Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Latest Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Touching contaminated surfaces can transfer SARS-CoV-2 to skin, finds study

Using artificial skin, researchers found that touching surfaces contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 can lead to transfer of virus to the skin.

29 Apr 2021

Researchers characterize a large set of therapeutic antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants

A team of scientists from A-Alpha Bio., USA, has recently conducted a large-scale screening of 33 therapeutic antibodies to examine their binding affinity to a number of SARS-CoV-2 variants. The team analyzed the impact of potential mutations in the spike RBD on antibody efficacy.

29 Apr 2021

Is Hong Kong’s fourth wave of COVID-19 due to the Q57H SARS-CoV-2 variant?

A recent article in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Emerging Infectious Diseases reveals that the last of these was probably due to the introduction of a new variant from Nepal. This novel variant had been circulating in the community for about a month before the last outbreak was reported.

29 Apr 2021

Risk factors for long COVID-19 in children

A new study describes the risk factors and outcomes of “long COVID-19” in a cohort of children who were hospitalized with COVID-19.

29 Apr 2021

Study of 180 breastfeeding mothers after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination

Vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, were developed at an unprecedented pace. To date, more than 1 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, many of which messenger RNA (mRNA) based.

29 Apr 2021

Long COVID also affects children, study finds

Older children and children with allergies or asthma were found to have greater odds of having persistent symptoms even months after recovery.

28 Apr 2021

Safety and efficacy of Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines even better than clinical trials predicted

Researchers in the UK and United States have demonstrated the efficacy of one dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a real-world community setting in the UK.

28 Apr 2021

Recovered COVID-19 patients show signs of long-term immunity

A study conducted by researchers in the United States has found that most patients who recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) showed signs of long-lasting immunity against the causative agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

28 Apr 2021

Study examines mRNA COVID-19 vaccine’s effectiveness across age and gender

The findings reveal that although the two-dose vaccine regimen initially induces robust antibody response in all age groups, older male individuals are particularly associated with a gradual decline in vaccine-induced immunity six weeks after the second vaccine dose.

28 Apr 2021

Can control theory explain differences in virulence and transmission of SARS-CoV-2?

A new study discusses variations in viral pathogenicity and in transmission, which are responsible for asymptomatic infection and for superspreading events. The ability to understand this would open the way to understand how this virus behaves the way it does, in terms of its virulence, its spread, and its emergent variants of concern.

28 Apr 2021

COVID-19 donor antibodies show broad cross-reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 variants and related viruses

A new study reports on a set of antibodies from COVID-19 donor serum, which seems to be cross-reactive across multiple Sarbecoviruses, including the very similar SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV.

28 Apr 2021

Peptide nucleocapsid vaccine candidate elicits protective T cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in vivo

A new study describes a synthetic peptide used as a platform to generate protective adaptive cellular immunity to the virus in rhesus macaques, which are the gold standard for preclinical testing in humans.

28 Apr 2021

Scientists design 'smart' cellular biosensors for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike

New research led by Hana El-Samad of the University of California, San Francisco, and the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub confirmed the beneficial use of an antiviral therapeutic called SARSNotch, which uses a combination of the SynNotch platform and de-novo designed protein binders. SARSNotch uses sentinel T cells to detect and mount a genetic response toward the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein.

28 Apr 2021

Why do we lose our sense smell/taste with COVID?

The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) enzyme attached to the membranes of cells is the entry point for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). They are abundantly found all over the body and most prominently in the lungs and nose.

28 Apr 2021

Neonates exposed to SARS-CoV-2 can sustain adverse health outcomes

The incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission from mothers to newborns appears low and may be linked to biological as well as social factors. However, studies focusing on the factors associated with neonatal viral testing outcomes.

27 Apr 2021

SARS-CoV-2 virus neutralized with half-second exposure to very high temperature

As reported in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering, the team from Texas A&M University developed a simple fluidics system that measures the sub‐second heat inactivation of coronaviruses.

27 Apr 2021

Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) vaccine successfully curbs COVID-19 in Israel

Researchers in Israel have shown that three national programs established by the Israeli government have successfully reduced cases of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and death caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

27 Apr 2021

SARS-CoV-2 clade linked to disease severity in the early phase of the pandemic

A new study in the journal JAMA Network reports on the disease severity associated with some clades of the virus, from an analysis of genomes from specimens isolated in the initial phase of the pandemic.

27 Apr 2021

Israel study suggests elementary school reopenings are low-risk for COVID-19 transmission

Ever since COVID-19 first emerged with devastating ferocity, the emphasis has been on interrupting its spread until effective, safe and targeted antivirals and vaccines become available. The chief focus has been on non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including school closures, social distancing and shelter in place orders.

27 Apr 2021

Some heart medications may facilitate SARS-CoV-2 infection through increasing ACE2 receptor levels

An interesting poster, just presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 2021, reports an association between the use of certain heart medications and the risk of COVID-19.

27 Apr 2021