Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Individual biocontainment unit protects health care workers against aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 virus

Especially in settings where personal protective equipment, or PPE, is in short supply, intubation -- inserting a breathing tube down a patient's throat -- poses a major risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure for doctors and nurses as viral particles are released into the air.

3 Sep 2020

Simulation platform teaches students the fundamentals of responses to pandemics

In 2015, a team of specialists in modeling disease outbreaks got together with educators to create Operation Outbreak, an educational platform and simulation intended to teach high school and college students the fundamentals of responses to pandemics.

3 Sep 2020

Novel fabric mask for enhanced protection and comfort

Imagine a reusable face mask that protects wearers and those around them from SARS-CoV-2, is comfortable enough to wear all day, and stays in place without frequent adjustment.

3 Sep 2020

Study shows fatty liver disease is a significant risk factor for COVID-19 hospitalization

A recent observational study by US researchers reveals that individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and steatohepatitis have increased odds of hospitalization due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19); conversely, metabolic surgery was found to be protective against the admission of infected individuals. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

3 Sep 2020

Research provides a map of coronavirus entry factors across the human body

An infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 can affect multiple organs. With this in mind, researchers of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Cornell University in the US have investigated cellular factors that could be significant for an infection.

3 Sep 2020

Understanding SARS-CoV-2 evolution requires more focus on structural variants

Researchers in the United States and Canada warn that more attention needs to be paid to the role that structural variants and recombination in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have played in the evolutionary history of the virus.

3 Sep 2020

New biocontainment unit could help healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients

The U.S. Army partnered with the University of Pittsburg Medical Center to create a biocontainment unit that could help healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients.

3 Sep 2020

COVID-19 vaccine candidate protects animals against SARS-CoV-2

Most people with COVID-19 have relatively mild disease, but a subset of people develop severe pneumonia and respiratory failure, potentially leading to death.

3 Sep 2020

Chest X-rays found to be highly predictive of COVID-19

A team of LSU Health New Orleans radiologists investigated the usefulness of chest X-rays in COVID-19 and found they could aid in a rapid diagnosis of the disease, especially in areas with limited testing capacity or delayed test results.

3 Sep 2020

UChicago Medicine launches clinical trial to test the potential of antibody against SARS-CoV-2

The University of Chicago Medicine is launching a clinical trial to examine the potential of an antibody against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein for treating COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

3 Sep 2020

Study shows what happens in the fetal brain affected by congenital Zika syndrome

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause severe abnormalities in the fetus, including malformations such as microcephaly.

3 Sep 2020

Clinical trial to test nasal saline irrigations as treatment for COVID-19 patients

Researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are conducting a clinical trial to determine whether nasal saline irrigations can reduce viral shedding and symptoms in patients with COVID-19.

3 Sep 2020

Obesity may cause irregular immune responses to COVID-19

Obesity may cause a hyperactive immune system response to COVID-19 infection that makes it difficult to fight off the virus, according to a new manuscript published in the Endocrine Society's journal, Endocrinology.

3 Sep 2020

Ellipsys Vascular Access System reduces time for dialysis treatments

The Ellipsys Vascular Access System reduces the time before patients with kidney failure can start lifesaving dialysis treatments, while requiring fewer secondary procedures, according to a new study led by interventional radiologist Jeffrey Hull, M.D., of Richmond Vascular Center.

3 Sep 2020

Why Black aging matters, too

Old. Chronically ill. Black. People who fit this description are more likely to die from COVID-19 than any other group in the country.

3 Sep 2020

Dozens of U.S. hospitals poised to defy FDA’s directive on COVID plasma

Dozens of major hospitals across the U.S. are grappling with whether to ignore a federal decision allowing broader emergency use of blood plasma from recovered COVID patients to treat the disease in favor of dedicating their resources to a gold-standard clinical trial that could help settle the science for good.

3 Sep 2020

Improving COVID-19 diagnosis

News-Medical spoke to Yourgene health on their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they developed a diagnostic test for COVID-19.

From Yourgene Health 3 Sep 2020

New grant supports research into diabetic kidney disease and COVID-19

Mater and University of Queensland Researcher Dr Mitchell Sullivan has been awarded a 2020 Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship from the Queensland Government to fund his research into diabetic kidney disease and COVID-19.

3 Sep 2020

Increased COVID-19 cases in India raise questions about reopening the economy

A spike in COVID-19 infections in India, reaching an average of more than 70,000 cases per day over the past week, has raised questions about reopening the economy, which contracted by 24 per cent of GDP as a result of a drastic national lockdown imposed in March to stop the virus from spreading.

3 Sep 2020

Corticosteroids can be lifesaving for critically ill COVID-19 patients

Now, a prospective meta-analysis of 7 randomized trials published in the journal JAMA showed that the widely available steroid drugs could help seriously ill patients survive COVID-19.

3 Sep 2020