Omicron News and Research

RSS

VA Disrupted Care National Project reveals ongoing decline in vascular surgeries post-pandemic

Recently published findings from the VA Disrupted Care National Project (DCNP) revealed the number of vascular surgeries performed across the United States continued to decline even after large drops during the COVID-19 pandemic.

9 Aug 2024

Innovative nasal spray and vaccine for respiratory virus protection

A team of researchers, led by the University of Houston, has discovered two new ways of preventing and treating respiratory viruses.

6 Aug 2024

Mucosal COVID-19 vaccine prevents airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2

The impact of mucosal versus intramuscular vaccine immunization on airborne infection and transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Syrian hamsters.

5 Aug 2024

Hamster sera study reveals Omicron subvariants' vast antigenic diversity

Study developed an antigenic map of SARS-CoV-2 variants using hamster sera, revealing substantial antigenic variation among Omicron subvariants and highlighting their distinct immune escape capabilities.

1 Aug 2024

Healthy lifestyle habits dramatically cut long-term COVID-19 risks

Research shows that maintaining a healthy lifestyle significantly reduces the risk of severe long-term complications, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19.

30 Jul 2024

Wildlife species show high SARS-CoV-2 exposure linked to human activity

Researchers found SARS-CoV-2 RNA in six wildlife species and higher seroprevalence in high human activity areas. Seven new human-to-animal transmission events of the Omicron variant were identified.

30 Jul 2024

More types of lung cells can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 than previously thought, scientists report

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys, University of California San Diego and their international collaborators have reported that more types of lung cells can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 than previously thought, including those without known viral receptors.

23 Jul 2024

High mutation count in new COVID-19 variants does not increase immune evasion, study finds

New research from UNC Charlotte's Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has found that the two recent and prevalent strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1, are not significantly better than their predecessor Omicron at evading immune responses and causing infections despite having a high number of mutations compared to Omicron.

19 Jul 2024

Vaccines and virus changes cut long COVID risk by 50%, but Omicron still poses a threat

Research shows that vaccination and temporal changes have significantly reduced the incidence of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but a substantial risk remains during the Omicron era.

18 Jul 2024

Study offers insights on prevalence and risk factors of persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms

Early on during the coronavirus pandemic, there were reports of cases of persistent post-infection symptoms.

14 Jul 2024

Digital contact tracing data reveals detailed epidemic patterns in England and Wales

Data from digital contact tracing, using examples from the National Health Service (NHS) COVID-19 app for England and Wales, has revealed epidemic dynamics in unprecedented detail.

12 Jul 2024

Frequent infections and pathobionts boost children's nasal immunity, study reveals

Dynamic interactions with viruses and bacterial pathobionts significantly enhance nasal innate immunity in children, revealing distinct immunophenotypes driven by microbial load and type.

2 Jul 2024

Regular booster doses of bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines help neutralize multiple strains

People who have received solid organ transplants and take immunosuppressant medications to prevent rejection are among those most susceptible to the damaging effects of COVID-19, including breakthrough infections, severe illness, hospitalization and death.

2 Jul 2024

NIH launches Phase 1 trial for innovative nasal COVID-19 vaccine

A Phase 1 trial testing the safety of an experimental nasal vaccine that may provide enhanced breadth of protection against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is now enrolling healthy adults at three sites in the United States.

1 Jul 2024

Low-cost CRISPR-based paper strip test offers rapid influenza diagnosis

Fewer than one percent of people who get the flu every year get tested, in part because most tests require trained personnel and expensive equipment.

21 Jun 2024

Study shows vaccines cut long COVID risk, especially for those with preexisting conditions

A study in JAMA Network Open found that women and individuals with preexisting cardiovascular conditions are more likely to suffer from long COVID, but vaccinations, especially multiple doses, significantly reduce this risk.

18 Jun 2024

New research on long COVID prevalence and risk factors

Early in the pandemic, many people who had SARS-Cov-2 infection or COVID-19 began to report that they couldn't shake off their symptoms even after a month or more - unusually long for a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract - or developed new, persistent symptoms soon after the infection cleared.

18 Jun 2024

At-home antibody tests could drive higher COVID-19 booster rates, new research finds

The feasibility and benefits of lateral flow assay (LFA)-based antibody tests for detecting inadequate COVID-19 immunity.

17 Jun 2024

N95 respirators potential standard of care in nursing homes and healthcare settings during respiratory viral infections

Researchers examined the efficiency of surgical masks, fabric masks, N95 respirators, and KN95 respirators in lowering the SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in the exhaled breath aerosol samples of COVID-19 patients.

4 Jun 2024

TMPRSS2 protein facilitates SARS-CoV-2 entry via unexpected pathway

How exactly do Sars-Cov-2 particles enter host cells? An international team led by Dr Richard Brown from Dr Daniel Todt's Computational Virology group at the Department of Molecular and Medical Virology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, together with researchers from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, investigated this question.

31 May 2024