Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Latest Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

A subunit SARS-CoV-2 vaccine may offer broader protection against virus

A new study published in the preprint server bioRxiv in September 2020 reports on the structure of this protein, as revealed by cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM).

23 Sep 2020

Molecular dynamic simulations reveal detailed spike-ACE2 interactions

The current COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the world. Caused by a single-stranded RNA betacoronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is closely related to but much more infectious than the earlier highly pathogenic betacoronaviruses SARS and MERS-CoV, has impacted social, economic, and physical health to an unimaginable extent.

23 Sep 2020

Common genetic variants may influence susceptibility to COVID-19

Researchers in the United States and Japan have conducted a study suggesting that a commonly occurring genetic variant influences susceptibility to infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

23 Sep 2020

Study suggests herd immunity to COVID-19 in Brazilian city of Manaus

According to the study estimates, the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes COVID-19 – rapidly increased in Manaus between March and April, before slowly declining between May and September.

22 Sep 2020

Baseline T cell signatures predict clinical outcomes of SARS-CoV infection

In a recent bioRxiv preprint paper, researchers from the Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, and Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, discuss their study in mice that undergo detailed immunophenotyping before getting infected with SARS-CoV.

22 Sep 2020

Expert warns that COVID-19 cases in the UK could reach 50,000 per day

In the United Kingdom, health experts said that the country could face an exponentially growing death rate from COVID-19 within weeks unless urgent action is taken to control the spread of the virus. At present, the country has the highest official COVID-19 death toll in Europe and the fifth-largest across the globe.

22 Sep 2020

CDC withdraws guideline on SARS-CoV-2 airborne spread

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published a new guideline, recognizing that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can spread via aerosols. Now, the health agency takes back its statement by deleting the updates published on Sept. 18.

22 Sep 2020

Acquisition of a natural mutation primes SARS-CoV-2 for neutralization by a cross-reactive antibody

A team of scientists from the United States reveals that the acquisition of a natural mutation makes severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) susceptible to neutralization by a cross-reactive SARS-CoV antibody. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

22 Sep 2020

Confirmed early re-infection with SARS-CoV-2

As scientists strive to develop commercially viable and effective antivirals and vaccines to counter the growing COVID-19 pandemic, there is considerable uncertainty about how long and how durable the immunity induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is. A new paper recently published in the journal Clinical Infectious Disease in September 2020 reports a confirmed case of re-infection with this virus following recovery.

22 Sep 2020

Parkinson's disease diagnosed after SARS-CoV-2

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, new and unusual chronic sequelae of the disease are cropping up in many medical practices. Now, a new case paper published in The Lancet in September 2020 describes a case of new-onset Parkinson's disease following infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

22 Sep 2020

How COVID-19 flew to Greece

A recent study published in the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease in September 2020 reports a series of cases following travel on a commercial airliner that heralded the earliest imported COVID-19 infections in Greece.

22 Sep 2020

Study shows effectiveness of UV-C light for killing COVID-19 on N95 respirators

Dermatology researchers at Henry Ford Health System, in collaboration with a team at the University of Michigan, have demonstrated that certain N95 respirators tainted with COVID-19 can be effectively and safely decontaminated for reuse using ultraviolet-C light (UV-C), a method commonly utilized for treating rare skin diseases.

22 Sep 2020

Wastewater analysis predicts COVID-19 spread

The researchers from Yale University provided an outline of the spread of the infection in the community. Their study titled, “Measurement of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater tracks community infection dynamics,” is published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.

22 Sep 2020

COVID-19 can affect the retina

Now, a new study published in the journal EClinicalMedicine shows that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), targets the retina.

22 Sep 2020

Respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 decrease in the U.S., CDC report

In the report, published on Sept. 18, the CDC shows that indicators tracking COVID-19 activity continued to decline or remain stable. Still, two regions say a slight increase in the percentage of specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. Meanwhile, four regions reported a slight increase in the percent of outpatient or emergency department visits for influenza-like illness (ILI).

22 Sep 2020

Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 with antisense oligonucleotides

A part of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral RNA is highly conserved. Researchers have used this as a target for designing antisense oligonucleotide gapmers to cleave the RNA and disrupt virus replication. Their research is published as a preprint on the online server bioRxiv in September 2020.

22 Sep 2020

COVID-19 mitigation efforts significantly decrease influenza activity

The mitigation strategies implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19 appears to reduce the transmission of influenza in the United States, Australia, Chile, and South Africa. These strategies may augment influenza vaccines, especially for high-risk populations during the seasonal influenza transmission.

21 Sep 2020

Screening university students could reduce community COVID-19 burden

Researchers in Canada and the United States report that screening students for infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as universities re-open this fall could reduce the burden of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the broader community.

21 Sep 2020

A cost-effective scalable production of SARS-CoV-2 RBD in yeast

A new study by the Argentinian AntiCovid Consortium and published in the preprint server bioRxiv* in September 2020 reports on the successful characterization of the conformation and stability of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain (RBD) in two different cell systems. This may help to accelerate the development of vaccines and neutralizing antibodies.

21 Sep 2020

Research underlines SARS-CoV-2 N-terminal domain of Nsp1 as a potential drug target

A recent study reveals how the non-structural protein 1 (NSP1) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) plays a crucial role in inhibiting the host cell protein synthesis but simultaneously facilitating the viral protein synthesis.

21 Sep 2020