Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

House flies can carry SARS-CoV-2 up to 24 hours after exposure, study finds

A team of researchers in the USA – at Kansas State University and Agricultural Research Service – found that house flies can acquire and harbor infectious SARS-CoV-2 for up to 24 hours after exposure.

22 Apr 2021

Can SARS-CoV-2 host factor protein interactions help identify antiviral drug targets?

In a new study proteomic peptide-phage display is utilized to profile the novel SLiM-based interactions that mediate host factor interactions in 229 RNA viruses, with a special focus on SARS-CoV-2, to reveal mechanistic insights and identify drug targets.

22 Apr 2021

How effective is the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) COVID-19 vaccine? A real-world study in Sweden

Investigating a population in southern Sweden, a new study has found that a single dose of the vaccine is only about 42% effective in preventing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). But seven days after the second dose, the vaccine can prevent COVID-19 in 86% of the population.

22 Apr 2021

Doctors scramble to understand long Covid, but causes and prognosis are elusive

One night in March 2020, Joy Wu felt like her heart was going to explode. She tried to get up and fell down. She didn't recognize friends' names in her list of phone contacts. Remembering how to dial 9-1-1 took "quite a bit of time," she recalled recently.

22 Apr 2021

Researchers conduct a SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey of blood donors in New Zealand

New research has been released, which focuses on the transmission and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in New Zealand, through a blood donor serosurvey.

22 Apr 2021

Study offers insights into protective effects of dietary supplements against COVID-19

Taking multivitamins, omega-3, probiotics or vitamin D supplements may lessen the risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 infection--at least among women--indicates a large population study, published online in the journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health.

22 Apr 2021

New mathematical model predicts the spread of COVID-19

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have developed a new mathematical model for predicting how epidemics such as COVID-19 spread.

22 Apr 2021

Cleaning frequency key to limiting SARS-CoV-2 spread at theme parks

A new preprint research paper provides some insights into how this may be done using computational modeling. The study, which appeared on the medRxiv server, deals with the mitigation strategies that must be implemented in order to contain the virus.

22 Apr 2021

Metabolic testing of COVID-19 patients through skin imprints

There is, therefore, a great need to understand how the illness can be diagnosed using more convenient and inexpensive methods. A new study posted to the medRxiv preprint server reveals the potential role of skin imprints to test for biomarkers that indicate a diagnosis of COVID-19 in a non-invasive way.

22 Apr 2021

SARS-CoV-2 vaccine with single-cycle adenovirus vector

Researchers in the United States have developed adenovirus vectors that may be more effective at generating immune responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) than those used in the vaccines that are currently being rolled out to help combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

21 Apr 2021

Maintaining swimming pools in line with UK guidelines eliminates SARS-CoV-2 risk

Researchers in the UK have conducted a study showing that maintaining swimming pool water in accordance with UK guidelines is sufficient to eliminate the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) being transmitted between bathers.

21 Apr 2021

Argonne's Advanced Photon Source guided the development of new COVID-19 vaccine now in trials

Human clinical trials have begun on a new vaccine candidate that may protect against not only SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but against at least two of the variants emerging around the world.

21 Apr 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection induces polyfunctional antibodies that can destroy infected cells

Drawing on epidemiological field studies and the FrenchCOVID hospital cohort coordinated by Inserm, teams from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and the Vaccine Research Institute (VRI, Inserm/University Paris-Est Créteil) studied the antibodies induced in individuals with asymptomatic or symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.

21 Apr 2021

Researchers discover how SARS viruses enhance the production of viral proteins in infected cells

Coronavirus researchers led by Professor Rolf Hilgenfeld of the University of Luebeck and PD Dr. Albrecht von Brunn of the Ludwig-Maximilian Universitaet in Munich have discovered how SARS viruses enhance the production of viral proteins in infected cells, so that many new copies of the virus can be generated.

21 Apr 2021