Disease/Infection News

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Mental health of 41% of people in the UK is at risk, study reveals

An international study, led by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain) spin-off Open Evidence, has revealed that the mental health of 41% of the UK population is at risk as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

15 May 2020

IOB director wins Greenberg Prize for ending blindness by 2020

Professor Botond Roska, Director at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) and Professor at the University of Basel, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Science, has won the Sanford and Susan Greenberg Visionary Prize "for uniquely valuable research having the greatest impact toward advancing restoration of vision in human patients."

15 May 2020

Bactiguard donates money to facilitate COVID-19 research

To contribute to the research on COVID-19, Bactiguard donates SEK 120,000 to Karolinska Institutet (KI) at Danderyd Hospital.

15 May 2020

Community knowledge about antibiotics key to fighting against 'superbug' threat

With predictions that drug-resistant ‘superbugs’ could cause up to 10 million deaths a year by 2050, a new CSIRO survey has revealed a low level of community knowledge about antibiotics.

15 May 2020

Importance of detecting neutralizing antibody response in recovered COVID-19 patients

In an article published today in Cell Host and Microbe, Professor Kanta Subbarao stressed the importance of detecting a neutralizing antibody response in recovered COVID-19 patients, and of studies of COVID-19 vaccines in animal models.

15 May 2020

Viral shedding among pre-symptomatic COVID-19 patients finds study

Researchers from Bangalore, India, have found that 68 percent of pre-symptomatic patients with COVID-19 may be shedding the virus and potentially infecting others. Their study titled, “Quantitative COVID-19 infectiousness estimate correlating with viral shedding and culturability suggests 68% pre-symptomatic transmissions,” was published on the open-access preprint server Medrxiv.

15 May 2020

GlobalData: U.S. should provide citizens with lifesaving tools to reduce COVID-19 second wave

Following the news that the US Senate is considering the ‘Opening Up America Again’ act;

15 May 2020

Viral shedding seen in plasma donors who have recovered from COVID-19

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that plasma donors who have recovered from the deadly COVID-19 infection were still shedding viral RNA. This could be significant they write in their article titled, “Prolonged viral RNA shedding after COVID-19 symptom resolution in older convalescent plasma donors,” that is published on the preprint server Medrxiv* prior to peer review.

15 May 2020

BGU researcher develops one-minute COVID-19 breath test

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Prof. Gabby Sarusi has developed and is now validating a test that identifies carriers of the COVID-19 virus in less than a minute with greater than 90% accuracy and at a dramatically lower price than any other method available.

15 May 2020

Malaria's characteristic cycle of fever and chills is a result of parasite's own influence

Scientists from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research joined partners at Duke University, Florida Atlantic University and Montana State University to publish a study providing clear evidence that malaria's characteristic cycle of fever and chills is a result of the parasite's own influence--not factors from the host.

15 May 2020

A road map to find unanswered questions about COVID-19

There are many unanswered questions about COVID-19. A Kansas State University infectious disease scientist and collaborators are offering a possible research road map to find the answers.

15 May 2020

TUM researchers develop innovative x-ray method for lung diagnostics

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich have developed an innovative x-ray method for lung diagnostics, which they now plan to test in one of its first applications for diagnosis of the respiratory ailment COVID-19 caused by Coronavirus.

15 May 2020

Genome-based monitoring of multi-resistant pathogen can help improve infection control

S. maltophilia strains occur in several natural and human associated ecosystems. The bacterium was long regarded as relatively unproblematic but is now considered to be one of the most feared hospital pathogens, as it frequently causes infections and is resistant to a number of antibiotics.

15 May 2020

Antiviral agent accelerates virus clearance in cases of COVID-19

A team of researchers from have found an antiviral therapy that seems to be an effective treatment for patients with moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

15 May 2020

Does vitamin D deficiency increase COVID-19 risk?

A new paper published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 reports the first evidence that vitamin D deficiency and inadequate treatment could increase the chances of testing positive for COVID-19. This could shape the way for screening individuals at risk for vitamin D deficiency.

14 May 2020

Pandemic situation in India: Too early to predict outcomes

A new paper published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 suggests that India could be facing the end of a relatively mild outbreak of COVID-19 compared with many other countries.

14 May 2020

COVID-19 and food insecurity in the U.S.

A new paper published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 reports that the measures taken to block the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) such as social distancing and lockdown are associated with widespread effects on food security in the US state of Vermont.

14 May 2020

SARS-CoV-2 will infect 250 million people in Africa

A study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that the coronavirus will infect almost one-quarter of a billion people in Africa during the first year of the pandemic. Unless immediate measures are taken to control the spread of the virus, as many as 190,000 of them are likely to die, the researchers warn.

14 May 2020

New insights into SARS-CoV-2 viral diversity

The first comprehensive, large-scale analysis available on the preprint server bioRxiv attempted to identify specific genomic signatures of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains within and across individual hosts – revealing recombination events, specific geographic profiles, as well as multi-strain and/or superinfections characteristic for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

14 May 2020

Continuously active antiviral coating may reduce the spread of COVID-19

Surfaces coated with a quaternary ammonium polymer have remarkable antiviral properties. They may even be capable of reducing the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in areas with high risk for contamination, such as indoor environments or public places. University of Arizona researchers explain the antiviral potential of these in a new study published on the preprint server medRxiv.

14 May 2020