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.

New biocontainment unit could help healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients

The U.S. Army partnered with the University of Pittsburg Medical Center to create a biocontainment unit that could help healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

3 Sep 2020

Chest X-rays found to be highly predictive of COVID-19

A team of LSU Health New Orleans radiologists investigated the usefulness of chest X-rays in COVID-19 and found they could aid in a rapid diagnosis of the disease, especially in areas with limited testing capacity or delayed test results.

3 Sep 2020

Obesity may cause irregular immune responses to COVID-19

Obesity may cause a hyperactive immune system response to COVID-19 infection that makes it difficult to fight off the virus, according to a new manuscript published in the Endocrine Society's journal, Endocrinology.

3 Sep 2020

Ellipsys Vascular Access System reduces time for dialysis treatments

The Ellipsys Vascular Access System reduces the time before patients with kidney failure can start lifesaving dialysis treatments, while requiring fewer secondary procedures, according to a new study led by interventional radiologist Jeffrey Hull, M.D., of Richmond Vascular Center.

3 Sep 2020

Why Black aging matters, too

Old. Chronically ill. Black. People who fit this description are more likely to die from COVID-19 than any other group in the country.

3 Sep 2020

LA County authorities cautious despite declining COVID numbers

In Los Angeles County, California's main COVID-19 hot spot since early in the pandemic, key indicators of the disease have taken an encouraging turn recently.

3 Sep 2020

Improving COVID-19 diagnosis

News-Medical spoke to Yourgene health on their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they developed a diagnostic test for COVID-19.

From Yourgene Health 3 Sep 2020

New grant supports research into diabetic kidney disease and COVID-19

Mater and University of Queensland Researcher Dr Mitchell Sullivan has been awarded a 2020 Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship from the Queensland Government to fund his research into diabetic kidney disease and COVID-19.

3 Sep 2020

Increased COVID-19 cases in India raise questions about reopening the economy

A spike in COVID-19 infections in India, reaching an average of more than 70,000 cases per day over the past week, has raised questions about reopening the economy, which contracted by 24 per cent of GDP as a result of a drastic national lockdown imposed in March to stop the virus from spreading.

3 Sep 2020

Corticosteroids can be lifesaving for critically ill COVID-19 patients

Now, a prospective meta-analysis of 7 randomized trials published in the journal JAMA showed that the widely available steroid drugs could help seriously ill patients survive COVID-19.

3 Sep 2020

Reformulated generic drug could offer a cost-effective way to accelerate recovery, prevent hospitalizations

Reformulated and patented version of well-known generic drug could prove to be a quick, safe and cost-effective way to accelerate recovery and prevent hospitalizations.

3 Sep 2020

Surveys show strong, immediate impacts of pandemic on vulnerable families

In just a few months, the COVID-19 pandemic swiftly and substantially worsened mental health among U.S. hourly service workers and their children - especially those experiencing multiple hardships, according to new research from the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University and Barnard College.

3 Sep 2020

Avacta enters into manufacturing agreement with Abingdon Health for rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen test

Avacta Group plc, the developer of Affimer® biotherapeutics and reagents, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Abingdon Health for the manufacture of Avacta’s saliva-based rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen test as part of its ongoing expansion of manufacturing capacity.

From Avacta Life Sciences Ltd. 3 Sep 2020

Remote delivery of mental health care across the U.S. has increased dramatically

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a remarkable number of psychologists across the United States to shift to delivering mental health care to patients remotely, according to a national study led by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University.

3 Sep 2020

HIV and HCV testing at drug detoxification centers can help identify persons at-risk during opioid epidemic

With an increase in HIV and HCV infections as a consequence of the ongoing opioid epidemic, Boston Medical Center researchers found that only a small number of those who test positive for those infections at a drug detoxification center followed up for a clinical visit after their test.

3 Sep 2020

Protocols for minimizing risk in COVID-19 bronchoscopy

One area, discussed in a recent paper by Northwestern University researchers and published on the preprint server medRxiv* in August 2020, is the viral exposure suffered by healthcare workers during bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).

3 Sep 2020

Researchers assess impact of coronavirus disease on individuals with progressive multiple sclerosis

Researchers conducting a large international study of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) examined the impact of the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on their study participants.

3 Sep 2020

Antibody responses in recovered COVID-19 individuals from India

India has been hit hard by COVID-19, with at least 66,000 deaths and almost 4 million cases. The need to understand the infection, including the various antibody isotypes, and whether neutralizing antibodies and memory B cells are being produced, has driven much research into the way immunity is developing in Indian patients.

3 Sep 2020

A global study to determine COVID-19 health and psychosocial consequences

The current paper lays out the details of a longitudinal study that aims to follow up COVID-19 patients, including any pre-existing chronic illnesses as well as the medical care they received during their illness. A significant minority of convalescents appears to have prolonged disease sequelae.

3 Sep 2020