Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

To extract more doses per vial, vaccinators put squeeze on FDA to relax vaccine handling advice

President Joe Biden has promised enough covid vaccine to immunize every willing adult by June 1. But right now, the gap between supply and demand is so dramatic that vaccinators are discovering ways to suck the final drops out of each vaccine vial — if federal regulators will let them.

12 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 is extremely sensitive to type I IFN pre-treatment, study finds

Researchers have found that SARS-CoV-2 is extremely sensitive to type I IFN pre-treatment. Therefore, strategies such as focusing on limiting the production of IFN, rather than its function, could restrict the mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 that increases its viral load with delayed or absent symptoms.

12 Mar 2021

U.S. Congress has clear opportunity to supercharge global health R&D, shows report

The U.S. Congress and Biden-Harris administration have a clear opportunity to supercharge global health research and development (R&D) in the wake of a pandemic that has revealed both the sector's chronic neglect and amazing potential.

12 Mar 2021

Tailored approach is required to fight antibiotic resistance

The global battle against antibiotic resistance can only succeed if local contexts are taken into account. "A tailored approach is needed in each country," says Heiman Wertheim of Radboud university medical center. "There is no "one-size-fits-all' solution."

12 Mar 2021

Texas Biomed receives DoD subcontracts to assess SARS-CoV-2 decontamination technologies

Texas Biomedical Research Institute received two Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Health Agency subcontracts to assess the efficacy of surface coating and aerosolized decontamination technologies to combat SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens on surfaces and in the air.

11 Mar 2021

Early tracheotomy shortens ICU stay and lowers risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia

Surgically opening the windpipe, or trachea, within the first seven days of the start of mechanical ventilation decreases the time patients spend on ventilators, shortens their ICU stay and lowers their risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to a systematic review published Thursday (March 11) in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

11 Mar 2021

Study reveals how lung alveolus forms at cellular level

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have determined what happens at a cellular level as the lung alveolus forms and allows newborns to breathe air.

11 Mar 2021

High obesity rates in Southern states magnify Covid threat

In January, as Mississippi health officials planned for their incoming shipments of covid-19 vaccine, they assessed the state's most vulnerable: health care workers, of course, and elderly people in nursing homes.

11 Mar 2021

Promega launches XpressAmp™ Direct Amplification Reagents

Promega Corporation has released XpressAmp™ Direct Amplification Reagents that facilitate RNA extraction-free sample preparation that is automation-friendly.

From Promega Corporation 11 Mar 2021

Study: Lowering the activity of KRAS gene can help fight pancreatic cancer

If clinicians could stop mutations of the KRAS gene in pancreatic cancer – which happens in more than 90 percent of pancreatic cancer cases and drastically reduces response to immunotherapy – the chances of improving treatment for this deadly form of cancer would be increased.

11 Mar 2021

TraCK study says schoolchildren unlikely to transmit SARS-CoV-2

An interesting new preprint research paper posted to the medRxiv* server reports there is little evidence to suggest the rapid transmission of the virus among school children while attending school.

10 Mar 2021

Newly-discovered bat coronavirus 94.5% identical to SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in China and Australia have reported the discovery of novel bat coronaviruses that further reveal the diversity and complex evolutionary history of these viruses.

10 Mar 2021

Genome-wide covariation analysis sheds light on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers in the United States have computed genome-wide covariation within severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to investigate interactions that could be of considerable importance in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

10 Mar 2021

Researchers shed light on T-cell receptor activation in response to infection

Immune cells specialize to ensure the most efficient defense against viruses and other pathogens. Researchers at the University of Basel have shed light on this specialization of T cells and shown that it occurs differently in the context of an acute and a chronic infection.

10 Mar 2021

Low doses of aspirin may have a potential beneficial effect on COVID-19

Aspirin is an established, safe, and low-cost medication in long-standing common use in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and in the past a pain relief and fever reducing medication.

10 Mar 2021

Hydroxychloroquine has no effect in treating people with COVID-19, study shows

A year ago, infectious disease doctor Christine Johnston was leading a study on the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of people with COVID-19.

10 Mar 2021

For Covid ‘long haulers,’ battling for disability benefits adds aggravation to exhaustion

Rickie Andersen took a brief break from work in March after she fell ill. Her cough, fever and chills were typical covid-19 symptoms, but coronavirus tests were so scarce she could not obtain one to confirm the diagnosis.

10 Mar 2021

How likely is SARS-CoV-2 reinfection?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has already caused over 117.6 million confirmed cases the world over. Yet, researchers debate the exact incidence of reinfection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), COVID-19’s causative pathogen.

10 Mar 2021

Delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines has benefits, but longer-term results rely on robust immunity

Delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines should reduce case numbers in the near term.

10 Mar 2021

New study may lead to therapeutic strategies for chronic lung disease

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have implicated a type of immune cell in the development of chronic lung disease that sometimes is triggered following a respiratory viral infection.

10 Mar 2021