Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Researchers successfully edit SIV virus from genomes of non-human primates

Taking a major step forward in HIV research, scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University have successfully edited SIV - a virus closely related to HIV, the cause of AIDS - from the genomes of non-human primates.

1 Dec 2020

Analysis of social media messages reveals struggles of care home staff during COVID-19 first wave

Analysis of social media messages between care home staff on the coronavirus front line reveal their growing concerns over how to manage in the face of the virus. Thousands of Whatsapp messages between 250 care home workers during the first coronavirus wave show workers were often asking questions which went unanswered due to a lack of proper guidance.

1 Dec 2020

Experts urge governments to rethink COVID-19 infection control policies for schools

An urgent rethink of infection control policies to keep COVID-19 infection at bay in schools is needed if primary schools are to be kept open this winter, and the knock-on effects on their families avoided, argue children's infectious disease specialists in a viewpoint, published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

1 Dec 2020

New method could help determine the most appropriate treatment for HIV patients

A team co-led by a scientist at the University of California, Riverside, has developed a method to study how HIV mutates to escape the immune system in multiple individuals, which could inform HIV vaccine design.

30 Nov 2020

Nucleic acid-hydrolyzing scFv 3D8 exhibits potent antiviral effects on SARS-CoV-2

3D8, a 27-kDa recombinant antibody fragment, was found in autoimmune-prone Murphy Roths Large mice. The single-chain variable fragment (scFv) has the nucleic acid hydrolyzing activity and is shown to degrade DNA or mRNA of viruses in infected cells.

30 Nov 2020

Fibromyalgia during COVID-19, anxiety and pain

Early research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic found persistent related anxiety in the general population. Researchers in the UK hypothesized that this anxiety would be associated with increased pain in chronic pain patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia (FM).

30 Nov 2020

Good cholesterol helps SARS-CoV-2 enter cells

The researchers explained that the SARS-CoV-2 can infect human host cells after its viral spike protein (SARS-2-S) binds to a cellular surface receptor called the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

30 Nov 2020

Politicians and public officials fail to harness young people’s perspectives on COVID-19 recovery

Decision-makers are failing to harness young people's potential to help shape pandemic responses, according to a major study that features the views of young people from around the world.

30 Nov 2020

Low-income black households disproportionately affected by Covid-19 shutdowns

The alarming rate at which Covid-19 has killed Black Americans has highlighted the deeply embedded racial disparities in the U.S. health care system.

30 Nov 2020

Infection control, widespread testing help reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools, study finds

Now, a team of researchers at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine explored which school policies had the most significant impact on reducing the risk of in-school SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

30 Nov 2020

Researchers reveal how SARS-CoV-2 reaches the brain

Using post-mortem tissue samples, a team of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have studied the mechanisms by which the novel coronavirus can reach the brains of patients with COVID-19, and how the immune system responds to the virus once it does.

30 Nov 2020

Chemical compounds in foods can block the function of key SARS-CoV-2 enzyme

Chemical compounds in foods or beverages like green tea, muscadine grapes and dark chocolate can bind to and block the function of a particular enzyme, or protease, in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a new study by plant biologists at North Carolina State University.

30 Nov 2020

Memory B cells persist in recovered COVID-19 patients

A team of scientists from the University of Washington, USA, and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, has comprehensively studied the antibody-mediated immune responses in patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

30 Nov 2020

Wyss Institute’s eRapid technology licensed to The iQ Group Global

Today, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced that its eRapid technology has been licensed to The iQ Group Global for COVID-19 diagnostic applications.

30 Nov 2020

New effort to increase COVID-19 testing in Louisiana's Black communities

Pennington Biomedical Research Center is leading a federally funded effort to increase COVID-19 testing in Louisiana's Black communities, which have been hit hard by the virus.

30 Nov 2020

Experimental vaccine protects cynomolgus macaques against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus

An experimental vaccine developed in Europe to prevent infection by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) has protected cynomolgus macaques in a new collaborative study from National Institutes of Health scientists.

30 Nov 2020

A mutant SARS-CoV-2 subspecies from minks may evade antibody detection

In a recent research letter published on the bioRxiv preprint server, scientists from Japan discovered that the mutation of spike glycoprotein in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) derived from farmed minks can also be found in the group of individuals with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and subsequently evade detection by our immune system.

30 Nov 2020

Rutgers leading a clinical trial assessing combination treatment for coronavirus

Rutgers is leading a clinical trial assessing the combination of nitazoxanide, ribavirin and hydroxychloroquine to treat people 21 or older who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 and are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.

30 Nov 2020

Virus induced lymphocytes show promise for COVID-19 and future pandemics

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study demonstrating the potential of a novel therapeutic approach to treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The therapy augments the body’s T cell response to the causative agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by providing a boost of rapidly expanded virus-specific T cells.

30 Nov 2020

Highly functional immune response in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection

Researchers in Singapore have conducted a study showing that asymptomatic individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – mount an efficient, balanced and coordinated cellular immune response that protects the host without appearing to trigger any pathological processes.

30 Nov 2020