Disease/Infection News

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'Mini-brains' can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus

A multidisciplinary team from two Johns Hopkins University institutions, including neurotoxicologists and virologists from the Bloomberg School of Public Health and infectious disease specialists from the school of medicine, has found that organoids (tiny tissue cultures made from human cells that simulate whole organs) known as "mini-brains" can be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

30 Jun 2020

Potential new biomarker could improve COVID-19 diagnosis

Researchers at Montpellier University Hospital have discovered that an interferon-inducible receptor expressed on monocytes could be a useful biomarker for the rapid triaging of patients suspected to have severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

30 Jun 2020

Ghana's efforts to eliminate malaria at risk as economy improves

Ghana's efforts to eliminate malaria could be in jeopardy as its improved economy results in reduced external funding for fighting malaria, a study suggests.

30 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 can infect heart cells in a lab dish, study shows

A new study shows that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus), can infect heart cells in a lab dish, indicating it may be possible for heart cells in COVID-19 patients to be directly infected by the virus.

30 Jun 2020

COVID-19 patients' blood can help identify people at greatest risk of severe illness

Doctors can examine COVID-19 patients' blood to identify those at greatest risk of severe illness and to pinpoint those most likely to need a ventilator, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggests.

30 Jun 2020

Foldable tent-like device shields healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has invented a foldable tent-like device that serves as a physical shield to reduce the risk of exposure to pathogens for healthcare workers performing droplet and aerosol-generating procedures on COVID-19 patients.

30 Jun 2020

COVID-19 triggers changes in blood platelets

Changes in blood platelets triggered by COVID-19 could contribute to the onset of heart attacks, strokes, and other serious complications in some patients who have the disease, according to University of Utah Health scientists.

30 Jun 2020

Residents of some cities unwilling to follow practices that reduce COVID-19 spread

Several U.S. cities may be at increased risk of surges in COVID-19 cases as they reopen their economies because their residents are unwilling to follow practices that reduce the spread of the disease, according to Penn State researchers.

30 Jun 2020

New web-based platform established for reporting vaccine target recommendations for COVID-19

As genetic sequences of SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the novel pneumonia (COVID-19), are similar to those of the 2003 SARS virus, SARS-CoV, knowledge and data of SARS-CoV may be useful for finding ways to combat COVID-19.

30 Jun 2020

Workers filed more than 4,100 complaints about protective gear. Some still died.

COVID-19 cases were climbing at Michigan's McLaren Flint hospital. So Roger Liddell, 64, who procured supplies for the hospital, asked for an N95 respirator for his own protection, since his work brought him into the same room as COVID-positive patients.

30 Jun 2020

Countries form clusters as COVID-19 outbreaks become more similar

Mathematicians based in Australia and China have developed a method to analyze the large amount of data accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

30 Jun 2020

Essential worker shoulders $1,840 pandemic debt due to COVID cost loophole

Carmen Quintero works an early shift as a supervisor at a 3M distribution warehouse that ships N95 masks to a nation under siege from the coronavirus. On March 23, she had developed a severe cough, and her voice, usually quick and enthusiastic, was barely a whisper.

30 Jun 2020

Rutgers researchers describe characteristics, treatments and outcomes of MIS-C

Parents and clinicians need to be aware in looking for symptoms of multiple inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in children who have been diagnosed or exposed to COVID-19, according to two Rutgers researchers who were among the leaders of the first nationwide study of the disease, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Jun 2020

COVID-19 study in Italian town reveals the importance of asymptomatic cases

A study of COVID-19 in the quarantined Italian town of Vò, where most of the population was tested, reveals the importance of asymptomatic cases.

30 Jun 2020

Salk Institute expands research to find treatments and cures for COVID-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the globe, the Salk Institute joins in efforts to understand the fundamental science behind the novel coronavirus to pave the way to treatments and cures.

30 Jun 2020

Newly identified molecules can help develop COVID-19 therapeutics

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing the global COVID-19 pandemic, uses a protein called polymerase to replicate its genome inside infected human cells.

30 Jun 2020

Spike protein and human ACE2 binding ability shows SARS-CoV-2 viral adaptation

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in June 2020 reports some important findings that could shed light on this question. As the pandemic marches on, having claimed over 500,000 lives and caused well over 10 million infections to date, the task of defining and predicting factors that predispose to infectivity across species becomes ever more critical.

30 Jun 2020

Study shows how the brain's auditory system is affected by HIV

Even with effective antiretroviral therapy, patients infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) sustain central nervous system damage.

30 Jun 2020

HPV vaccine policies may lead to higher vaccination rates, reduce cancer rates

A UCLA-led study has found that in 2 of 3 states and jurisdictions with policies that require students entering school to receive the human papillomavirus vaccine, vaccination rates among 13-to-17-year-olds were significantly higher than in surrounding states without such policies.

30 Jun 2020

Researchers search for SARS-CoV-2 fomites on an operational Italian bus

A new study reports the results of a viral detection study carried out in buses used for public transport across the final week of lockdown, as travel restrictions were being lifted step by step. This study by Italian researchers and published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in June 2020, may help to understand how a virus can spread within a city bus during normal operation and how effective are the measures used to protect against such transmission.

30 Jun 2020