Respiratory Tract Infections News and Research

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Research finds highest COVID-19 death rates in Los Angeles County neighborhoods with poor air quality

A research project led by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has found that Los Angeles County neighborhoods with poor air quality had the highest death rates from the pandemic.

15 Apr 2021

COVID-19 infection linked to neurological and mental health conditions

One in three COVID-19 survivors received a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis within six months of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, an observational study of more than 230,000 patient health records published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal estimates. The study looked at 14 neurological and mental health disorders.

7 Apr 2021

The GovLab, AFD and Expertise France select 7 projects to address COVID-19 challenges in Africa

Out of a field of over 80 proposals by organizations in Africa -- many working in collaboration -- The Governance Lab (GovLab) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, L'Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), and Expertise France chose seven projects to receive the #Data4COVID19 Africa Challenge.

7 Apr 2021

FDA authorizes marketing of first SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test using De Novo premarket review pathway

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted marketing authorization of the BioFire Respiratory Panel 2.1 (RP2.1), a diagnostic test for the simultaneous qualitative detection and identification of multiple respiratory viral and bacterial nucleic acids in nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) obtained from individuals suspected of COVID-19 and other respiratory tract infections.

17 Mar 2021

Higher levels of airborne pollen increase SARS-CoV-2 infection rates

When airborne pollen levels are higher, increased SARS-CoV-2 infection rates can be observed. These results were determined by a large-scale study conducted by an international team headed by researchers at the Technical University of Munich and the Helmholtz Zentrum München.

9 Mar 2021

Combining terpenes and cannabidiol may be highly active against human coronaviruses

A group of researchers from a well-known technology company in Israel showed a significant antiviral effect of a combination of terpenes and cannabidiol against a human coronavirus strain 229E. This exciting and first-of-its-kind report is currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

4 Mar 2021

FDA approval provides targeted treatment option for patients with rare DMD mutation

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval for Amondys 45 (casimersen) injection for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in patients who have a confirmed mutation of the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 45 skipping (Exons are pieces of DNA that provide information for making proteins in a person's genome).

25 Feb 2021

Tuberculosis vaccine could protect newborns against common infections

The tuberculosis (TB) vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) could protect newborns against a variety of common infections, such as upper respiratory tract infections, chest infections and diarrhoea, according to a new study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

18 Feb 2021

Study examines the causes behind antibiotic overuse

The overuse of antibiotics occurs due to the mistaken widespread belief that they are beneficial for a broad array of conditions and because many physicians are willing to prescribe antibiotics if patients ask for the medication, according to a Rutgers study.

27 Jan 2021

Diabetes and glucose levels tied to increased risk of COVID-19 death

Researchers at Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China, found that diabetes and on-admission glucose levels may increase the risk of COVID-19 mortality.

26 Jan 2021

Could Vitamin D be an effective adjuvant to help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic?

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the globe, there is a dire need for effective and safe therapeutics and vaccines. Overall, the pandemic has infected more than 90.87 million people and taken more 1.94 million lives.

12 Jan 2021

Scientists provide insight on how lung bacteria protect against invading pathogens

New insight on how bacteria in the lungs protect against invading pathogens has been published today in the open-access eLife journal.

8 Dec 2020

Researchers address variability of disease severity in respiratory tract infections

Is it possible to predict the course of a viral respiratory tract infection - for instance one caused by a coronavirus - based on individual patient characteristics? This question will be addressed by Dr. Victor Corman and his junior research group at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

8 Dec 2020

New combination therapy may help fight antimicrobial resistance

An inexpensive, FDA-approved drug -- cholestyramine -- taken in conjunction with an antibiotic prevents the antibiotic from driving antimicrobial resistance, according to new research by scientists at Penn State and the University of Michigan. The team's findings appear today (Dec. 1) in the journal eLife.

2 Dec 2020

BCG vaccination appears to trigger cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response

Recently, researchers from the Monash University and Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia, investigated whether peptide sensitization using BCG can produce cross-reactive T cells specific to SARS-CoV-2. Their study is published on the preprint server, medRxiv.

24 Nov 2020

Pomegranate peel extract shows potential as inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 virus

Researchers led by first author Relja Suručić from the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, have studied the use of pomegranate peel extracts in preventing infections with SARS-CoV-2.

22 Nov 2020

How SARS-CoV-2 blocks immune response

An international research team has confirmed the mechanism by which the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Their article titled, “SARS-CoV-2 Orf6 hijacks Nup98 to block STAT nuclear import and antagonize interferon signaling,” is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

11 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.