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.

Viruses like SARS-CoV-2 may be more widespread than previously thought

Researchers in Cambodia, France, and the United States have conducted a study indicating that viruses related to SARS-CoV-2 – the agent that causes COVID-19 – are far more geographically widespread than previously thought.

28 Jan 2021

Variants emerging during COVID-19 pandemic resist antibody neutralization

Researchers in the U.S. have warned that recently emerged variants of SARS-CoV-2 have become worryingly resistant to monoclonal antibody therapies, plasma from convalescent patients and sera from vaccinated individuals.

28 Jan 2021

SARS-CoV-2 is resistant to extreme variations in temperature, finds study

A recent study from Belize and Taiwan shows that four essential proteins of SARS-CoV-2 are well adapted to habitable temperatures and exhibit extreme thermostability, which means temperature changes between the winter and summer months have a negligible effect on the viral spread.

28 Jan 2021

At Colorado’s rural edges, vaccines help assisted living homes crack open the doors

Bingo is back in the dining room. In-person visits have returned, too, though with masks and plexiglass. The Haven Assisted Living Facility's residents are even planning a field trip for a private movie screening once they've all gotten their second round of covid-19 vaccines.

28 Jan 2021

4 vital health issues — not tied to Covid — that Congress addressed in massive spending bill

Late last month, before President Joe Biden took office and proposed his pandemic relief plan, Congress passed a nearly 5,600-page legislative package that provided some pandemic relief along with its more general allocations to fund the government in 2021.

28 Jan 2021

Can the US keep covid variants in check? Here’s what it takes

The covid-19 variants that have emerged in the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa and now Southern California are eliciting two notably distinct responses from U.S. public health officials.

28 Jan 2021

Huge gaps in vaccine data make it next to impossible to know who got the shots

As they rush to vaccinate millions of Americans, health officials are struggling to collect critically important information — such as race, ethnicity and occupation — of every person they jab.

28 Jan 2021

Common anticoagulant drug could be repurposed to help alleviate Covid-19 infections

An international team of researchers led by the Universities of Keele and Liverpool, working with Public Health England, has found that the common anticoagulant drug heparin inhibits the SARS-Cov2virus spike protein, by reducing the virus' ability to attach to human cells and infect them.

28 Jan 2021

Moderna vaccine shows robust suppression of SARS-CoV-2 infection in animal model

Researchers have demonstrated that the prime or prime-boost vaccination of Moderna vaccine in hamsters induced robust neutralizing antibodies, ameliorated weight loss, and suppressed SARS-CoV-2 replication in the airways.

28 Jan 2021

COVID-19 patients in high-altitude ICUs had improved survival in case study

A team of researchers in Ecuador and the U.K. found that high altitudes may be linked to improved COVID-19 survival – particularly among patients with no comorbidities.

28 Jan 2021

Professor receives NIHCM grant to study effect of COVID-19 on patients with chronic conditions

Alison Cuellar, Professor of Health Administration and Policy and Director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics, has been awarded a grant from the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic changed health care for patients with chronic conditions.

28 Jan 2021

Viral ExoN regulates the rate of recombination in SARS-CoV-2

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston have discovered what may be the Achilles' heel of the coronavirus, a finding that may help close the door on COVID-19 and possibly head off future pandemics.

28 Jan 2021

American scientists receive the 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize

FRANKFURT am MAIN. Two American scientists, Bonnie L. Bassler and Michael R. Silverman, receive the 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, which is endowed with 120,000 €.

28 Jan 2021

Study provides a detailed look at vulnerable sites on SARS-CoV-2

A new study led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) suggests that T cells try to fight SARS-CoV-2 by targeting a broad range of sites on the virus--beyond the key sites on the virus's spike protein.

27 Jan 2021

New tool offers data-driven, precision medicine approach to help scientists better understand COVID-19

It is called PAGER-CoV, and it promises to be an important tool in finding therapies for COVID-19.

27 Jan 2021

Study examines the causes behind antibiotic overuse

The overuse of antibiotics occurs due to the mistaken widespread belief that they are beneficial for a broad array of conditions and because many physicians are willing to prescribe antibiotics if patients ask for the medication, according to a Rutgers study.

27 Jan 2021