SARS CoV 2 News and Research

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Rapid SARS‐CoV‐2 IgM‐IgG combined antibody test

A recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv in October 2020 reports a new diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 based on the detection of antibodies.

15 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 may become endemic if reinfection proves commonplace, say researchers

To date, a few verified repeat SARS-CoV-2 infections have been documented around the world. "Should reinfection [with SARS-CoV-2] prove commonplace, and barring a highly effective vaccine delivered to most of the world's population, SARS-CoV-2 will likely become endemic," write Jeffrey Shaman and Marta Galanti in this Perspective.

15 Oct 2020

Human bivalent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies more potent

A recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in October 2020 reports more effective viral neutralization by bivalent anti-spike antibodies. This could promote the development of better therapeutics and vaccines.

15 Oct 2020

Certain live-attenuated vaccines can prevent severe complications of COVID-19

COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc globally, with over one million deaths to date. Yet what if an existing vaccine could make COVID-19 less deadly? A study just published put the theory to test, with promising results.

15 Oct 2020

Researchers investigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2

Winter is on its way. And in this year of coronavirus, with it comes the potential for a second wave of COVID-19. Add in flu season and our tendency to head inside and close our windows to the cold, wet weather, and it appears the next several months are going to present us with new health challenges.

15 Oct 2020

Ct values can be used to estimate epidemic dynamics

Researchers recently showed that the varying population distribution of Cycle threshold (Ct) values from positive SARS-CoV-2 samples could help infer epidemic dynamics.

14 Oct 2020

Leadership, communication and compliance key to New Zealand's COVID-19 success

Researchers from New Zealand have studied the epidemiological curve of the COVID-19 pandemic in their country. Their study titled "COVID-19 in New Zealand and the impact of the national response: a descriptive epidemiological study" was published on October 13, 2020, in The Lancet Public Health.

14 Oct 2020

The COVID-19 vaccine pipeline

Researchers from Mayo Clinic, United States of America, have reviewed the immunity developed against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 disease.

14 Oct 2020

WVU joins with CDC to conduct a seven-week mask observation study

The rate of COVID-19 positivity among young adults has been higher than other age groups during July and August. And, while the West Virginia University community is no stranger to doing its part to help suppress the positivity rate and keep others safe, there are significant factors that may result in WVU students letting down their guard when it comes to mitigation strategies - in particular, wearing a mask.

14 Oct 2020

Army researchers team up to test alternative ways to measure COVID-19 antibody levels

Researchers with the U.S. Army Futures Command are part of a team that tested alternative ways to measure COVID-19 antibody levels, resulting in a process that is faster, easier and less expensive to use on a large scale.

14 Oct 2020

Scientists use dehumidifiers to detect airborne SARS-CoV-2

Now, a team of researchers at the University of Maryland presented a simple approach that can potentially provide information about the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the atmosphere at any location.

14 Oct 2020

Research identifies antigen-specific peripheral T follicular helper cells in COVID-19 infected patients

Researchers have found peripheral T follicular helper cell responses to different structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and have studied how the response occurs over time.

14 Oct 2020

Characterization of prognostic markers to predict COVID-19 severity

A team of scientists from the United Kingdom has revealed that markers of endothelial cell injury are associated with severe and fatal outcome of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

14 Oct 2020

Exploring the effects of smoking tobacco on COVID-19 risk

A study conducted by researchers in China has shed light on how certain tobacco compounds might prevent cells from becoming infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

14 Oct 2020

Testing, tracing and mask-wearing can prevent COVID-19 resurgences

Researchers in Australia, Denmark, and the United States have conducted a study showing the extent to which community testing, contact tracing, and mask-wearing can lower the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the Australian state of New South Wales.

14 Oct 2020

Researchers use single cell sequencing technology to characterize immune system of COVID-19 patients

In this study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology on September 30th, researchers used sequencing to characterize the immune system of patients who survive from COVID-19 infection from symptom onset through recovery.

14 Oct 2020

Many coronavirus strains found in animals can also infect humans, shows study

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests that a strain of coronavirus that has recently alarmed the swine industry may have the potential to spread to humans as well.

14 Oct 2020

Alternate primers for whole-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequencing

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in October 2020 describes the gap frequencies and positions in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome and a set of alternative primers with a sequencing scheme to provide better genomic coverage and quality.

14 Oct 2020

ACE2 binding causes dissociation of trimeric SARS-CoV-2 spike, may be used to inhibit further infection

A recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in October 2020 shows that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) binding to the human host receptor could cause the typical trimeric spike protein to come apart, forming a stable monomer instead with the receptor.

14 Oct 2020

Study shows SARS-CoV-2 antibodies offer lasting immunity

One of the most significant questions about the novel coronavirus is whether people who are infected are immune from reinfection and, if so, for how long.

14 Oct 2020