Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Examining the role of endocrine system and hormones in COVID-19 infection

The evidence for hormone involvement in COVID-19 infection and treatment will be evaluated and discussed by endocrine experts in a dedicated COVID-19 session at e-ECE 2020.

3 Sep 2020

New biocontainment unit could help healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients

The U.S. Army partnered with the University of Pittsburg Medical Center to create a biocontainment unit that could help healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

3 Sep 2020

COVID-19 vaccine candidate protects animals against SARS-CoV-2

Most people with COVID-19 have relatively mild disease, but a subset of people develop severe pneumonia and respiratory failure, potentially leading to death.

3 Sep 2020

UChicago Medicine launches clinical trial to test the potential of antibody against SARS-CoV-2

The University of Chicago Medicine is launching a clinical trial to examine the potential of an antibody against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein for treating COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

3 Sep 2020

Study shows what happens in the fetal brain affected by congenital Zika syndrome

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause severe abnormalities in the fetus, including malformations such as microcephaly.

3 Sep 2020

Obesity may cause irregular immune responses to COVID-19

Obesity may cause a hyperactive immune system response to COVID-19 infection that makes it difficult to fight off the virus, according to a new manuscript published in the Endocrine Society's journal, Endocrinology.

3 Sep 2020

Nasal sprays are a known remedy for preventing opioid overdose deaths

Between 250 and 270 people die each year from heroin or opioid overdoses in Norway. In the EU, thousands die. European users now have a better option available for helping each other.

3 Sep 2020

Dozens of U.S. hospitals poised to defy FDA’s directive on COVID plasma

Dozens of major hospitals across the U.S. are grappling with whether to ignore a federal decision allowing broader emergency use of blood plasma from recovered COVID patients to treat the disease in favor of dedicating their resources to a gold-standard clinical trial that could help settle the science for good.

3 Sep 2020

New grant supports research into diabetic kidney disease and COVID-19

Mater and University of Queensland Researcher Dr Mitchell Sullivan has been awarded a 2020 Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship from the Queensland Government to fund his research into diabetic kidney disease and COVID-19.

3 Sep 2020

Protocols for minimizing risk in COVID-19 bronchoscopy

One area, discussed in a recent paper by Northwestern University researchers and published on the preprint server medRxiv* in August 2020, is the viral exposure suffered by healthcare workers during bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).

3 Sep 2020

UC San Diego participates in second, massive clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine

UC San Diego Health will be part of a second, massive clinical trial to assess the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of a vaccine designed to protect against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

2 Sep 2020

Combined point-of-care nucleic acid and antibody testing increases COVID-19 detection

A Cambridge hospital has piloted the use of combined rapid point-of-care nucleic acid and antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection after researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that this approach was superior to virus detection alone for diagnosing COVID-19 disease.

2 Sep 2020

NIH provides scale-up and manufacturing support for new COVID-19 testing technologies

The National Institutes of Health today announced $129.3 million in scale-up and manufacturing support for a new set of COVID-19 testing technologies as part of its Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative.

2 Sep 2020

Existing drug masitinib identified as potential inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in the United States have demonstrated that a drug originally developed as a treatment for cancer exhibits antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

2 Sep 2020

Health officials worry nation is not ready for COVID-19 vaccine

Millions of Americans are counting on a COVID-19 vaccine to curb the global pandemic and return life to normal.

2 Sep 2020

When the pandemic closes your gym, ‘come for the party, stay for the workout’

Evaristo "Risto" Grant counted down from 10 as his clients held their plank positions and shook with the effort. Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" blared in the background. Grant paced around his clients on their yoga mats, shouting words of encouragement.

2 Sep 2020

Novel technique to detect the fungus responsible for causing severe pneumonia

Research staff of the University of Valencia and the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community, among other institutions, have developed a very sensitive and fast in-vitro method for the diagnosis of infection by Pneumocystis jirovecii, a fungus that causes severe pneumonia.

2 Sep 2020

Exponential rise in COVID-19 hospitalization risk with age due to waning T cell immunity

The age-related increase in the risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19 mirrors earlier patterns seen with infections. Such trends may help understand the mechanisms underlying the clinical feature. A recent study published in the preprint server medRxiv* in August 2020 shows the effect of age and sex on COVID-19 hospitalization rates in the USA and helps understand how immune function is involved in this pandemic.

2 Sep 2020

A global vaccine is sufficient to combat COVID-19 infection, indicates study

Genetic analysis of sequences from more than 27,000 individuals infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 reveals that the virus has mutated minimally since December 2019, suggesting one vaccine would be sufficient to combat global infections.

2 Sep 2020

High-pressure preconcentration devices for detecting small amounts of virus in early infections

Diagnostic devices that are used at home or in doctors' offices are often not sensitive enough to detect small amounts of a virus that might be present in samples from asymptomatic patients, which can occur in early stage COVID-19.

1 Sep 2020