotted signs of 'pre-resistance' in bacteria for the first time – signs that particular bacteria are likely to become resistant to antibiotics in the future – in a new study led by UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital researchers.

15 Dec 2021

Researchers take advantage of virus' sweet tooth in the design of sugar-coated COVID-19 test strip

Even those tracking each new discovery about the coronavirus and its variants may not be aware of the virus' sugar cravings.

15 Dec 2021

Factors associated with having data on SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity

Researchers utilized pre-pandemic information from two UK-based observational population studies to investigate predictors of selection into analytic subsamples in observational studies on SARS-CoV-2 infection and on COVID-19 severity.

15 Dec 2021

T-cell immune response in previously infected and vaccinated individuals effective against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

New findings illustrate that despite the continuous pattern of the ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2, it has not resulted in any significant accumulation of CD8+ T-cell escape mutations.

15 Dec 2021

Novel bioinformatics pipeline for fast and scalable analysis of large viral phylogenies

A team of researchers recently developed a bioinformatics approach to analyze viral phylogenetic clusters.

15 Dec 2021

Impact of exogenous antibody therapy by convalescent plasma against SARS-CoV-2

Researches have been investigating the possibility of using convalescent plasma to help patients recover from COVID-19.

15 Dec 2021

West African countries must increase COVID-19 vaccination rates to achieve population-level immunity

West African nations need to drastically ramp up their COVID-19 vaccination programmes by factor of 10 if they are to reach at least 60% coverage by 2022 and achieve the population level immunity needed to bring the pandemic under control in Africa and elsewhere, indicates an analysis published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health.

15 Dec 2021

Trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and immunity examined in new model

Researchers have created a model of looking at the spread of COVID-19 that takes both vaccination rates and rates of loss of immunity into account and can be adjusted as factors change.

15 Dec 2021

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant binding to its receptor and therapeutic entities

Researchers generated a set of computed structural models of the Omicron receptor-binding domain attached to its receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme.

15 Dec 2021

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment quickly resolves severe breathing difficulties in COVID-19 patients

High pressure (hyperbaric) oxygen resolves severe breathing difficulties in COVID-19 patients much more quickly than standard therapy, taking an average of 3 rather than 9 days, reveal the results of a small comparative clinical trial published online in Emergency Medicine Journal.

15 Dec 2021