Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Scientists map how SARS-CoV-2 infects the airways

Now, in a significant scientific study, a team of researchers at the University of North Carolina Health Care (UNC) have mapped how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), infects the nasal cavity, the airways, and down to the lungs.

3 Jun 2020

Bacteria that live in soil and on people have extensive antibiotic-destroying genes

The latest generation of tetracyclines - a class of powerful, first-line antibiotics - was designed to thwart the two most common ways bacteria resist such drugs.

3 Jun 2020

Is it safe for SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers to breastfeed?

Even as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus continues to cause thousands of cases every day, with many deaths, life continues to move on regardless. Births occur as usual, and in many countries, mothers prefer to breastfeed their babies, at least for the first few months of life.

2 Jun 2020

Study looks at delirium in critically ill COVID-19 patients

A new study published on the online preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 reports on the high incidence of delirium in COVID-19 patients in intensive care. This highlights the urgent need to predict, prevent, and manage delirium and to cut it short in patients with COVID-19.

2 Jun 2020

A vectored vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2

The current pandemic of COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a betacoronavirus similar to that which caused the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV earlier. Scientists are pursuing therapeutic drugs and vaccines to counter the relentless spread of the virus, but so far, none has been established to be effective. However, several are in clinical trials in various parts of the world.

2 Jun 2020

Cats resistant to SARS-CoV-2 reinfection

Researchers at Colorado State University have made important discoveries about domestic cats infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that could address concerns about human-to-animal transmission and the role domestic pets might play in spreading the virus.

2 Jun 2020

Study reveals how a fat cell's immune response worsens obesity

When obesity occurs, a person's own fat cells can set off a complex inflammatory chain reaction that can further disrupt metabolism and weaken immune response--potentially placing people at higher risk of poor outcomes from a variety of diseases and infections, including COVID-19.

2 Jun 2020

Police using rubber bullets on protesters that can kill, blind or maim for life

In cities across the country, police departments have attempted to quell unrest spurred by the death of George Floyd by firing rubber bullets into crowds, even though five decades of evidence shows such weapons can disable, disfigure and even kill.

2 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infected patients who undergo surgery experience worse postoperative outcomes

Patients undergoing surgery after contracting coronavirus are at greatly increased risk of postoperative death, a new global study published in The Lancet reveals.

2 Jun 2020

SFU and Providence Health Care collaborate on AI tool to aid quicker COVID-19 diagnosis

Simon Fraser University researchers and Providence Health Care are collaborating on a new artificial intelligence tool that will help diagnose COVID-19 quicker.

2 Jun 2020

Approach used against influenza epidemics could benefit COVID-19 drug development

A new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has found that some antivirals are useful for more than helping sick people get better -- they also can prevent thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of virus cases if used in the early stages of infection.

2 Jun 2020

Preliminary report of Favipiravir Observational Study in Japan released

Favipiravir Observational Study Group (principal investigator: Dr. Yohei Doi, Fujita Health University) released a preliminary report of the Favipiravir Observational Study in Japan on the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases website.

2 Jun 2020

Could the next pandemic be 100 times worse than COVID-19?

As the world tries to cope with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Dr. Michael Herschel Greger has claimed that worse could be yet to come. The American nutrition expert has claimed in his latest book that the next pandemic could be due to virus emanating from poultry farms.

2 Jun 2020

Terahertz radiation may offer a potential treatment for cancer

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics and collaborators have discovered that terahertz radiation, contradicting conventional belief, can disrupt proteins in living cells without killing the cells.

2 Jun 2020

Researchers identify genetic codes of COVID-19 and SARS viruses that may promote their lifecycles

Researchers have identified specific portions of the genetic codes of the COVID-19 and SARS viruses that may promote the viruses' lifecycles. The new technique is researchers' first tool for determining what genetic sequences stored as RNA - DNA's chemical cousin - are more stable.

2 Jun 2020

Ciheb awarded $4 million to support COVID-19 response activities

The Center for International Health, Education and Biosecurity at the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute of Human Virology was awarded $4 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response activities in Botswana, Nigeria, Malawi, and Mozambique.

2 Jun 2020

At-home finger prick COVID-19 antibody testing

The best way to estimate the actual prevalence of COVID-19 in the population is by antibody testing. A new study by scientists at Enable Biosciences and published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 reports the development of fast and sensitive antibody testing kits designed for at-home use. This could significantly boost the measurement of population prevalence of this infection and help understand whether it confers immunity to reinfection.

2 Jun 2020