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.

Increased symptomatic levels of COVID-19 may be associated with psychiatric symptoms

A significant level of symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress may follow COVID-19 independent of any previous psychiatric diagnoses, according to new research by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health with colleagues at Universidade Municipal de São Caetano do Sul in Brazil.

7 May 2021

Highly efficient immune response in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 patients

Researchers in Singapore have investigated the role of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and T-cells in asymptomatic individuals suffering from COVID-19. They found that, contrary to some initial hypotheses, asymptomatic individuals mount an adaptive immune response on par with symptomatic individuals, demonstrating that T cell response does not appear to be correlated with symptom severity.

7 May 2021

SFHN clinicians support the use of telehealth services for outpatient primary care

As state and federal authorities decide whether to continue reimbursing for telehealth services that were suddenly adopted last spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a new study out of UC San Francisco has found that clinicians in the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN) overwhelmingly support using these services for outpatient primary care and specialty care visits.

7 May 2021

New mathematical model predicts disease spread patterns

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials seized on contact tracing as the most effective way to anticipate the virus's migration from the initial, densely populated hot spots and try to curb its spread.

7 May 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection prolongs viral shedding and lymphocyte loss in patients with cancer

Patients with cancer have a more challenging time with infections while undergoing treatment — placing them as high-risk for severe COVID-19 illness and death. However, how the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) interacts with cancer therapies remains poorly understood.

7 May 2021

Global spread of COVID-19 has raised serious concern for patients with transthyretin amyloidosis

The global spread of COVID-19 has raised serious concern for patients with chronic disease. A correlation has been identified between the severity of COVID-19 and a patient's preexisting comorbidities.

7 May 2021

Bubonic plague had long-term impact on human immune genes, indicates study

Scientists examining the remains of 36 bubonic plague victims from a 16th century mass grave in Germany have found the first evidence that evolutionary adaptive processes, driven by the disease, may have conferred immunity on later generations of people from the region.

7 May 2021

Cryptic pocket on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 may be a promising treatment target

In a new study currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, a multinational group of researchers modeled an entire membrane-embedded spike glycoprotein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and highlighted the potential of a specific mapping approach for unveiling cryptic, potentially druggable pockets on the viral surface.

7 May 2021

Study reports vitamin C inhibits SARS-CoV-2 virus main protease

Based on structural analysis, researchers found that vitamin C binds to 3CLpro, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) main protease essential in viral replication. In vitro cell inhibition studies also showed vitamin C could inhibit 3CLpro, indicating a possible new antiviral treatment method.

6 May 2021

Israeli study shows real-world efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine

Researchers have conducted an analysis of nationwide surveillance data from Israel demonstrating the real-world effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech’s BNT162b2 vaccine at protecting against infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

6 May 2021

Indian SARS-CoV-2 variant shows enhanced host cell entry and immune evasion

A study conducted by researchers in Germany has found that the B.1.617 variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has emerged in India entered certain types of lung and intestine cells with slightly increased efficiency compared with the original wild-type strain.

6 May 2021

COVID-19 vaccination dramatically reduces symptomatic and asymptomatic infections

Vaccination dramatically reduced COVID-19 symptomatic and asymptomatic infections in St. Jude Children's Research Hospital employees compared with their unvaccinated peers, according to a research letter that appears today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

6 May 2021

Study: Asthma attacks decreased among Black and Hispanic/Latinx patients during the pandemic

Asthma attacks account for almost 50 percent of the cost of asthma care which totals $80 billion each year in the United States. Asthma is more severe in Black and Hispanic/Latinx patients, with double the rates of attacks and hospitalizations as the general population.

6 May 2021

Cancer patients experiencing a deep sense of loneliness and depression during the pandemic

Loneliness and social isolation have been significant problems for the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for cancer patients these issues were particularly acute, likely due to isolation and social distancing, according to a new UCSF study.

6 May 2021

This small Canadian drugmaker wants to make J&J vaccines for poor nations. It needs more than a patent waiver.

Biolyse Pharma Corp., which makes a cancer medication, was gearing up to start making generic biologic drugs, made from living organisms. Then the pandemic hit.

6 May 2021

Study finds link between pandemic-related income loss, financial strain and depression

Researchers have found an independent association between COVID-19-related income loss and financial strain and depression, according to the latest study from the COVID-19 Resilience Project, run by the Lifespan Brain Institute of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine.

6 May 2021

Unemployed Australian citizens experience mental health deterioration during COVID-19 pandemic, finds study

A team of scientists in Australia has recently investigated the health condition of Australian citizens who lost jobs during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study findings reveal that job loss is associated with a deterioration in mental health but an improvement in physical health. Importantly, retaining employment has shown a positive impact on the overall mental health condition.

6 May 2021

SARS-CoV-2 is activated for fusion by a broad range of proteases, finds study

A team of researchers from the University of Virginia, USA, used single-virus fusion experiments with exogenously controlled proteases to investigate the mechanism of activation directly. They found that the subcellular location of entry depends on the protease activity of the various components, and parallel pathways are possible.

6 May 2021

Transplant recipients with COVID-19 may show lower cellular and antibody immune responses

Transplant patients are typically on chronic immunosuppression, making them automatically more vulnerable to infection with SARS-CoV-2, the agent responsible for the loss of over three million lives in the current COVID-19 pandemic. A new study discusses evidence for subnormal immune responses following COVID-19 in this population.

6 May 2021

Aberrant immune features in healthy elderly and male subjects with severe COVID-19 may predate infection

A new study shows that the immunological features of severe COVID-19 are already present in healthy older adults and in men, before they are infected, indicating a possible explanation for this differential susceptibility towards the virus.

6 May 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Increased symptomatic levels of COVID-19 may be associated with psychiatric symptoms

Highly efficient immune response in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 patients

SFHN clinicians support the use of telehealth services for outpatient primary care

New mathematical model predicts disease spread patterns

SARS-CoV-2 infection prolongs viral shedding and lymphocyte loss in patients with cancer

Global spread of COVID-19 has raised serious concern for patients with transthyretin amyloidosis

Bubonic plague had long-term impact on human immune genes, indicates study

Cryptic pocket on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 may be a promising treatment target

Study reports vitamin C inhibits SARS-CoV-2 virus main protease

Israeli study shows real-world efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine

Indian SARS-CoV-2 variant shows enhanced host cell entry and immune evasion

COVID-19 vaccination dramatically reduces symptomatic and asymptomatic infections

Study: Asthma attacks decreased among Black and Hispanic/Latinx patients during the pandemic

Cancer patients experiencing a deep sense of loneliness and depression during the pandemic

This small Canadian drugmaker wants to make J&J vaccines for poor nations. It needs more than a patent waiver.

Study finds link between pandemic-related income loss, financial strain and depression

Unemployed Australian citizens experience mental health deterioration during COVID-19 pandemic, finds study

SARS-CoV-2 is activated for fusion by a broad range of proteases, finds study

Transplant recipients with COVID-19 may show lower cellular and antibody immune responses

Aberrant immune features in healthy elderly and male subjects with severe COVID-19 may predate infection

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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