Disease/Infection News

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Experts predict 125,000 fewer COVID deaths if 50% of U.S. population initiate vaccination by March 1

A new report combining forecasting and expert prediction data, predicts that 125,000 lives could be saved by the end of 2021 if 50% or more of the U.S. population initiated COVID vaccination by March 1, 2021.

30 Jan 2021

DSMB recommends continuation of Phase 2/3 study of opaganib for severe COVID-19

RedHill Biopharma Ltd., a specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for the global Phase 2/3 study of opaganib in patients with severe COVID-19, unanimously recommended to continue the study following a pre-scheduled futility review of unblinded efficacy data from the first 135 patients treated in the study and safety data from the first 175 patients.

30 Jan 2021

Research identifies and explores the impacts of emergent COVID-19 behavioral identities

New research by Mimi E. Lam (University of Bergen) just published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications identifies and explores the impacts of salient viral or COVID-19 behavioural identities that are emerging.

30 Jan 2021

Researchers examine the connection between lung cancer and COVID-19

On February 27, 2020, the flagship journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, published a case study that described two patients from Wuhan, China who recently underwent lung lobectomies for adenocarcinoma and were retrospectively found to have had COVID-19 at the time of surgery.

30 Jan 2021

Survey: More than a third of Americans either unlikely or unsure to get a COVID-19 vaccine

News reports indicate COVID-19 vaccines are not getting out soon enough nor in adequate supplies to most regions, but there may be a larger underlying problem than shortages. A University of California, Davis, study found that more than a third of people nationwide are either unlikely or at least hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them.

30 Jan 2021

Study shows BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine's ability to neutralize UK viral variant

In a study evaluating the BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine's ability to neutralize the B.1.1.7 ("UK") viral variant, researchers found no loss of immune protection compared to that against the original Wuhan reference strain.

29 Jan 2021

New forecasts show possibility of spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths in the spring

The latest COVID-19 forecasts from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington now incorporate two new virus variants.

29 Jan 2021

County-level sociodemographic risk factors associated with COVID-19 incidence and mortality

In just one year, COVID-19 has killed more than 400,000 Americans, and infected more than 24 million others. But a new study shows just how unevenly those deaths and cases have played out across the country.

29 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

What are the main drivers of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy?

A study conducted in the UK has examined attitudes towards vaccination protecting against COVID-19 and highlighted some of the main drivers of willingness or unwillingness to be immunized.

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

New gene-based vaccine strategy receives grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The AAVCOVID vaccine program, a novel gene-based vaccine strategy that utilizes an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector, was granted an award for up to $2.1 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

29 Jan 2021

Vitamins and other antiviral drugs may help combat COVID-19

Evidence is emerging that vitamin D - and possibly vitamins K and A - might help combat COVID-19. A new study from the University of Bristol published in the journal of the German Chemical Society Angewandte Chemie has shown how they - and other antiviral drugs - might work.

29 Jan 2021

New study explores the impacts of emerging "COVID-19 behavioral identities"

29 Jan 2021

Study finds protective genetic associations with mild COVID-19

Using self-reported survey data, researchers have defined eight phenotypes associated with COVID-19 outcomes. Analysis of the data revealed possible protective genetic associations.

29 Jan 2021

How feasible is at-home antibody testing for COVID-19?

Researchers at King’s College, London, have found that self-administered, at-home antibody testing could be a simple method for virus surveillance on university campuses.

29 Jan 2021

Researchers develop ‘next-generation vaccine platform’ against SARS-CoV-2

Researchers have designed a subunit vaccine based on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein co-administered with CpG (Oligodeoxyribonucleotides) adjuvant.

29 Jan 2021

Researchers uncover traces of malarial adaptation in African people

Malaria is an ancient scourge, but it's still leaving its mark on the human genome. And now, researchers have uncovered recent traces of adaptation to malaria in the DNA of people from Cabo Verde, an island nation off the African coast.

29 Jan 2021

Scientists create new way to detect COVID-19 proteins and antibodies

Scientists have created a new way to detect the proteins that make up the pandemic coronavirus, as well as antibodies against it. They designed protein-based biosensors that glow when mixed with components of the virus or specific COVID-19 antibodies.

29 Jan 2021