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.

Genomics reveals distinct patterns of emergence of SARS‐CoV‐2 spike variants in Columbus, Ohio

Recently researchers from the United States reported the results of a SARS‐CoV‐2 genomic surveillance conducted between April 2020 and January 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. Their work is released as a preprint on the bioRxiv server.

18 Jan 2021

Understanding the Philippines' relative success with COVID-19

Many high-income countries have reported rising numbers of cases, while a few low-income countries such as the Philippines report a less severe COVID-19 outbreak. To date, the archipelagic country in Southeast Asia has reported 502,000 cases and 9,900 deaths among its population of around 108 million.

18 Jan 2021

About 60 percent of SARS-CoV-2 cases in England tied to new variant by the end of December

One new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, called 202012/01, started to spread in England in late October. A new study published on the pre-print server medRxiv found that 60 percent of daily COVID-19 cases screened by the Alderley Park Lighthouse Labs were tied to 202012/01, also known as lineage B.1.1.7 or 20B/501Y.V1. This suggests a rapid spread of the new variant across the country.

18 Jan 2021

Closed SARS-CoV-2 spikes could be a valuable component of future vaccines

Now, researchers at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom, reveal that engineered closed S constructs may be valuable immunogens that can induce neutralizing antibodies against a different pattern of epitopes. This allows for the flexibility of vaccines at both the individual and population levels.

18 Jan 2021

Two common blood pressure drugs are not tied to increased risk of COVID-19

Research published in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet Digital Health and co-led by a UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty member has found that two widely used types of blood pressure drugs are not tied to an increased risk of COVID-19 infection or complications.

18 Jan 2021

Near-universal adoption of masks along with public health measures could eliminate disease spread

Research published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that near-universal adoption of nonmedical masks in public, combined with complementary public health measures, could reduce spread to essentially zero.

18 Jan 2021

Australian scientists develop a new method for rapid synthesis of safe vaccines

With COVID-19 dominating medical science and human concern, our chemists have developed a method to quickly and safely synthesize protein vaccines for respiratory diseases for pre-clinical tests.

18 Jan 2021

Treating post-infectious smell loss in COVID-19 patients

News-Medical catches up with Professor Carl Philpott about the latest findings regarding COVID-19 and smell loss.

18 Jan 2021

What are the key factors and impact of interventions in England’s COVID-19 epidemic?

Researchers from Imperial College London provide a mathematical model to help understand how SARS-CoV-2, the causative pathogen of (COVID-19), spread across England in the first two waves of the epidemic, and the effect of various interventions by the government.

18 Jan 2021

Surface temperature scanner is an unreliable way to detect fever associated with Covid-19

Making people stand in front of a scanner to have their body temperature read can result in a large number of false negatives, allowing people with Covid-19 to pass through airports and hospitals undetected.

18 Jan 2021

Midwife’s research included in new national guidance on harms caused by alcohol in pregnancy

As thousands of people are committing to giving up alcohol during Dry January, research from a midwifery lecturer at Northumbria University has been included in new national guidance on the harms of consuming alcohol both before and during pregnancy.

18 Jan 2021

Engineers come together to help tackle healthcare challenges posed by Covid-19

A not-for-profit group of engineers led by Keele University’s Professor Peter Ogrodnik have appealed for support to help them tackle challenges facing the NHS posed by Covid-19.

18 Jan 2021

New SARS-CoV-2 variant emerges in the U.S.

Even as the rollout of vaccines all over the world brings a glimmer of hope that the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may end in the near future, new variants continue to emerge, some with the potential to escape vaccine-induced or therapeutic antibodies. Now, a new preprint research paper published on the bioRxiv server describes a new American variant that may have become the dominant strain in the USA.

18 Jan 2021

Analysis supports phase 3 trials of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine

Researchers in the Netherlands, the United States, and Belgium have presented early-stage clinical trial results demonstrating the safety and efficacy of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine candidate for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

17 Jan 2021

Study reveals possible SARS-CoV-2 escape mutant that may re-infect immune individuals

A recent study by US researchers shows how the 501Y.V2 variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), characterized by several mutations, is able to escape neutralization by present first-wave anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and potentially re-infect COVID-19 convalescent individuals.

17 Jan 2021

Black Americans are getting vaccinated at lower rates than white Americans

Black Americans are receiving covid vaccinations at dramatically lower rates than white Americans in the first weeks of the chaotic rollout, according to a new KHN analysis.

17 Jan 2021

Combination therapy reduces recovery time in COVID-19 patients, clinical trial finds

A clinical trial involving COVID-19 patients hospitalized at UT Health San Antonio and University Health, among roughly 100 sites globally, found that a combination of the drugs baricitinib and remdesivir reduced time to recovery, according to results published Dec. 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

16 Jan 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Genomics reveals distinct patterns of emergence of SARS‐CoV‐2 spike variants in Columbus, Ohio

Understanding the Philippines' relative success with COVID-19

About 60 percent of SARS-CoV-2 cases in England tied to new variant by the end of December

Closed SARS-CoV-2 spikes could be a valuable component of future vaccines

Two common blood pressure drugs are not tied to increased risk of COVID-19

Near-universal adoption of masks along with public health measures could eliminate disease spread

Australian scientists develop a new method for rapid synthesis of safe vaccines

Treating post-infectious smell loss in COVID-19 patients

What are the key factors and impact of interventions in England’s COVID-19 epidemic?

Surface temperature scanner is an unreliable way to detect fever associated with Covid-19

Midwife’s research included in new national guidance on harms caused by alcohol in pregnancy

Engineers come together to help tackle healthcare challenges posed by Covid-19

New SARS-CoV-2 variant emerges in the U.S.

Analysis supports phase 3 trials of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine

Study reveals possible SARS-CoV-2 escape mutant that may re-infect immune individuals

Black Americans are getting vaccinated at lower rates than white Americans

Combination therapy reduces recovery time in COVID-19 patients, clinical trial finds

New review highlights heat-health outcome relationship in the urban context

National consortium to study the effects of emerging SARS-CoV-2 mutations

Biden terms vaccine rollout ‘a dismal failure’ as he unveils his pandemic response plan

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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