Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

MU researcher finds four antiviral drugs effective in inhibiting novel coronavirus

Now, a researcher at the University of Missouri has found that four antiviral drugs, including remdesivir, a drug originally developed to treat Ebola, are effective in inhibiting the replication of the coronavirus causing COVID-19.

4 May 2020

New computer modeling systems to predict spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus

Joe Mihaljevic, mathematical epidemiologist and assistant professor in Northern Arizona University's School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, is leading a new project to create computer modeling systems to predict outcomes of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, across four northern Arizona counties--Coconino, Navajo, Apache and Mohave.

4 May 2020

Viruses from stool can help fight obesity and type 2 diabetes

Obese mice with unhealthy lifestyles gain significantly less weight and avoid type 2 diabetes when they receive viruses transplanted from the stool of lean mice. These are the findings of a new University of Copenhagen study.

4 May 2020

Testing in California still a frustrating patchwork of haves and have-nots

Months into the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, widespread diagnostic testing still isn't available, and California offers a sobering view of the dysfunction blocking the way.

4 May 2020

A $10 million grant enables expansion of BCG vaccine trial against COVID-19

An A$10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will allow the Murdoch Children's Research Institute's clinical trial of the BCG vaccine against COVID-19 to extend to 10,000 healthcare workers across Australia, Spain and The Netherlands.

4 May 2020

Study defines new starting points for therapy and vaccine research on coronavirus

The SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects lung cells and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The viral spike protein mediates entry of the virus into host cells and harbors an unusual activation sequence.

4 May 2020

Newly identified antibody prevents SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting cultured cells

Researchers at Utrecht University, Erasmus Medical Center and Harbour BioMed (HBM) today reported that they have identified a fully human monoclonal antibody that prevents the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus from infecting cultured cells.

4 May 2020

As lawmakers reconvene, not everyone agrees on COVID-only agenda

California lawmakers return to the Capitol this week to begin what they describe as necessary but painful negotiations to keep the state running and redirect dwindling funds to the costly coronavirus pandemic.

4 May 2020

TissueGnostics joins the global fight against infectious diseases

The world is facing an unprecedented challenge in form of SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19, and TG stand strong to support the mankind and our research community!

From TissueGnostics 4 May 2020

COVID-plagued California nursing homes often had problems in past

When Jorge Newbery finally got through to his 95-year-old mother, Jennifer, on a video call April 18, she could barely talk or move and her eyes couldn't focus.

4 May 2020

Number of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Spain increases to almost 10% of the people infected

A multidisciplinary research group of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) have analysed the diagnostic delay between the development of symptoms of COVID-19 and the registration of a positive case in ten countries in the European Union.

4 May 2020

Study reveals variable sites in novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

Understanding the varying aggressiveness of SARS-CoV-2 may provide valuable data to trace its spread across populations. In the study, published on the preprint server BioRxiv, the researchers traced amino acid variants that possess high frequency in Europe, particularly in Italy, one of the hardest-hit countries.

4 May 2020

Scientists develop CRISPR-based test for SARS-CoV-2

Now, a team of scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara has developed a low-cost, rapid, and high-tech test that can detect SARS-CoV-2 effectively. They have developed a CRISPR-based test that is sensitive and effective as traditional tests.

4 May 2020

New project launched to reduce COVID-19 infection among emergency room workers

Dr. David Talan, professor of emergency medicine and medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UCLA medical school will lead the trial with co-principal investigator Dr. Nicholas Mohr, vice chair for research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa.

4 May 2020

FDA approves SFU professor's invention to wean COVID-19 patients from ventilators

Simon Fraser University professor Andy Hoffer hopes the SFU spinoff company he founded, Lungpacer Medical Inc., will help save the lives of COVID-19 patients using mechanical ventilators--and get them off more quickly, so that more ventilators can be available for all critically ill patients.

4 May 2020

Researchers examine role of immune response in COVID-19 patients

A new USC study suggests that temporarily suppressing the body's immune system during the early stages of COVID-19 could help a patient avoid severe symptoms.

4 May 2020

SARS-CoV-2 receptor ‘mimic' could prevent COVID-19

Researchers from Italy have developed an exciting new peptide drug that could potentially prevent the coronavirus from infecting people’s cells. The paper, published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in April 2020, describes a small molecule that can bind to and block the attachment site on the virus spike protein, preventing its entry into the host cell.

4 May 2020

Impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and breastfed infants

Pregnant women are among those at high risk of developing COVID-19, as confirmed in Wuhan early in the pandemic. A new study from Portugal published on the preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 analyses the data on the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and disease outcomes, using published cases of pregnant women diagnosed with the illness.

4 May 2020

Study sheds new light on the body's initial response to DENV infection

A study led by scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research sheds new light on the body's initial response to dengue virus (DENV) infection, describing the molecular diversity and specificity of the antibody response.

4 May 2020

Research detects a more dangerous SARS-CoV-2 mutation

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in May 2020 reports the setting up of a system to help track new mutations in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that is behind the current COVID-19 pandemic. This will help analyze mutations to find and track the spread of those that are most likely to increase the pathogenicity of the virus, either by making it easier to transmit or by enhancing its resistance to treatment.

4 May 2020