Respiratory Illness News and Research

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SARS-CoV-2 enters the CNS via multiple routes and causes various neurological disorders

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions of deaths across the globe. The causative agent of this disease is the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

3 Dec 2020

SARS-CoV-2 versus Zika: Comparing and contrasting the flow of research

An interesting study published on the preprint server medRxiv in November 2020, dealing not with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the publications that have appeared as a consequence of the outbreak, comparing them with the similar trove of publications that followed the Zika virus outbreak in 2016.

25 Nov 2020

FDA expands approved indication for influenza treatment to include post-exposure prevention

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the approved indication for Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil) to include post-exposure prevention of influenza (flu) for patients 12 years of age and older after contact with an individual who has the flu.

23 Nov 2020

How COVID-19 compares to other respiratory illnesses

A team of scientists from Israel and the United States has compared the disease presentation and progression between in-hospital patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other respiratory illnesses such as influenza.

23 Nov 2020

Parents complain that pediatricians, wary of COVID, shift sick kids to urgent care

A mom of eight boys, Kim Gudgeon was at her wits' end when she called her family doctor in suburban Chicago to schedule a sick visit for increasingly fussy, 1-year-old Bryce.

23 Nov 2020

Researchers develop survey to understand factors that influence vaping

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, information about the dangers of vaping was emerging. To investigate the potentially serious health and respiratory implications of vaping, Mayo Clinic researchers wanted to better understand the factors influencing vaping in the community.

23 Nov 2020

Diabetes and hypertension may increase the risk of COVID-19 brain complications

New data has revealed those with type 2 diabetes and hypertension are at an increased risk of neurological complications following infection with COVID-19.

18 Nov 2020

Nearly 1 in 5 COVID-19 survivors develop mental illness within 90 days

A new study has found that people who have COVID-19 may have an increased risk of being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, including anxiety and depression, within 90 days after diagnosis.

10 Nov 2020

Severe COVID-19 linked to age, body mass index and ABO blood group

With the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infecting over 50 million people worldwide with hundreds of thousands experiencing severe respiratory illness, researchers have been trying to find the factors associated with severe disease. From the start of the pandemic in March this year, several studies have indicated heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, etc. could be linked to severe disease. Now German researchers have published a study on the association between severe respiratory infection caused by SARS CoV-2 and factors such as age, body mass index (BMI) and ABO blood group.

10 Nov 2020

Exosome-mediated mRNA delivery generates broad immune response to multiple SARS-CoV-2 proteins

Recently, researchers from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, and Capricor Therapeutics, Inc., Beverly Hills, CA, USA, described a new approach to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development using exosomes to deliver mRNAs that encode the antigens from multiple structural proteins of the virus.

9 Nov 2020

Study shows SARS-CoV-2 direct heart muscle cell infection, cell death, loss of contractility

In the study, published on the pre-print journal bioRxiv, the researchers revealed that SARS-CoV-2-infected EHTs manifested the typical characteristics of myocarditis or heart inflammation. These include the stimulation of immune cells, heart cell death, and decreased contractile force generation.

8 Nov 2020

COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths skew towards older males of non-European ancestry

A team of researchers recently investigated the genetic determinants of COVID-19 risk and severity in humans.

6 Nov 2020

Persistent and extensive lung damage seen in COVID-19 patients

A team of researchers at the University of Trieste in Italy aimed to determine the extent and the causes of lung damage from COVID-19 to better understand the pathological correlates of the disease.

5 Nov 2020

Lions and tigers and anteaters? US scientists scan the menagerie for COVID

As COVID-19 cases surge in the U.S., one Texas veterinarian has been quietly tracking the spread of the disease — not in people, but in their pets.

4 Nov 2020

COVID-19 study: Researchers recruit frontline workers to identify asymptomatic individuals

Fifteen hundred frontline workers are being recruited for a yearlong study to find what percentage are positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, what percentage become positive and whether the antibodies they produce protect them from reinfection.

30 Oct 2020

DNase coated melanin-like nanospheres for sepsis treatment in severe COVID

As the treatment of severe COVID-19 is very difficult, the researchers from the Korea Research Institute of Biosciences and Biotechnology (KRIBB) suggested that DNase-1 can be utilized to dissolve the neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), hence halting the further progression of COVID-19.

27 Oct 2020

Study examines the long-term health effects of vaping, e-cigarettes on children

Adolescent use of e-cigarettes and vaping products is at epidemic proportions, yet the adverse health effects are understudied, with almost no data on younger patients.

27 Oct 2020

New tool predicts prognosis of individual patients with COVID-19

A new artificial intelligence-based score considers multiple factors to predict the prognosis of individual patients with COVID-19 seen at urgent care clinics or emergency departments.

27 Oct 2020

"Immunological imprinting" could influence antibody response to COVID-19

Researchers in the United States and Spain have shown that prior exposure to seasonal coronaviruses may influence antibody responses to infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

21 Oct 2020

Serious ongoing symptoms in COVID-19 survivors

Although predominantly a respiratory illness, emerging data suggests that multi-organ injury is common, particularly in moderate to severe infections. A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in October 2020 describes the illness's sequelae in the months after recovery.

20 Oct 2020