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.

New COVID-19 vaccine could provide protection against existing and future strains of coronaviruses

A COVID-19 vaccine that could provide protection against existing and future strains of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and other coronaviruses, and cost about $1 a dose has shown promising results in early animal testing.

19 Apr 2021

Researchers reveal long-term kinetics of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in patient sera

A team of scientists in Germany recently evaluated the specificities and sensitivities of different serological assays for detecting antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

19 Apr 2021

Researchers develop computational model to predict changes in SARS-CoV-2’s viral fitness

Two researchers from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, Fabrizio Pucci and Marianne Rooman, recently built a simplified computational model, called SpikePro, to predict the SARS-CoV-2 fitness from the amino acid sequence and structure of the spike protein. This study focuses on the spike protein’s stability and the binding affinity to the host receptor.

19 Apr 2021

Could a tuna-derived protein inhibit SARS-CoV-2?

A recent study in the journal Food Chemistry draws attention to the need for finding nutritional supplements with potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibition effects in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

19 Apr 2021

Plant-derived compound isorhamnetin may have antiviral potential against SARS-CoV-2

The lack of new or repurposed drugs to treat patients with severe or critical COVID-19 has been one of the biggest hurdles to reducing mortality rates in the ongoing pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. A new study describes the potential for the use of the plant molecule isorhamnetin in the management of this virus.

19 Apr 2021

SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein can trigger α-synuclein amyloid fibril formation

A new study, released as a preprint on the bioRxiv* server, casts some light on the pathogenesis of acute and subacute neurological complications associated with COVID-19.

19 Apr 2021

Snag a vaccine appointment, then face the next hurdle: How to get there?

The airport says a lot about Cortez, Colorado: The single-engine planes that fly into its one-room airport seat nine passengers at most.

19 Apr 2021

Study assess prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in England after third national lockdown

In a new study, the REACT-1 research group offer their findings on the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in England after the country went into a third national lockdown. Their findings show a 60% reduction of incidence from their previous round of surveillance.

19 Apr 2021

Antibodies may not inhibit SARS-COV-2 variants from mink

It has been known for about a year that minks can become infected with SARS-CoV-2. The virus had been transmitted from humans to farmed mink and mutated in infected animals.

19 Apr 2021

Global scarcity of novel antibiotics drives the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance

The world is still failing to develop desperately needed antibacterial treatments, despite growing awareness of the urgent threat of antibiotic resistance, according to report by the World Health Organization. WHO reveals that none of the 43 antibiotics that are currently in clinical development sufficiently address the problem of drug resistance in the world's most dangerous bacteria.

19 Apr 2021

Benefits of continuing HIV services outweigh the potential harm of COVID-19 transmission

UNAIDS and WHO have supported mathematical modelling to establish the benefits of continuing HIV services compared to the potential harm of additional COVID-19 transmission.

19 Apr 2021

U.S. vaccinates 131 million Americans against SARS-CoV-2

The country has jabbed over 131 million Americans (39.5% of the Total Population), including over 84 million who have been fully vaccinated (25.4%% of the Total Population).

19 Apr 2021

Humans versus viruses - Can we avoid extinction in near future?

Expert argues that human-caused changes to the environment can lead to the emergence of pathogens, not only from outside but also from our own microbiome, which can pave the way for large-scale destruction of humans and even our extinction.

19 Apr 2021

Research looks at SARS-CoV-2 transmission from people to pets

A large team of researchers from the US demonstrated that pets with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) likely acquired the putative virus from humans. This suggests that human-animal infection may actually occur much more frequently than previously thought – implying that infected individuals should limit their contact with animals.

18 Apr 2021

Novel mRNA delivery vehicle provides alternative to LNPs for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Researchers in the United States have developed an alternative messenger RNA (mRNA) delivery platform to the lipid nanoparticles that are currently used in vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

18 Apr 2021

Overwhelming evidence SARS-CoV-2 is airborne

Researchers in the United States, UK, and Canada have published a commentary challenging the suggestion that the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may not be airborne.

18 Apr 2021

FDA revokes EUA for monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab to treat patients with COVID-19

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) that allowed for the investigational monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab, when administered alone, to be used for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and certain pediatric patients.

17 Apr 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Pause and effect on Covid vaccines

The effort to vaccinate Americans against covid-19 took a hit this week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration jointly called for a pause in use of the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson while experts try to figure out whether it is responsible for a small number of serious blood clots, mostly in women of childbearing age.

17 Apr 2021

Supercomputer simulations illuminate the behavior of dominant G form of SARS-CoV-2

Large-scale supercomputer simulations at the atomic level show that the dominant G form variant of the COVID-19-causing virus is more infectious partly because of its greater ability to readily bind to its target host receptor in the body, compared to other variants.

17 Apr 2021

Candidate coronavirus vaccines show promising results in early animal testing

A candidate vaccine that could provide protection against the COVID-19 virus and other coronaviruses has shown promising results in early animal testing.

17 Apr 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

New COVID-19 vaccine could provide protection against existing and future strains of coronaviruses

Researchers reveal long-term kinetics of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in patient sera

Researchers develop computational model to predict changes in SARS-CoV-2’s viral fitness

Could a tuna-derived protein inhibit SARS-CoV-2?

Plant-derived compound isorhamnetin may have antiviral potential against SARS-CoV-2

SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein can trigger α-synuclein amyloid fibril formation

Snag a vaccine appointment, then face the next hurdle: How to get there?

Study assess prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in England after third national lockdown

Antibodies may not inhibit SARS-COV-2 variants from mink

Global scarcity of novel antibiotics drives the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance

Benefits of continuing HIV services outweigh the potential harm of COVID-19 transmission

U.S. vaccinates 131 million Americans against SARS-CoV-2

Humans versus viruses - Can we avoid extinction in near future?

Research looks at SARS-CoV-2 transmission from people to pets

Novel mRNA delivery vehicle provides alternative to LNPs for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Overwhelming evidence SARS-CoV-2 is airborne

FDA revokes EUA for monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab to treat patients with COVID-19

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Pause and effect on Covid vaccines

Supercomputer simulations illuminate the behavior of dominant G form of SARS-CoV-2

Candidate coronavirus vaccines show promising results in early animal testing

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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