Disease/Infection News

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Experts call for transformative change to reduce future pandemics

Future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases, warns a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics by 22 leading experts from around the world.

30 Oct 2020

APS technique shows how SARS-CoV-2 virus camouflages itself inside the human body

Scientists using the Advanced Photon Source have discovered new insights into the ways the SARS-CoV-2 virus camouflages itself inside the human body.

30 Oct 2020

Psychologists launch web-based contact tracing tool to slow spread of COVID-19

Psychologists have developed a do-it-yourself tool that uses "the science of memory" to improve the ability to remember more contacts during the contact tracing process.

30 Oct 2020

Study examines link between SARS-CoV-2 genomic load and COVID-19 patient outcomes

A new study published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society examines whether the amount of RNA, or genomic load, of SARS-CoV-2 detected in swab tests of patients being admitted to the hospital with viral pneumonia is associated with more severe COVID-19.

30 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins can directly impact the blood-brain barrier

Like a key, SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) - attaches to specific molecules on the host cell surface, opening gateways into the cell interior.

30 Oct 2020

Novel approach can help measure antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

A new study lead by Helmholtz Zentrum München indicates a six-fold higher SARS-CoV-2 exposure rate among children in Bavaria, Germany, than reported cases.

30 Oct 2020

Research shows some COVID-19 patients experience long-lasting skin symptoms

Some COVID-19 patients experience long-lasting skin symptoms that vary according to type of COVID-19 skin rash, a late-breaking abstract will reveal today at the 29th EADV Congress, EADV Virtual.

30 Oct 2020

Scientists develop new model of coronavirus diffusion through a community

The coronavirus doesn't spread uniformly through a community.But in the world of disease modeling, many projections take a high-level approach to a geographic area, like a county or state, and forecast based on a general idea that a virus will take root and spread at an equal rate until it reaches its peak of infection.

30 Oct 2020

Study: ICE detention centers experienced repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses

More than a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers experienced large, repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses in the last three years, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco.

30 Oct 2020

Penn State and Stanford University collaborate to develop two-hour sepsis test

One in three people who die in U.S. hospitals have sepsis, the body's extreme response to infection that can lead to multiple organ failure. Diagnosis can take up to five days, but death may take only hours from the initial onset of sepsis.

30 Oct 2020

COVID-19-related myocarditis may be a relatively rare occurrence, indicates study

A study conducted by Richard Vander Heide, MD, PhD, Professor and Director of Pathology Research at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, and Marc Halushka, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, suggests myocarditis caused by COVID-19 may be a relatively rare occurrence.

30 Oct 2020

Seroprevalence and immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in Paris

François Anna et al. published this study in a recent medRxiv* preprint paper, where they present the results of assessing the serological response in the selected population. They tested for specific IgG response against the SARS CoV-2 Nucleoprotein and Spike protein and performed a pseudo-neutralization assay in sera of urban dwellers in Paris.

30 Oct 2020

Booster dose enhances immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in aged mice

Now, a new study published on the pre-print server bioRxiv* shows that a single dose of the vaccine has induced cellular and humoral immunity in aged or older mice. A second dosage was needed to enhance the vaccine's immune response, showing that a prime-boost strategy may be an essential step to boost immunogenicity in the elderly.

30 Oct 2020

COVID-19 study: Researchers recruit frontline workers to identify asymptomatic individuals

Fifteen hundred frontline workers are being recruited for a yearlong study to find what percentage are positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, what percentage become positive and whether the antibodies they produce protect them from reinfection.

30 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 viroporin triggers NLRP3 inflammasome causing a severe inflammatory response

Now, a team of researchers at the University of Florida report that the SARS-CoV-2 viroporin triggers the NLR Family Pyrin Domain Containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, which is responsible for the inflammatory pathology in severely ill COVID-19 patients.

30 Oct 2020

Symptoms and outcomes of 3.32 million people tested for SARS-CoV-2

A recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in October 2020 shows the need for large-scale studies on the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 at the national and international scale. This is essential to shape interventions and optimize the use of resources to contain and manage a second wave of the pandemic.

30 Oct 2020

A2B-COVID: Rapid identification of SARS-CoV-2 transmission

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in October 2020 reports a method to assess transmission potential for any event in the current pandemic, using what is known about the virus's spread, data on the mobility of individuals, and new ways of processing genomic sequencing data. The outcome is to determine whether cases are linked or not so as to take action to prevent further spread.

29 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 load varies widely in the community and over time

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in October 2020 reports that there are large differences in the viral load in different communities. Moreover, the authors say that the cycle threshold values required to obtain a positive result for viral RNA by polymerase chain reaction may provide an early warning of an outbreak.

29 Oct 2020

MD65 IgG-YTE shows powerful post-exposure neutralization of SARS-CoV-2

A recent study published in the preprint server bioRxiv in October 2020 describes a reliable animal model to demonstrate the powerful capacity of human neutralizing mAbs directed against SARS-CoV-2 to prevent viral binding the host cell receptor and thus block infection. This indicates the lifesaving value of mAbs in severe COVID-19.

29 Oct 2020

Model includes spatial heterogeneity to analyze airborne disease spread

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have included parameters that consider a spatially heterogeneous population for transmission in a new model for airborne disease transmission. This allows for estimating superspreaders and appropriate mitigation strategies.

29 Oct 2020