Pandemic News and Research

RSS

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.

Five alternative methods of SARS-CoV-2 suppression

The current pandemic has proved to be challenging to control without stringent and comprehensive non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs), relying mostly on isolation and contact tracing of cases, along with social distancing. However, strategies like these have a huge human cost in terms of restriction of social interactions, resulting in depressive tendencies, disruption of economic activity, and loss of educational resources.

3 Aug 2020

Low-income communities lack access to ICU beds

A new Penn Medicine study sheds light on yet another reason why the coronavirus pandemic is disproportionately killing the poor: Residents in low-income neighborhoods lack access to intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

3 Aug 2020

A new platform to provide information on SARS-CoV-2 immunity or seroprevalence

Who has overcome an infection with the virus without noticing, and how many people have already produced protective antibodies against the new coronavirus? Various antibody studies are now under way that will provide information on immunity or seroprevalence in the population.

3 Aug 2020

Research explains recognized sex differences in COVID-19 outcomes

The COVID-19 pandemic has notably taken a more significant toll on men compared to women, in terms of both disease severity and death. Now, a new study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published on the preprint server medRxiv in August 2020 confirms the increased risk that males have for death following COVID-19 while also highlighting worse outcomes in women with coronary artery disease, obesity, and hypoxia compared to men.

3 Aug 2020

Extensive study of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing reveals six strains of the virus

The virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, presents at least six strains. Despite its mutations, the virus shows little variability, and this is good news for the researchers working on a viable vaccine.

3 Aug 2020

Snapchat found to be an effective tool to teach residents emergency radiology

A pilot study conducted by a team of LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine faculty has found that Snapchat is an effective tool to teach residents emergency radiology.

3 Aug 2020

Study shows high SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence, but low death rate in Malawi's health care workers

A study by researchers from Malawi and United Kingdom reveals a significant discrepancy between predicted coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mortality in the observed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroprevalence rates in health care workers and reported deaths in urban Malawi in southeastern Africa, indicating early exposure, but a slow progression of the outbreak. Their findings are currently available on the medRxiv preprint server.

3 Aug 2020

SARS-CoV-2 lured away and trapped by a new decoy version of ACE2

Researchers in the United States and Canada have engineered affinity-optimized “receptor traps” that prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from binding to and infecting cells.

3 Aug 2020

California GOP consultant rues ‘big mistake’ that led to family’s COVID infections

The tweet Richard Costigan posted July 23 was bluntly honest: "We tried our best to limit exposure to #COVID19 but we slipped up somewhere."

3 Aug 2020

Study evaluates how travel bans help reduce the spread of COVID-19

With the reopening of flights during the summer holiday season in Europe, many countries have started to see an increase in COVID-19 infections.

3 Aug 2020

Cloth face masks have potential to reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 viruses

A literature review coordinated by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and McMaster University in Canada demonstrates that cloth face masks provide clinically useful levels of filtration, which has the potential to reduce the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.

3 Aug 2020

Photonics-based device could help COVID-19 patients with adequate treatments

Few could have foreseen the considerable impact that SARS-CoV-2 has had so far and is still having worldwide. Numbers continue to escalate and the complexity of the COVID-19 symptoms have hindered all efforts to optimize its treatment.

3 Aug 2020

Immune system's oldest branches may underpin COVID severity

One of the immune system's oldest branches, called complement, may be influencing the severity of COVID disease, according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

3 Aug 2020

Hospital merger in Washington state stokes fears about Catholic limits on care

The proposed merger of a well-regarded secular hospital system and a larger Roman Catholic system in Washington state has triggered new alarms about religious restrictions on patients' access to care.

3 Aug 2020

What seniors can expect as their new normal in a post-vaccine world

Imagine this scenario, perhaps a year or two in the future: An effective COVID-19 vaccine is routinely available and the world is moving forward. Life, however, will likely never be the same — particularly for people over 60.

3 Aug 2020

Dexamethasone should be a standard drug in severe COVID-19

Many scientists have explored the use of new as well as already approved drugs for this condition, and one of the very few promising leads is dexamethasone. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid, which has been reported in some earlier studies to reduce mortality in these patients by 18% and 36% in COVID-19 patients who are on oxygen and ventilators, respectively.

3 Aug 2020

Americans are adjusting their use of social media platforms amid COVID-19 pandemic

As national tensions rise, a new national survey of 2,000 people commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds more Americans are adjusting how they use social media platforms.

3 Aug 2020

The race to a coronavirus vaccine

As the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases skyrocket to a staggering 18 million, the race to attain vaccine approval is on. More than a hundred candidate vaccines are being developed and tested to prevent infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Now, many vaccine candidates are undergoing human stage 2 and 3 trials to prove their efficacy and safety.

2 Aug 2020

There could be 7 million unplanned pregnancies because of COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has rippled across the globe, infecting nearly 18 million individuals worldwide to date. Though the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affects people from all walks of life, women and girls may experience devastating effects of the outbreak.

2 Aug 2020

School children unlikely to play a significant role in COVID-19 spread, says Finnish study

A study conducted by researchers in Finland suggests that children who are exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in schools are unlikely to transmit the virus further and play any significant role in the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

2 Aug 2020