Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

T cells induced by common cold coronaviruses play a protective role against COVID-19 infection

A new study, published in Nature Communications and led by Imperial College London researchers, provides the first evidence of a protective role for these T cells.

10 Jan 2022

Black-owned hospice seeks to bring greater ease in dying to Black families

This time, it didn’t take much persuading for Mary Murphy to embrace home hospice. When her mother was dying from Alzheimer’s disease in 2020, she had been reluctant until she saw what a help it was. So when her husband, Willie, neared the end of his life, she embraced hospice again.

10 Jan 2022

New lab-on-a-chip platform for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in resource-limited settings

A recent study shows how a novel and integrated lab-on-a-chip platform can represent a rapid, affordable, and exact molecular diagnostic tool for detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The paper is currently available for free on the medRxiv* preprint server while it undergoes peer review.

9 Jan 2022

Influenza vaccination does not affect risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19

A new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases examined if influenza vaccination altered the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and clinical outcomes of COVID-19. The study included health care workers (HCWs) from Denmark who were offered influenza vaccination.

9 Jan 2022

Comparison of COVID-19 and influenza-associated complications

Researchers compare the number, types, and risk for complications among COVID-19 and influenza patients using claims data.

9 Jan 2022

NEJM article distills available data into a compendium about rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19

A clinical practice article in the New England Journal of Medicine distills available data and clinical experience into a compendium about rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

7 Jan 2022

Novel rehabilitation approach shows promise for recovering upper limb control in stroke patients

It happens that, after lying for a while in a way that puts pressure on a nerve in your arm, you do not feel the arm anymore, you cannot perceive its location and size, and it feels like it does not belong to your own body.

7 Jan 2022

Study shows probiotics can reduce symptoms of COVID-19 when taken post-exposure

A new study shows how a daily use of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) probiotic may protect against symptom development in instances when it is used as post-exposure prophylaxis within seven days after exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

7 Jan 2022

Researchers investigate SARS-CoV-2 specific inflammatory response

New research can confirm that while some of the response from monocytes to SARS-CoV-2 is generic to virus infection, most of it SARS-CoV-2 specific, especially proinflammatory responses.

7 Jan 2022

Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 in children

These findings bear out earlier reports that COVID-19 is less frequent and severe in children than adults.

7 Jan 2022

Researchers isolate Omicron variant, leveling the path to vaccine development and vaccine efficacy studies

Researchers from India have now successfully grown and isolated the Omicron variant from hamsters in vivo with further culturing in the Vero CCL-81 cells in vitro, in a step forward towards testing the effectiveness of existing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and generation of new Omicron appropriate vaccines.

7 Jan 2022

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron less pathogenic in hamsters

A new research paper posted as a preprint to the bioRxiv* server attempts to throw some light on this question by studying viral pathogenicity in golden hamsters, a valuable model for severe COVID-19 due to the development of reproducible weight loss and pneumonia after infection with the virus.

6 Jan 2022

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron belongs to new antigenic cluster compared to all other VOCs

Researchers investigate SARS-CoV-2 antigenic drift by evaluating the neutralizing activity of sera from patients infected with all five SARS-CoV-2 VOCs.

6 Jan 2022

COVID-19 vaccines effective at varying intensities of SARS-CoV-2 exposure

Researchers investigate the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in individuals at high risk due to their proximity with infected individuals.

6 Jan 2022

Research uncovers how a mouse brain understands sensory information

The brain is the most complex organ in our body – constantly absorbing and interpreting our surroundings, and guiding our movement, thoughts, behaviors and emotions.

6 Jan 2022

PLOS and CSHL expand partnership to offer new options for sharing preprints in medicine

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today announced an expansion of their longstanding partnership to offer authors more options for rapidly and easily sharing their research before publication in a journal.

6 Jan 2022

Emotional response can fuel the spread of "fake news"

From Facebook feeds to questionable websites, so-called "fake news" is seemingly everywhere. When it comes to the misleading information, our emotional response to seeing it can actually further its spread, according to a Bowling Green State University researcher.

6 Jan 2022

New method to estimate how individual mutations affect transmission of SARS-CoV-2

A new study, posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, constructs an analytical SIR-based epidemiological model to analyze the effects of mutations on SARS-CoV-2 transmission from genomic surveillance data.

5 Jan 2022

Distrust in state power closely linked vaccine hesitancy

Distrust of the state in Turkey, religion and abortion resistance in the United States. Politics and culture are just as important in explaining vaccine hesitancy as health.

5 Jan 2022

Impact of delaying the lifting of SARS-CoV-2 lockdown restrictions

New study findings provided critical insights into competitive behavior and the relative transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 variants, which could be used for planning responses to future emerging variants and exploring co-infections with different strains of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus.

5 Jan 2022