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.

UK delivers Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Egypt

The package donated by the UK was shipped via COVAX, with the support of UNICEF and WHO, and arrived in Cairo yesterday (16 August).

17 Aug 2021

New clinical trial investigates aspirin as part of new treatment for triple negative breast cancer

An innovative new study is trialing whether giving aspirin, commonly used as pain relief, alongside immunotherapy drug avelumab could improve its effectiveness for people affected by breast cancer.

17 Aug 2021

‘Tainted’ blood: Covid skeptics request blood transfusions from unvaccinated donors

The nation's roiling tensions over vaccination against covid-19 have spilled into an unexpected arena: lifesaving blood transfusions.

17 Aug 2021

Have vaccines, will travel: On the road with a covid entrepreneur

While many businesses in this southwestern Montana "ghost town" reel in tourists with its mining and Wild West vigilante past, one businessman arrived offering a modern product: covid-19 vaccines.

17 Aug 2021

Different teaching methods during COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed students' sleep cycle

A new paper in Sleep indicates that different teaching strategies schools imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in dramatic differences in when and how much students slept.

17 Aug 2021

Researchers confirm the speed, simplicity and accuracy of new COVID-19 testing method

Researchers from the University of Birmingham, U.K., have confirmed the speed, accuracy, and simplicity of a novel, a highly sensitive testing method for COVID-19 that can be deployed at entertainment venues, airport arrival terminals, and in remote settings where clinical testing laboratories are not available.

17 Aug 2021

AIHW report: Modifiable risk factors cause one-third of disease burden

The overall health of Australians continues to improve, however, a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for 2018 show that further gains could be achieved by reducing leading risk factors such as tobacco use, overweight, and high blood pressure.

17 Aug 2021

In UK's 1st wave, 10% of COVID infections were acquired in hospitals

Their study published in The Lancet journal involved assessing the magnitude of hospital-acquired COVID-19 in the case of acute and long-term National Health Service (NHS) hospital facilities in the UK during the first wave of the pandemic.

17 Aug 2021

How delta and kappa variants of SARS-CoV-2 evade the immune system

A new study, available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, describes the neutralizing ability of the monoclonal antibodies against the variants and the difference of the ACE2 binding affinity found in the variants.

17 Aug 2021

In Southeast Asia, robust immunity found up to 9 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Now, a new study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server focuses on functional immune memory to SARS-CoV-2, up to nine months in a Southeast Asian cohort, in the absence of re-infection.

16 Aug 2021

Vaccinating previously infected induces more potent antibodies less susceptible to escape from SARS-CoV-2 variants

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causal agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has claimed more than 4.3 million lives worldwide. Even after implementing various measures, such as vaccination and social restrictions, SARS-CoV-2 and its variants of concern (VoC) leave the world's public health systems and economies in turmoil.

16 Aug 2021

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine safe and efficacious in adolescents according to a new study

The safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of the vaccines in adolescents are largely unknown. Now, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine evaluates the safety and efficacy of the mRNA-1273 vaccine in adolescents (12-17 years of age).

16 Aug 2021

Tool for defining new SARS-CoV-2 spike nucleotide sequences to Pango lineage sets

In a recent study, a group of researchers determined the degree to which Pango lineages are distinguishable using spike-only nucleotide sequences.

16 Aug 2021

Real-time genomics to track SARS-CoV-2 help contain transmission in New Zealand

A recent study discusses how New Zealand rapidly employed real-time genomics to contain new COVID-19 cases.

16 Aug 2021

Regional policies not sufficient to comprehensively tackle covid-19 infection risk, study suggests

In a new paper published in the The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, Mr Gabriele Guaitoli and Dr Roberto Pancrazi from the Department of Economics at Warwick University investigate whether region-wide non-pharmaceutical interventions introduced in Italy during the second wave of Covid-19 in Fall 2020 have been effective at eliminating local risk factors.

16 Aug 2021

Structured daily schedule, passive screen time can promote youth mental health during the pandemic

There are a number of simple, practical steps that families can take - including reducing passive screen time and news consumption, having a structured daily schedule and getting enough sleep - that can promote resilience against mental health problems in youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Maya Rosen of Harvard University, US, and colleagues.

16 Aug 2021

Local perceptions of COVID-19 risk do not correlate with the infection rate, survey finds

Superspreading events have proven to be the primary mode of infection driving the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to an inaccurate perception of risk.

16 Aug 2021

NIH scientists develop new sample preparation method to detect SARS-CoV-2

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed a new sample preparation method to detect SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

16 Aug 2021

UK shares COVID-19 vaccines with Malawi

This is the first tranche of the 100 million vaccines the Prime Minister pledged the UK would share within the next year at last month's G7 in Cornwall, 80 million of which will go to COVAX, a scheme that ensures equitable, global access to Covid-19 vaccines.

16 Aug 2021

The newest disease detection tool for covid and beyond: Poop

Since reopening campus at the University of California-San Diego last summer, university officials have relied on the tried-and-true public health strategies of testing and contact tracing. But they have also added a new tool to their arsenal: excrement.

16 Aug 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

UK delivers Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Egypt

New clinical trial investigates aspirin as part of new treatment for triple negative breast cancer

‘Tainted’ blood: Covid skeptics request blood transfusions from unvaccinated donors

Have vaccines, will travel: On the road with a covid entrepreneur

Different teaching methods during COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed students' sleep cycle

Researchers confirm the speed, simplicity and accuracy of new COVID-19 testing method

AIHW report: Modifiable risk factors cause one-third of disease burden

In UK's 1st wave, 10% of COVID infections were acquired in hospitals

How delta and kappa variants of SARS-CoV-2 evade the immune system

In Southeast Asia, robust immunity found up to 9 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Vaccinating previously infected induces more potent antibodies less susceptible to escape from SARS-CoV-2 variants

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine safe and efficacious in adolescents according to a new study

Tool for defining new SARS-CoV-2 spike nucleotide sequences to Pango lineage sets

Real-time genomics to track SARS-CoV-2 help contain transmission in New Zealand

Regional policies not sufficient to comprehensively tackle covid-19 infection risk, study suggests

Structured daily schedule, passive screen time can promote youth mental health during the pandemic

Local perceptions of COVID-19 risk do not correlate with the infection rate, survey finds

NIH scientists develop new sample preparation method to detect SARS-CoV-2

UK shares COVID-19 vaccines with Malawi

The newest disease detection tool for covid and beyond: Poop

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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