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.

COVID-19 delays elective surgeries

A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers found that it may take between seven and 16 months for surgeons to complete the backlog of elective orthopaedic surgeries that have been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

27 May 2020

WHO halts Hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 trial over safety concerns

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has taken a toll on 188 countries and territories across the globe. With the increasing number of confirmed cases, scientists race to develop treatments and vaccines to fight the novel coronavirus.

27 May 2020

Study reveals factors that affect COVID-19 incidence on American Indian Reservations

Early in the pandemic, American Indian Reservations have experienced a disproportionately high incidence of COVID-19 infections: four times higher than in the US population reports a study in the July/August issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

27 May 2020

Researchers warn against false negatives in COVID-19 diagnostic test

One of the most commonly used diagnostic tools, particularly during this pandemic, is the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR), which uses a person's respiratory sample to detect viral particles and determine if the person may have been exposed to a virus.

27 May 2020

USF scientists to establish novel technology that sterilize N95 respiratory masks

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from the University of South Florida has advanced efforts to establish a novel technology that can rapidly sterilize and electrostatically recharge N95 respiratory masks to restore their original filtration efficiency.

27 May 2020

New data may help understand the evolution of Austrian SARS-CoV-2 strains

216 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences have now been completed and released in the framework of the "Mutational Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in Austria" project from CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in close collaboration with the Medical University of Vienna, the Medical University of Innsbruck and the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES).

27 May 2020

New initiative to address multiple environmental crises beyond COVID-19

The unfolding SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) pandemic is drastically altering the human-nature relationship. It is affecting global environmental issues in complex ways while the overall picture still remains unclear.

27 May 2020

A person’s age, gender, culture interact to predict loneliness

Young people, men and people in "individualistic" societies report higher levels of loneliness, according to a large-scale global study.

27 May 2020

COVID-19 in the UK: Military planning and school re-openings

The global COVID-19 pandemic has hit the United Kingdom hard. Collectively England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland now have the highest death toll in Europe, surpassing that of Spain, Italy, and France. The number of reported daily cases and deaths is still significant, as is the load on the healthcare system. As of now, the illness has affected almost 266,000 people in the UK, with over 37,000 deaths so far.

27 May 2020

Many different T cell receptors recognize SARS-CoV-2 antigenic sites

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is spreading over the world. However, not much is known about how the adaptive immune response kicks in following the viral challenge. This knowledge is crucial to predicting the efficacy of a vaccine and estimating the chances of reinfection.

26 May 2020

Study finds very low level of SARS-CoV-2 in two San Francisco Bay areas

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 reports a very low prevalence of antibodies in two separate populations living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

26 May 2020

Simulated sunlight kills SARS CoV-2 on surfaces in 7 to 14 minutes

Simulated sunlight could effectively kill severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that is responsible for the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

26 May 2020

Pediatricians urge efforts to offset COVID-19 impacts on children from low-income households

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the social, educational and health care disparities already plaguing the nearly 40 million Americans the U.S. Census Bureau estimates are living in poverty.

26 May 2020

A key player in hepatitis A virus infection discovered

How hepatitis A virus manages to enter liver cells called hepatocytes and initiate infection had remained a mystery for fifty years until now.

26 May 2020

COVID-19 in cats and dogs is likely acquired directly from infected humans

A recent study from Japan available reveals how almost all cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among domestic animals can be linked to their owners infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

26 May 2020

Study shows antihypertensive drugs do not raise serum levels of ACE2

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* by researchers from Iceland and the U.S. shows how treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) does not raise angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) levels in human serum – and cautions against the discontinuation of these drugs among patients affected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

26 May 2020

IgG antibodies reduce viral load of SARS-CoV-2

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington has highlighted the importance of serological testing for infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

26 May 2020

U.S. COVID-19 patients face long hospital stays and high rates of ICU admission

Hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the U.S. are enduring longer hospital stays and facing higher rates of intensive care unit admission than patients in China, finds a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Kaiser Permanente.

26 May 2020

Deaths from COVID-19 appear to be on the decline in Italian provinces

Researchers in Italy have found that the proportion of people dying from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may be on the decline in Italy.

26 May 2020

New tool could help prevent and reduce the number of coronavirus cases

One of the most effective measures for containing the transmission of a virus is to identify who an infected person has been in contact and/or crossed paths with, mainly during incubation periods.

26 May 2020