Disease/Infection News

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Trump touted Abbott’s quick COVID-19 test. HHS document shows only 5,500 are on way for entire U.S.

A coronavirus test made by Abbott Laboratories and introduced with considerable fanfare by President Donald Trump in a Rose Garden news conference this week is giving state and local health officials very little added capacity to perform speedy tests needed to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

2 Apr 2020

Lessons learned from the Italian COVID‐19 outbreak

As Italy grapples with the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a new study has shed light on the country’s fight against the deadly disease. Italy is one of the hardest-hit countries of the global health crisis, infecting more than 115,000 people and killing nearly 14,000.

2 Apr 2020

Drugs considered for COVID-19 can increase risk for dangerous arrhythmias

As some consider treating coronavirus patients with a combination of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin, cardiologists are advising caution because both medications can increase the risk for dangerous abnormal heart rhythms.

2 Apr 2020

Scientists find important clues to vaccine in SARS-CoV-2 genome

A new research paper published by scientists at the University of Bristol who sequenced the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is causing the worldwide COVID-19 illness, reveals some significant findings that could help researchers working on rolling out vaccines to stop the relentless march of the virus. The study was published online on the preprint site bioRxiv in April 2020.

2 Apr 2020

Study investigates if the body's immune response to infections changes with seasons

Ground breaking new research is underway at the University of Surrey in collaboration with Columbia University to investigate if the body's immune response to infectious diseases and viruses, such as COVID-19, is altered by different seasons.

2 Apr 2020

COVID-19 by the numbers

Numerical data sometimes reveal facts that are otherwise concealed within an onslaught of information from an overwhelming number of sources.

2 Apr 2020

A checklist to guide Emergency Department team's COVID-19 surge response

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges to many health care systems across the globe.

2 Apr 2020

TCF Bank announces $100,000 match incentive program for COVID-19 response

TCF Bank, in its efforts to provide crucial support to Minnesota's frontline health care workers and accelerate innovations directed at tackling the COVID-19 health crisis, has announced a $100,000 match incentive program in collaboration with University of Minnesota Emergency Fund for Covid-19 response.

2 Apr 2020

Public health interventions will drive economic recovery from COVID-19

A major new study titled “Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu,” by MIT economist Emil Verner and others, and published as a working paper in the Social Science Research Network, puts the role of public health measures and financial welfare during public health crises into perspective.

2 Apr 2020

Can cats and dogs catch or spread COVID-19?

A recent report from Hong Kong that two dogs had tested positive for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 had pet owners in a tizzy. This was compounded by news that a cat owned by a COVID-19 patient had developed symptoms of the illness in Belgium – such as breathing trouble and diarrhea – a week after the owner tested positive. The cat’s vomit and feces were subsequently found to be positive for the viral genome.

2 Apr 2020

MIT launches new technique to mass manufacture disposable face shields

The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) available to healthcare professionals has become increasingly problematic as Covid-19 cases continue to surge.

2 Apr 2020

COVID-19: What the illness looks like

With increasing information about COVID-19 disease gathered first-hand, a more accurate picture of the clinical features is coming together.

2 Apr 2020

Promising vaccine patch candidate for COVID-19

In a breath of fresh air, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine reported that they had developed a potential new vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is causing the current COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccine has been tested in mice. When administered through a small patch only the size of a fingertip, the vaccine was found to generate protective neutralizing antibodies against the virus, in adequate quantities.

2 Apr 2020

Designing face shields to protect healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented need to provide personal protective equipment for hospital staff.

2 Apr 2020

AI to predict risk of an individual patient's need for ventilator

As coronavirus patients are hospitalized, it is difficult for doctors to predict which of them will require intensive care and a respirator. Many different factors come into play, some yet to be fully understood by doctors.

2 Apr 2020

Tulane University adds second avenue for COVID-19 testing

Tulane University has added a second avenue for COVID-19 testing, this one taking place at a Tulane School of Medicine repurposed research lab where results can be processed within a day.

2 Apr 2020

IMDEA Networks researcher launches study to estimate the actual incidence of pandemic

Antonio Fernández Anta, Research Professor at IMDEA Networks, has launched a study to estimate the actual incidence of the pandemic in eleven countries.

2 Apr 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: All coronavirus all the time

The medical and economic needs laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic are forcing some immediate changes to the U.S. health system. Congress, in its latest relief bill, provided $100 billion in funding for the hospital industry alone.

2 Apr 2020

Web portal provides information on how to decontaminate used N95 masks

As health workers and first responders in the United States try to stem a pandemic without adequate protective gear, health officials are forced to consider a stopgap - decontaminating and reusing N95 masks to shield those whose jobs expose them to the virus that causes COVID-19.

2 Apr 2020

Pandemic-stricken cities have empty hospitals, but reopening them is difficult

As city leaders across the country scramble to find space for the expected surge of COVID-19 patients, some are looking at a seemingly obvious choice: former hospital buildings, sitting empty, right downtown.

2 Apr 2020