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.

Moderna vaccine induces robust immune response against SARS-CoV-2

The race to develop an effective vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is on, and one of the potential candidates shows promise in inducing an immune response.

15 Jul 2020

Obesity and metabolic syndrome increase risk for severe influenza, COVID-19

Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of severe disease from viral infection, according to a review of the literature performed by a team of researchers from St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, both in Memphis.

15 Jul 2020

Novel surface coating inactivates SARS-CoV-2 in one hour

Door knobs, light switches, shopping carts. Fear runs rampant nowadays when it comes to touching common surfaces because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

15 Jul 2020

New mass spectrometry-based test detects coronavirus in gargle solutions of patients

Pharmacists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg have succeeded in detecting small amounts of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 using mass spectrometry.

15 Jul 2020

Common FDA-approved drug may be a powerful tool in fighting COVID-19

A common drug, already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, may also be a powerful tool in fighting COVID-19, according to research published this week in Antiviral Research.

15 Jul 2020

Nanotechnology plays major role in COVID-19 vaccine development

From mRNA vaccines entering clinical trials, to peptide-based vaccines and using molecular farming to scale vaccine production, the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing new and emerging nanotechnologies into the frontlines and the headlines.

15 Jul 2020

Anti-inflammatory medication helps fight dangerous immune response in COVID-19 patients

Most patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (coronavirus) pneumonia experienced improvement after receiving a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug normally given for rheumatoid arthritis, according to an observational study at Cedars-Sinai.

15 Jul 2020

Global negative sentiments surrounding COVID-19 shift from fear to anger, study finds

The fear that people developed at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak has given way to anger over the course of the pandemic, a study of global sentiments led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found.

15 Jul 2020

Conspiracy theories aside, here’s what contact tracers really do

In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, contact tracing is downright buzzy, and not always in a good way.

15 Jul 2020

Cholesterol-lowering drugs show promise to lower COVID-19's threat

Could a simple drug, that has been on the market for decades, be used to treat COVID-19? A research team led by Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)'s Professor Yaakov Nahmias says that early research looks promising; their findings appear in this week's Cell Press' Sneak Peak.

15 Jul 2020

California school districts grope for sensible reopening plans

School leaders in Elk Grove, California, wanted to leave as little to chance as possible. So they brought nearly 150 voices into their decision-making process, and canvassed the parents of the estimated 63,000 students in the district to ask how they wanted their children taught.

15 Jul 2020

BATM introduces three new diagnostic kits for COVID-19 and other respiratory illness

BATM, a leading provider of real-time technologies for networking solutions and medical laboratory systems, announces the launch of three new diagnostic kits to significantly advance the diagnosis of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

15 Jul 2020

Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 disappear within three months

The question is, does this infection confer lasting immunity? A new study published in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection in July 2020 appears to show that it does not, with antibodies to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disappearing within three months of infection.

15 Jul 2020

SwRI expands its services to include mask testing in response to COVID-19 pandemic

The Particle Science and Technology Laboratory at Southwest Research Institute has expanded its services to include mask testing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

15 Jul 2020

Transmission of coronavirus from dogs to humans is scientifically flawed

A study published earlier this year claiming the coronavirus may have jumped from dogs to humans is scientifically flawed, offering no direct evidence to support its conclusions, according to a collaborative group of international researchers, including scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

15 Jul 2020

Certain antibodies may cause the dangerous part of COVID-19 disease

A new study out of the Netherlands and published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in July 2020 discusses the commonly observed phenomenon of COVID-19 progression at 1-2 weeks from the onset of the earliest symptoms. This is ascribed to the overactivation of the inflammatory signaling cascade triggered by a hyperactive adaptive immune reaction, commonly called the cytokine storm.

15 Jul 2020

Study: Amount of SARS-Cov-2 receptor is increased in patients with pre-existing cardiac conditions

Nearly 20% of all COVID-19-associated deaths are from cardiac complications, yet the mechanisms from which these complications arise have remained a topic of debate in the cardiology community.

15 Jul 2020

B-Ferst makes signs of progress despite the COVID-19 pandemic

One year has passed since B-Ferst kicked off in Madrid, in May 2019. As we all know, 2020 has probably been the most struggling year of the recent past.

15 Jul 2020

Mobility and flexibility in SARS-CoV-2 proteins

Now, a new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in July 2020 describes the use of in silico modeling of potential drug targets on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) protein structures, using data retrieved from the Protein Databank (PDB).

15 Jul 2020

Strong evidence several FDA approved drugs block SARS-CoV-2 in relevant cell-lines and human organoids

Now, a new study describes how compounds that restore the normal transcriptional conditions following infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be used to reduce viral load without neutralizing the virus entry into the host cell.

15 Jul 2020