Severe Acute Respiratory News and Research

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By July of 2020, 16.8 million people in the US infected with SARS-CoV-2 and didn’t know it

A seroprevalence study of nearly 10,000 people in the United States in the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests there were at least five people with undiagnosed disease for every case diagnosed.

1 Feb 2021

New platform using green algae tests for SARS-CoV-2 virus

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have demonstrated the potential of using green algae to make recombinant viral proteins that could be used in large scale assays to detect antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) - the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

1 Feb 2021

Granulocyte changes could help predict patient outcomes in COVID-19

Researchers in Sweden have provided a comprehensive characterization of circulating granulocytes in people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

1 Feb 2021

Researchers explore rapid outbreak of COVID-19 in U.S. detention facility

To assess the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a detention facility experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted testing for detained individuals in six quarantined dormitories at various time points.

1 Feb 2021

Researchers in Japan compare two seroprevalence antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2

Researchers have shown that using reliable antibody tests in conjunction is an effective way to estimate seroprevalence in low prevalence settings.

1 Feb 2021

CDC examines COVID-19 outbreak among U.S. office workers: a case study in transmission

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the U.S. found that despite mitigation efforts, two COVID-19 outbreaks emerged among office workers in Washington, DC.

1 Feb 2021

Can metformin reduce mortality in diabetic individuals with severe COVID-19?

A new study by researchers in China and the U.S. describes a round-up of the effects of commonly used hypoglycemic drugs on the outcomes of COVID-19 in diabetic patients.

1 Feb 2021

New platform for detecting and monitoring SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses

Researchers in the U.S. have released a new study that describes a powerful but inexpensive tool designed to detect and monitor specific antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 over time.

1 Feb 2021

Routine vaccinations in India disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic

A team of researchers studied the disruptions in the vaccinations across India during the current pandemic.

1 Feb 2021

Inhaled single dose vaccine creates antibodies and prevents infection in rhesus macaques

Now, a new preprint research paper describes a chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine that, when administered intranasally in rhesus macaques, led to a robust immune response and demonstrated protection against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19, namely, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The preprint is published on the bioRxiv server.

1 Feb 2021

India's Covaxin vaccine likely effective against UK SARS-CoV-2 variant: Study

A new preprint research paper, posted to the preprint server bioRxiv, presents data indicating that the Indian-made Covaxin vaccine candidate successfully neutralizes this variant, preventing infection when challenged by it.

1 Feb 2021

Complication of severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia results in persistent cortical blindness: Case report

A study recently published in the journal Cureus has described a case report of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient who presented with pneumonia, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES), and persistent cortical blindness. A detailed clinical presentation of the patient is provided in the report.

31 Jan 2021

E484K mutation is potentially associated with SARS-CoV-2 adaptive fitness

A team of Brazilian scientists has recently conducted genomic and phylogenetic analyses of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome to understand the viral evolution process better. Their analyses reveal that the E484K mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2 is present in three different lineages in four Brazilian regions and that the mutation may serve as a common solution for viral evolution.

31 Jan 2021

Lung mechanics and hypoxemia in COVID-19 patients with ARDS

To better understand how low blood oxygen level, or hypoxemia, and lung compliance varies in COVIDARDS and how they relate to disease outcomes, researchers developed a dataset of using more than 11,000 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital. A research paper published on the medRxiv* preprint server reports their results.

31 Jan 2021

SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells are key players in decreasing COVID-19 mortality

A recent US study, currently available on medRxiv preprint server, supports a beneficial rather than immunopathologic role for effector T-cells during serious infections with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) –

31 Jan 2021

Synergistic effect between NF-κB inhibitors and zinc in vitro reducing ACE2 expression

Researchers at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei have conducted a study demonstrating the potential effectiveness of a novel drug combination at reducing morbidity and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

31 Jan 2021

Crystal structures of nanobodies could aid the design of COVID-19 therapies

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, have shown how certain synthetic nanobodies bind to the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – a development that could help inform the design of therapies.

31 Jan 2021

Researchers explore adaptive immunity against human coronaviruses

A recent study shows that long-term adaptive immunity to endemic coronaviruses is widespread, but low in magnitude, and that it shares phenotypic features of spike-specific antibodies and T cell memory across all tested coronaviruses.

29 Jan 2021

U.S. public divided over COVID-19 “immunity passports” idea

A nationally representative survey conducted in the U.S. suggests that the public is fairly evenly divided in its support of immunity certificates or “passports” to enable the selective lifting of restrictions placed on people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

29 Jan 2021

What are the natural origins of SARS-CoV-2?

Researchers from the UK and China performed a comprehensive analysis of horseshoe bat and pangolin Sarbecoviruses to shed light on the origins of SARS-CoV-2.

29 Jan 2021