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.

A wireless device to treat brain diseases at patients’ homes

Ana Maiques has always been attracted by the mysteries of the human brain.

15 Sep 2020

Sex and gender not receiving enough attention in COVID-19 trials

Researchers in Denmark and the Netherlands have conducted a study showing that sex and gender are not being adequately considered in clinical trials investigating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

15 Sep 2020

Poor health linked to disparities in internet use among older adults

Increasingly, everyday activities and services are shifting online, making the ability to use the internet an essential skill. The current COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of digital connectivity, especially for older and vulnerable adults, for their continued contact with family and friends.

15 Sep 2020

Prolonged loneliness may influence the development of type 2 diabetes

Published in the journal Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]), the study shows that it is the absence of quality connections with people and not the lack of contact that predicts the onset of type 2 diabetes, suggesting that helping people form and experience positive relationships could be a useful tool in prevention strategies for type 2 diabetes.

15 Sep 2020

Patients on immunosuppressive therapy are not at increased risk for contracting COVID-19

Patients on immunosuppressive therapy for common skin and rheumatic diseases like psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis are not at increased risk for contracting COVID-19 and should continue taking their medicine as prescribed, say Henry Ford Health System dermatology researchers in a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

15 Sep 2020

COVID exodus fills vacation towns with new medical pressures

The staff at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital is accustomed to the number of patients tripling or even quadrupling each summer when wealthy Manhattanites flee the city for the Hamptons. But this year, the COVID pandemic has upended everything.

15 Sep 2020

Lights, camera, no action: Insurance woes beset entertainment industry workers

Before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the entertainment industry in March, Jeffrey Farber had a steady flow of day jobs in film and television, including work on "Hunters" and "Blue Bloods."

15 Sep 2020

New dental treatment helps fill cavities and insurance gaps for seniors

Dental hygienist Jennifer Geiselhofer often cleans the teeth of senior patients who can't easily get to a dentist's office. But until recently, if she found a cavity, there was little she could do.

15 Sep 2020

Identifying, preventing and treating drug-induced arrhythmias

Health care professionals should become more familiar with medications that cause irregular heart rhythms called arrhythmias, according to "Drug- Induced Arrhythmias," a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, published today in the Association's flagship journal Circulation.

15 Sep 2020

Loss of taste in COVID-19 is highly variable by geographic region

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads in different parts of the world, scientists are still attempting to define the characteristic signs and symptoms that are useful in diagnosing the disease. This is essential knowledge to help contain severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission. Especially when it comes to diagnosing symptomatic or mild cases of COVID-19, such research could hold the key to identifying more people and preventing viral spread.

15 Sep 2020

New antibody assay for COVID-19 promises sensitive mass-scale detection

A new paper by researchers at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, published on the preprint server medRxiv in September 2020, reports on the development of a serologic assay that is suitable for sensitive high-throughput antibody testing for COVID-19.

15 Sep 2020

COVID-19 ‘long-haulers’ experience lingering health effects

Called “long-haulers” or “long-termers,” some people report lingering symptoms of the illness for months. These people experience symptoms ranging from fatigue and weakness to chest pains and difficulty breathing.

15 Sep 2020

Immunologists analyze types of immune response to predict an effective COVID-19 vaccine

Immune reactions caused by vaccination can help protect the organism, or sometimes may aggravate the condition.

15 Sep 2020

People with substance use disorders are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection

A National Institutes of Health-funded study found that people with substance use disorders (SUDs) are more susceptible to COVID-19 and its complications.

15 Sep 2020

Bath scientists receive funding to monitor wastewater in cities in the UK and Africa

Chemists, biologists and mathematicians from the University of Bath have received funding to monitor wastewater in cities in the UK and Africa, to provide an early warning of the potential spread of COVID-19.

15 Sep 2020

A comprehensive response to COVID-19 must recognize the value of care work

Three American researchers have looked at the role of women in caring for COVID-19 affected individuals. The pandemic that has gripped the world for over six months now has skewed gender roles, they noted.

15 Sep 2020

New project outlines the epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2

Independent group leaders Eleanor Scerri and Denise Kuehnert of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) have teamed up with other colleagues from the institute and beyond to comment in Nature Ecology & Evolution on the future of field-based sciences in a COVID-19 world.

15 Sep 2020

Analysis of COVID-19 spread from China, Italy and Iran

A recent study looked at the patterns of the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from China, Iran, and Italy to other nations. The study by researchers at Case-Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Duke University is published on the preprint website medRxiv* in September 2020.

15 Sep 2020

3D printed nanoparticle biosensing platform detects SARS-CoV-2 antibodies within seconds

Pandemics caused by novel infectious agents like the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Zika, or Ebola virus seriously impact human health and lives while also overwhelming health care systems all over the world. Early detection and diagnosis allow isolation of the infected patients and contact tracing, which can mitigate the spread of the virus and save lives, especially when a significant number of the patients are asymptomatic.

14 Sep 2020

Central nervous system immune responses to COVID-19

A recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv by scientists from Yale School of Medicine, University of California, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute examined the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the central nervous system.

14 Sep 2020