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.

Neutralizing antibodies induced by COVID-19 vaccines less effective against new variants

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has mutated throughout the pandemic. New variants of the virus have arisen throughout the world, including variants that might possess increased ability to spread or evade the immune system.

13 Mar 2021

UMass Amherst researcher focuses on understanding fundamental aspects of the hand's microbiome

Skin microbiome researcher Dr. Kelly Haas, of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Biology Department, recently began a research partnership with Akron, Ohio-based GOJO Industries to study the structure, stability, and resilience of the hand microbiome.

13 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 did not change much when it jumped from bats to human hosts

How much did SARS-CoV-2 need to change in order to adapt to its new human host? In a research article published in the open access journal PLOS Biology Oscar MacLean, Spyros Lytras at the University of Glasgow, and colleagues, show that since December 2019 and for the first 11 months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic there has been very little 'important' genetic change observed in the hundreds of thousands of sequenced virus genomes.

13 Mar 2021

Could horse-derived antibodies promote immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection?

Researchers based in India have demonstrated that horses inoculated with an inactivated dosage of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are able to produce large amounts of strong antibodies that can neutralize multiple variants

12 Mar 2021

An overview of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech

In a study published in the journal Drugs, a researcher tackled the approval of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, which has now been used in many countries.

12 Mar 2021

How common are post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection?

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on human lives, with over two million casualties so far. Equally devastating has been its economic toll. Now, a new study describes the features and frequency of long-haul symptoms in COVID-19.

12 Mar 2021

Natural virus-induced immunity protective against UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 variants in hamster study

As new variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to emerge, fueling the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study offers encouragement.

12 Mar 2021

Impact of type I interferon (IFN) autoantibodies in critical COVID-19

A new preprint discusses the pathogenesis of this critical COVID-19 with reference to autoimmune phenomena involving the key antiviral type I interferon pathway.

12 Mar 2021

To extract more doses per vial, vaccinators put squeeze on FDA to relax vaccine handling advice

President Joe Biden has promised enough covid vaccine to immunize every willing adult by June 1. But right now, the gap between supply and demand is so dramatic that vaccinators are discovering ways to suck the final drops out of each vaccine vial — if federal regulators will let them.

12 Mar 2021

Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and RBD detected in saliva of mRNA-vaccine recipients

A team of researchers from the US and the Netherlands recently reported that antibodies to the spike protein and the RBD are detected in saliva samples from healthcare workers vaccinated with mRNA vaccines.

12 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 is extremely sensitive to type I IFN pre-treatment, study finds

Researchers have found that SARS-CoV-2 is extremely sensitive to type I IFN pre-treatment. Therefore, strategies such as focusing on limiting the production of IFN, rather than its function, could restrict the mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 that increases its viral load with delayed or absent symptoms.

12 Mar 2021

Pooling COVID-19 tests to detect future outbreaks

How could pooling SARS-CoV-2 tests help to detect future viral outbreaks? News-Medical spoke to Dr. Jean-François Rupprecht to find out more.

12 Mar 2021

U.S. Congress has clear opportunity to supercharge global health R&D, shows report

The U.S. Congress and Biden-Harris administration have a clear opportunity to supercharge global health research and development (R&D) in the wake of a pandemic that has revealed both the sector's chronic neglect and amazing potential.

12 Mar 2021

Public schools can adopt lower physical distancing policies with masking mandates

As COVID-19 infection rates continue to fall, Massachusetts officials are signaling it's almost time to end remote learning and send all school-aged children back to the classroom.

12 Mar 2021

Delaying second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine may be feasible in some cases

Researchers in Spain have conducted the most extensive study to date investigating the effectiveness of vaccinating healthcare workers with a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

11 Mar 2021

Study addresses glycosylation concerns in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine design

An international team of researchers has found that glycosylation patterns are conserved across the native spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – and the recombinant spike proteins made in laboratories for use in vaccines.

11 Mar 2021

Americans coping with pandemic stress report undesired changes to weight, increased drinking

As growing vaccine demand signals a potential turning point in the global COVID-19 pandemic, the nation's health crisis is far from over.

11 Mar 2021

Texas Biomed receives DoD subcontracts to assess SARS-CoV-2 decontamination technologies

Texas Biomedical Research Institute received two Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Health Agency subcontracts to assess the efficacy of surface coating and aerosolized decontamination technologies to combat SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens on surfaces and in the air.

11 Mar 2021

Early tracheotomy shortens ICU stay and lowers risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia

Surgically opening the windpipe, or trachea, within the first seven days of the start of mechanical ventilation decreases the time patients spend on ventilators, shortens their ICU stay and lowers their risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to a systematic review published Thursday (March 11) in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

11 Mar 2021

NCCN publishes new guidance for management of COVID-19 in cancer patients

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network--an alliance of leading cancer centers--has published new best practice recommendations for Management of COVID-19 Infection in Patients with Cancer.

11 Mar 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Neutralizing antibodies induced by COVID-19 vaccines less effective against new variants

UMass Amherst researcher focuses on understanding fundamental aspects of the hand's microbiome

SARS-CoV-2 did not change much when it jumped from bats to human hosts

Could horse-derived antibodies promote immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection?

An overview of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech

How common are post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection?

Natural virus-induced immunity protective against UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 variants in hamster study

Impact of type I interferon (IFN) autoantibodies in critical COVID-19

To extract more doses per vial, vaccinators put squeeze on FDA to relax vaccine handling advice

Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and RBD detected in saliva of mRNA-vaccine recipients

SARS-CoV-2 is extremely sensitive to type I IFN pre-treatment, study finds

Pooling COVID-19 tests to detect future outbreaks

U.S. Congress has clear opportunity to supercharge global health R&D, shows report

Public schools can adopt lower physical distancing policies with masking mandates

Delaying second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine may be feasible in some cases

Study addresses glycosylation concerns in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine design

Americans coping with pandemic stress report undesired changes to weight, increased drinking

Texas Biomed receives DoD subcontracts to assess SARS-CoV-2 decontamination technologies

Early tracheotomy shortens ICU stay and lowers risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia

NCCN publishes new guidance for management of COVID-19 in cancer patients

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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