Coronavirus News and Research

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Evidence of monoclonal antibodies effectively neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 variants

Makdasi et al. The neutralization potency of anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic human monoclonal antibodies is retained against novel viral variants. bioRxiv, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.01.438035, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.01.438035v2

7 Apr 2021

COVID-19 antibodies persist in breast milk for months following mother’s vaccination

Nursing mothers who receive a COVID-19 vaccine may pass protective antibodies to their babies through breast milk for at least 80 days following vaccination, suggests new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

7 Apr 2021

Researchers identify novel SARS-CoV-2 variant unregistered on genomic sequence databases

A team of scientists from the University of California Santa Cruz, USA, recently identified a novel variant (B.1.x) of SARS-CoV-2 that might be circulating in at least 20 US states and six countries globally.

7 Apr 2021

Researchers address the issue of drug shortages

The two researchers are among the first to address the issue of drug shortages in contexts outside of the US; their study will look at the supply of medicines in Europe, with a focus on Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

7 Apr 2021

Novel polyclonal antibody XAV-19 efficiently neutralizes UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 variants

A promising new study reports on the high neutralizing efficacy of a polyclonal swine antibody against SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen responsible for the novel COVID-19. By demonstrating the ability of this antibody to neutralize all currently circulating viral variants, the study suggests that it is ideal for development as a new and very effective therapy for COVID-19.

7 Apr 2021

California counties a hodgepodge of highs and lows in vaccinating vulnerable seniors

Even as California prepares to expand vaccine eligibility on April 15 to all residents age 16 and up, the state has managed to inoculate only about half its senior population — the 65-and-older target group deemed most vulnerable to death and serious illness in the pandemic.

7 Apr 2021

Which SARS-CoV-2 spike mutants can evade T cell immunity?

A new study reports the capability of a new variant of the virus to escape specific cellular immunity, while possessing a higher binding affinity to the host cell binding receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

7 Apr 2021

Enhanced neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 South African variant with heterologous adjuvant vaccine candidate

A new study describes the use of a single dose of vaccine based on the viral protein called the receptor-binding domain (RBD) to elicit powerful neutralizing activity against both the Wuhan strain and the most concerning VOC called the South African (SA) strain.

7 Apr 2021

Events of 2020 moved medical students to political activism

Inam Sakinah and her classmates will forever be known as the students who started medical school during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

7 Apr 2021

Global secretive governments are bypassing rules during COVID-19 pandemic

From Brazil to the Philippines, secretive governments across the world are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by covering up data and bypassing public procurement rules, undermining trust in health systems, fuelling anti-vaxxers and putting immunisation campaigns at risk.

7 Apr 2021

South African and Brazilian SARS-CoV-2 variants can evade antibodies from therapies, vaccines, and infection

Researchers at the Infection Biology Unit, German Primate Center, and the Georg-August-University Göttingen in Germany have found that the B.1.351 and P.1 SARS-CoV-2 variants have the potential to evade therapeutic antibodies or antibodies induced by natural infection or vaccination.

7 Apr 2021

World Health Day 2021: The humanitarians building a fairer world

In commemoration of World Health Day 2021, News-Medical interviews the International Medical Corps on how they are helping to achieve a fairer and healthier world.

7 Apr 2021

CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance announces outcomes of NIH-funded Phase 3 ITAC clinical trial

The CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance today announced that the Phase 3 Inpatient Treatment with Anti-Coronavirus Immunoglobulin (ITAC) clinical trial sponsored and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), did not meet its endpoints. No serious safety signals were raised in the trial.

7 Apr 2021

70% of SARS-CoV-2 infected in Wuhan still have IgG antibodies

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first emerged in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Though it has been more than one year since the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported, it is still unclear how long the antibodies persist in those who have recovered.

7 Apr 2021

Natural selection and adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 in mammals

Researchers of the Hubei University of Medicine, China, have analyzed several mutations in different variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from mammal species that suggest natural selection and host adaptation are occurring in the virus.

6 Apr 2021

Researchers identify a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant (A.VOI.V2) in southern Africa

Scientists recently explored the transmission dynamics of currently circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 in a southern African country. By analyzing the genomic sequences of these variants, they have identified a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant with multiple spike mutations. They have temporarily designated the variant A.VOI.V2.

6 Apr 2021

Can limiting the priming dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine improve immunity?

Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Rochester in the U.S. addressed this question in their study. The researchers also explored whether the vaccines administered across the world could confer sterilizing immunity while preventing severe disease and death.

6 Apr 2021

Is non-severe SARS-CoV-2 infection characterized by early T cell proliferation?

To date, little evidence has been documented regarding the immune responses after the onset of the symptoms or virus detection. Further, no cross-sectional studies have been conducted that define the time of infection. Thereby, no report is available that explains the relationship between the earliest immune responses to COVID-19 and temporal kinetics. New research deals with this research gap using blood transcriptomics, multiparameter flow cytometry, and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing methods.

6 Apr 2021

What Covid means for the athlete’s heart

For sports fans across the country, the resumption of the regular sports calendar has signaled another step toward post-pandemic normality. But for the athletes participating in professional, collegiate, high school or even recreational sports, significant unanswered questions remain about the aftereffects of a Covid infection.

6 Apr 2021

Colleges and universities plan for normal-ish campus life in the fall

Dr. Sarah Van Orman treads carefully around the word "normal" when she describes what the fall 2021 term will look like at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and other colleges nationwide.

6 Apr 2021