Pneumonia News and Research

Latest Pneumonia News and Research

Air pollution associated with greater virulence of COVID-19

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in April 2020 provides convincing evidence that air pollution contributes to greater severity of COVID-19. The researchers say, “This suggests the detrimental impact climate change will have on the trajectory of future respiratory epidemics.”

6 May 2020

Low CD8 and NK cell counts in the lung linked to high SARS-CoV-2 ACE2 receptor levels

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in April 2020 reports that low levels of specific immune cells, namely, CD8 T cells and NK cells, are linked to higher expression of the ACE2 molecule, which acts as a receptor for the CoV.

6 May 2020

How do betacoronaviruses evolve?

Researchers have worked on the evolution of the pathogenic strains of the betacoronaviruses including the SARS CoV-2 that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

6 May 2020

First French COVID-19 case was in December 19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), formerly known as the novel coronavirus infection, was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan City in China. Many health experts believe that the virus had spread way before it was identified as the culprit for many pneumonia-like diseases. Now, a French doctor says that the coronavirus reached France back in December when it admitted a pneumonia patient into hospital.

5 May 2020

Hydroxychloroquine shown to slow recovery for COVID-19 patients

As researchers try to piece together a therapeutic strategy against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a recent retrospective study from Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, assessed the Hydroxychloroquine's efficacy in increasing SARS-CoV-2 viral clearance, finding that it appeared to significantly slow viral clearance in mild to moderately ill COVID-19 patients.

5 May 2020

Human endemic coronavirus reinfection possible after recovery

The novel coronavirus started spreading in December 2019, and since then, it has rippled across the globe, affecting 187 countries and territories, and infecting more than 3.18 million people. However, the behavior and mechanism of the virus, including whether it provides adaptive immunity, is still unclear. There have been reports of reinfection out of South Korea and Japan

4 May 2020

Artificial intelligence model can distinguish between pneumonia and COVID-19 from chest x-rays

A research team from Valencia's Polytechnic University, from the CVBLab, has developed a predictive artificial intelligence model that can tell the difference between healthy patients, those who are ill with pneumonia and those who have COVID-19, from chest x-rays.

4 May 2020

Meditation combined with aerobic exercise reduces stress in medical students

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School student Paul Lavadera expected his career would put him on the front lines of dealing with medical emergencies.

4 May 2020

UC San Diego receives $55 NIH grant to advance clinical and translational research

The Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute at University of California San Diego has received a five-year, $54.7 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science, part of the National Institutes of Health.

4 May 2020

COVID-plagued California nursing homes often had problems in past

When Jorge Newbery finally got through to his 95-year-old mother, Jennifer, on a video call April 18, she could barely talk or move and her eyes couldn't focus.

4 May 2020

Study reveals variable sites in novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

Understanding the varying aggressiveness of SARS-CoV-2 may provide valuable data to trace its spread across populations. In the study, published on the preprint server BioRxiv, the researchers traced amino acid variants that possess high frequency in Europe, particularly in Italy, one of the hardest-hit countries.

4 May 2020

FDA approves SFU professor's invention to wean COVID-19 patients from ventilators

Simon Fraser University professor Andy Hoffer hopes the SFU spinoff company he founded, Lungpacer Medical Inc., will help save the lives of COVID-19 patients using mechanical ventilators--and get them off more quickly, so that more ventilators can be available for all critically ill patients.

4 May 2020

Hydroxychloroquine combined with azithromycin and abnormal heart rhythms in COVID-19 patients

A new study shows that the initially lauded combination of drugs against COVID-19 - Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine combined with azithromycin, could lead to abnormal and life-threatening heart rhythms. In patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus infection or SARS CoV-2, this combination can lead to prolonged QT interval as can be detected on ECG.

3 May 2020

Anti-malarial drug use for COVID-19 associated with increased risk of cardiac arrhythmias

Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a Public Health Concern of Global Interest on January 30, more than one million have tested positive for the illness in the United States, and more than 62,000 have died.

3 May 2020

Pharmacy experts urge caution against use of antimalarial drugs to cure COVID-19

PHARMACY experts at the University of Huddersfield are urging caution over claims that widely-available antimalarial drugs could be a "magic bullet" to prevent and cure COVID-19. And the medicines can - if used rashly - have serious side effects.

30 Apr 2020

Study finds new infection route for bacterium that spreads from horses to humans

The researchers' work has made it possible to detail for the first time the spreading of the bacterium through lymph vessels and not just blood vessels, thus being able to invade the digestive system of infected animals through this new route.

30 Apr 2020

Abnormal blood clotting is a major cause of death in COVID-19 patients

A study led by clinician scientists at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has found that Irish patients admitted to hospital with severe COVID-19 infection are experiencing abnormal blood clotting that contributes to death in some patients.

30 Apr 2020

Universal childhood vaccination could prevent antimicrobial resistance

A new study from the University of California, Berkeley, published in the journal Nature in April 2020, reports that extending vaccination to all children could help resolve antimicrobial resistance - one of the biggest obstacles to effective healthcare in low-income countries. This is the first study to look at how vaccination is related to the use of antibiotics in low- and middle-income countries.

29 Apr 2020

Arthritis drug assessed as potential treatment for COVID-19-related pneumonia

UC San Diego Health has launched a Phase III clinical trial, part of a global effort, to assess whether a medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory disorders might also have therapeutic value for COVID-19 patients who have developed or at high risk of developing serious lung damage from SARS-CoV-2 infections.

29 Apr 2020

Coronaviruses represent a source of pandemic viruses

In a new paper published on the preprint journal bioRxiv in April 2020, researcher T. Konishi argues that the coronavirus family is a constellation of pandemic pathogens, that includes the currently spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

29 Apr 2020