SARS CoV 2 News and Research

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Synthetic antibody may prevent coronavirus from infecting human cells

By screening hundreds of synthetic antibodies, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and EMBL Hamburg in Germany have identified an antibody that may prevent the new coronavirus from infecting human cells.

4 Nov 2020

Delirium accompanied by fever could be an early symptom of COVID-19

Delirium accompanied by fever could bean early symptom of COVID-19. This is the main conclusion drawn by a scientific research review carried out by researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

4 Nov 2020

Lions and tigers and anteaters? US scientists scan the menagerie for COVID

As COVID-19 cases surge in the U.S., one Texas veterinarian has been quietly tracking the spread of the disease — not in people, but in their pets.

4 Nov 2020

First EUA point-of-care (POC/Waived/Fingerstick) COVID-19 antibody test now available from Carolina Liquid Chemistries.

The Fastep® COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Device by Assure Tech., distributed in the USA by Carolina Liquid Chemistries, has received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for use.

From Carolina Liquid Chemistries Corp. 4 Nov 2020

Europe is the main source of COVID-19 spread, shows study

The University of Huddersfield's Archaeogenetics Research Group has mapped out the dispersal of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, responsible for the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, putting Europe centre-stage as the main source of the spread.

4 Nov 2020

Study sheds light on possible lung damage caused by COVID-19 virus

The study, published today in The Lancet's eBioMedicine, by King's College London in collaboration with University of Trieste and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biology in Italy, shows the unique characteristics to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and may explain why patients suffer from 'long COVID'.

4 Nov 2020

Discoverey of four SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors, boceprevir, calpain inhibitors II and XII and GC-376

A team of scientists from the United States has recently revealed that small molecule inhibitors of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) main protease exhibit potent antiviral activity. These inhibitors show better efficacy when used in combination with antiviral medicine Remdesivir. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

3 Nov 2020

Most SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals develop durable B cell-mediated immunity

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, investigated the durability of B cell immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery in their recent work published on the preprint server medRxiv.

3 Nov 2020

Evidence of robust and persistent antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

A team of researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, have worked in collaboration to try and answer one of the most baffling questions surrounding the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic: do antibodies against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) last after a primary infection?

3 Nov 2020

SARS-CoV-2 mutations becoming more contagious

A team of researchers working with Scott Wesley Long from Houston Methodist Hospital and colleagues from Texas, New York, and Illinois studied the patterns of genetic mutations of SARS CoV-2 and its impact on the second wave of infections worldwide.

3 Nov 2020

SARS-CoV-2 T-cell immunity is retained for at least six months

Now, a new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv shows that functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses are retained for six months following infection. However, the strength of this response depends on the clinical features of the primary infection.

3 Nov 2020

SARS-CoV-2 attack rates among household contacts higher than among non-household contacts

Now, a team of researchers at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in Singapore aimed to determine the transmission risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 among household and non-household contacts.

3 Nov 2020

Study finds a subset of quick COVID-19 healers and antibody 'sustainers'

One of the pressing questions about COVID-19 remains: How long does immunity last? One key indicator of immunity is the presence of virus-specific antibodies.

3 Nov 2020

AI speech processing framework detects inaudible COVID-19 cough

Now, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found that asymptomatic people may differ from those who are healthy in the way they cough. The differences are inaudible to the human ear but can be detected by artificial intelligence (AI).

3 Nov 2020

16 new lineages of SARS-CoV-2 emerge in South Africa despite lockdown

Published in a recent medRxiv* paper, researchers from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Brazil found that these mutations in SARS-CoV-2 lineages are localized to South Africa. These unique strains, not found elsewhere in the world, are thought to have contributed around 42% to the country's total infection rate.

3 Nov 2020

Adaptive evolution of human coronaviruses may necessitate frequent reformulation of vaccines

Researchers from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, USA, have revealed that adaptive evolution in the antigenic regions facilitates seasonal coronaviruses to escape the host immune responses and to cause recurrent infections.

3 Nov 2020

Some of the main osteoporosis treatments could have a protective effect against COVID-19

Some of the principal treatments for osteoporosis, denosumab, zoledronate and calcium, could have a protective effect against COVID-19 in patients who take them, specifically a 30 to 40% reduction in the rate of infection, according to the results of a joint study by Hospital del Mar, the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Pompeu Fabra University and the Pere Virgili Health Park.

3 Nov 2020

Rapid generation of divergent synthetic antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in a cell-free engineering platform

In a groundbreaking bioRxiv paper, a research group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US engineered antibodies against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike glycoprotein by using a novel approach. In doing so, they also identified more than 800 predicted binder families.

3 Nov 2020

Eye's cornea can resist infection from novel coronavirus

New findings from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest the eye's cornea can resist infection from the novel coronavirus.

3 Nov 2020

Re-thinking advance care planning during COVID-19 pandemic

Researchers in the UK have warned that healthcare professionals and providers need to consider how Advance Care Planning (ACP) can be resourced and normalized as part of standard care during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), ahead of recurrent or future waves.

3 Nov 2020