Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Wearing masks may not be enough to prevent COVID-19 spread at close distances

Simply wearing a mask may not be enough to prevent the spread of COVID-19 without social distancing.

22 Dec 2020

The power of public health screening in mitigating the spread of COVID-19

Testing for COVID-19 has been central in the fight against SARS-CoV-2/ COVID-19. While most efforts, including regulations, have focused on testing as a clinical medical diagnostic tool, the most powerful forms of testing to help control the pandemic have rarely been used or recognized, according to Michael Mina, MD, PhD.

22 Dec 2020

Community burden of COVID-19 linked to survival rates of hospitalized patients

High rates of COVID-19 in the county where a hospital is located appears to reduce survival rates among hospitalized patients with the virus, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and at UnitedHealth Group.

22 Dec 2020

COVID-19 patients retain immunity against the virus for at least 8 months

Australian researchers have revealed - for the first time - that people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus have immune memory to protect against reinfection for at least eight months.

22 Dec 2020

SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels and types differ by disease severity, study finds

Researchers have measured the antibody levels and types in hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with different disease severity. Their results suggest gut immune pathways could play a role in reducing virus-based inflammation and recovery.

22 Dec 2020

California’s COVID enforcement strategy: Education over citations

Nearly six months since Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to target businesses that are flagrantly violating public health orders to control the spread of COVID-19, California regulators have issued just 424 citations and suspended two business licenses as of Monday, according to data from 10 state regulatory and law enforcement agencies.

22 Dec 2020

Scientists isolate anti-COVID-19 nanobodies produced by a llama

National Institutes of Health researchers have isolated a set of promising, tiny antibodies, or "nanobodies," against SARS-CoV-2 that were produced by a llama named Cormac.

22 Dec 2020

Large-scale study set up in UK to assess possibility of SARS-CoV-2 re-infection among healthcare workers

Researchers from Public Health England are conducting a large-scale prospective longitudinal study to determine whether healthcare workers who have previously developed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are immune to reinfection with the causative agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

22 Dec 2020

Cadmium linked to more severe flu and pneumonia infections

In this interview, News-Medical speaks to Dr. Howard Hu about his latest research into cadmium and how it could be causing more severe pneumonia infections.

22 Dec 2020

Comparing Google AI and human intelligence for the forecasting of COVID-19

Junko Kurita et al. from Japan have compared Google AI forecasting with a statistical model by human intelligence and recently presented it in a preprint medRxiv* paper.

22 Dec 2020

A hand-held device that measures aerosols could help prevent spread of COVID-19

Hand-held devices may be vital in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, given the important role that aerosols play in the transmission of the virus.

22 Dec 2020

Pregnant women in third trimester unlikely to pass SARS-CoV-2 infection to newborns

A new study demonstrates that women in their third trimester are unlikely to pass a SARS-CoV-2 infection onto their babies.

22 Dec 2020

Social media platforms shape behavioral response of young people to COVID-19 outbreak

At the start of the pandemic, young Singaporeans regarded COVID-19 as a threat to the older generation but not to themselves, finds NTU Singapore study.

22 Dec 2020

Study measures the effects of HIV infection on development of cervical cancer

A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has quantified the effects of an infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) on the development of cervical cancer.

22 Dec 2020

Study reveals how the immune system detects signs of disease, activates a protective response

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have uncovered an important process in how our immune system detects signs of disease and activates a protective response. This understanding could improve efforts to find new and effective immunotherapy treatments for diseases like cancer.

22 Dec 2020

Researchers detect novel IRAK4 mutations in infant with encephalitis and HHV6 reactivation

An infant's odd case of rare encephalitis not typically found in children led researchers to discover never before seen genetic mutations and a more accurate technique to examine the IRAK4 gene responsible for innate immunity.

22 Dec 2020

Study examines effects of social density and intention to vaccinate against COVID-19

Concerns over infecting others play a greater role in people's willingness to be vaccinated in sparsely populated areas than dense urban ones, according to newly published findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the United States.

21 Dec 2020

Researchers have a promising lead on COVID-19 treatment

By taking a lesson from prostate cancer, researchers now have a promising lead on treatment for COVID-19. Two proteins, ACE2 and TMPRSS2, help the coronavirus gain entry and replicate within cells. TMPRSS2 is well-known to Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D. His lab discovered that TMPRSS2 fuses with the ETS gene to drive more than half of all prostate cancers. They also knew that TMPRSS2 was regulated by the androgen receptor.

21 Dec 2020

Community-based testing sites were key in minimizing exposure to COVID-19 virus

A new study looking at the results of testing children for COVID-19 through a Children's National Hospital community-based testing site found that one in four patients had a positive test.

21 Dec 2020