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.

Innovative approach tracks SARS-CoV-2 in the blood to guide COVID-19 treatment

Investigators from Mass General Brigham have found that a method originally designed for cancer detection can also identify and monitor even tiny amounts of SARS-CoV-2 intact viral particles in blood and other fluids from patients with acute COVID-19 infections, creating the potential for guiding future treatment of patients. The research is published in Science Advances.

25 Jan 2025

Low-dose initiation of buprenorphine for people using fentanyl fails to deliver expected results

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when fentanyl overdoses surged, doctors were desperate to find ways of helping their patients.

24 Jan 2025

What a US exit from the WHO means for global health

For decades, the United States has held considerable power in determining the direction of global health policies and programs.

24 Jan 2025

Positive mental well-being can help maintain a physically active lifestyle

According to a recent study, the tendency to experience positive affectivity contributed to people being physically active or even increasing their activity during the COVID-19 restrictions.

24 Jan 2025

What losing WHO membership means for the U.S.

President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization, of which the U.S. was a founding member and is an integral part, raises questions on how it might affect Americans and people around the world, especially in an anxious, post-pandemic era of infectious disease and global health threats.

24 Jan 2025

Volunteering reduces loneliness in older adults

Researchers examine how social volunteering affects the social and emotional aspects of loneliness among older adults in China.

24 Jan 2025

EU-funded Vigilant network aims to develop broad-spectrum antiviral drugs

Pandemics threaten both human health and the global economy. Vaccines are an essential part of the fight against pandemics, but they are only available months after the outbreak

23 Jan 2025

Study reveals post-pandemic rise in child deaths

While child deaths in England fell temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have now risen to new heights, a new study from researchers at the University of Bristol and based on unique National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) data has found.

23 Jan 2025

Empa researchers improve epidemic forecasts with reproduction matrix

The reproduction number R is often used as an indicator to predict how quickly an infectious disease will spread.

23 Jan 2025

Singapore’s respiratory health gets a boost with $10 million research grant

The Academic Respiratory Initiative for Pulmonary Health (TARIPH) Centre, a national research platform led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore's (NTU Singapore) Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), will lead a multi-institutional research programme after being awarded Singapore's first national research grant for respiratory health.

23 Jan 2025

Trump’s early health moves signal intent to erase Biden’s legacy. What’s next is unclear.

President Donald Trump's early actions on health care signal his likely intention to wipe away some Biden-era programs to lower drug costs and expand coverage under public insurance programs.

23 Jan 2025

Study finds sharp increase in mental health admissions among children in England

There was a 65% increase in the number of children and young people being admitted to general acute medical wards in hospitals in England because of a mental health concern between 2012 and 2022, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

22 Jan 2025

Penn researchers develop optimized framework for COVID-19 vaccination distribution

Engineering and medical researchers at Penn have developed a groundbreaking framework that can determine the best and most computationally optimized distribution strategy for COVID-19 vaccinations in any given community.

22 Jan 2025

New technique identifies SARS-CoV-2 in blood and other fluids with high sensitivity

22 Jan 2025

Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO could millions of people in poorer countries

Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) puts the lives of millions of people in poorer countries at risk, according to analysts, who say other nations must step up and invest in health to plug the gap.

22 Jan 2025

Social but lonely? The emotional challenges of highly sensitive people

Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs) experience greater emotional loneliness due to their deep need for meaningful relationships, but their social interactions are similar to the general population.

22 Jan 2025

The growing inequality in life expectancy among Americans

The life expectancy among Native Americans in the western United States has dropped below 64 years, close to life expectancies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.

22 Jan 2025

Long-covid patients are frustrated that federal research hasn’t found new treatments

Erica Hayes, 40, has not felt healthy since November 2020 when she first fell ill with covid.

22 Jan 2025

Antidepressant fluoxetine found ineffective for early COVID-19 treatment

Findings reveal fluoxetine's weak antiviral effects in COVID-19, with no significant benefits in symptom resolution compared to other antiviral treatments.

22 Jan 2025

Innovative research links biometric data to mood prediction in shift workers

The CORONA virus pandemic also brought about a pandemic of mental illness. Approximately one billion people worldwide suffer from various psychiatric conditions. Korea is one of more serious cases, with approximately 1.8 million patients exhibiting depression and anxiety disorders, and the total number of patients with clinical mental diseases has increased by 37% in five years to approximately 4.65 million.

22 Jan 2025