Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Latest Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

What are the chief predictors of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children?

A new study seeks to explore the factors associated with the diagnosis in children. The ability to rapidly diagnose COVID-19 in this age group is essential not only for monitoring progressive disease in individual children, but to avert further transmission chains.

22 Mar 2021

Could nanoparticle vaccines offer broad protection against sarbecoviruses?

To understand the ability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-elicited antibodies to neutralize and protect against emerging variants (that are pathogenic) and other sarbecoviruses, a large team of researchers studied immunity by receptor-binding domain nanoparticle vaccines. They showed that a clinical-stage multivalent SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain nanoparticle vaccine (SARS-CoV-2 RBD-NP) protected mice from the SARS-CoV-2-induced disease.

22 Mar 2021

Asymptomatic individuals the biggest problem in COVID battle

The researchers noted in a study published in the journal Science, that asymptomatic cases are those that do not manifest symptoms for the infection duration. In contrast, presymptomatic cases develop symptoms later in the course of infection.

21 Mar 2021

Clofazimine inhibits coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, study finds

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong found that Clofazimine, a lipophilic antimicrobial riminophenazine dye used in combination with agents like rifampicin and dapsone to treat leprosy, inhibits coronaviruses, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.

21 Mar 2021

Blocking folate metabolism could reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral replication in infected cells

The novel beta-coronavirus virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and coronaviruses, in general, alter the host's cellular metabolism to support massive production of ~30 kB viral genomes and subgenomic viral RNAs. However, how this is achieved is largely unknown.

21 Mar 2021

A review of the resilience of Chinese hospitals to the COVID-19 pandemic

A new review article, published on the medRxiv* preprint server, deals with several different aspects such as medical response capability, disaster health management, disaster preparedness, and health infrastructure safety, in China, by which they survived the COVID-19 crisis.

21 Mar 2021

Circular RNA vaccine shows neutralizing activity against B.1.351 variant

New preclinical research led by Wensheng Wei from Peking University in China has proposed the development of a circular RNA vaccine. Their findings showed the circular RNA vaccine creates neutralizing antibodies and strong T-cell responses against the receptor-binding domain of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein.

21 Mar 2021

ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 offers less protection against South African SARS-CoV-2 variant

The results of a double-blind, randomized, multisite placebo-controlled trial that was conducted in South Africa show that Oxford’s ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine has no efficacy against the B.1.351 variant in preventing mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and shows reduced neutralization properties of developed antibodies. The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Mar 2021

COVID-19 in pregnancy associated with preeclampsia, stillbirth, preterm birth

Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in pregnancy is associated with preeclampsia, stillbirth, preterm birth and other adverse outcomes, found new research published in CMAJ.

20 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 spike stimulates hyperinflammation via Toll-like receptor 2

A new study, released on the bioRxiv* preprint server, describes the mechanism of inflammation in severe COVID-19, besides revealing a potential new therapeutic target to modulate the severity of COVID-19.

19 Mar 2021

DNA spike-ins increase reliability of amplicon-based sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genomes

In the interests of cost-effectiveness and rapidity, amplicon-based sequencing of the viral genome has been used to provide a sensitive means of genomic surveillance. A new preprint, which was released on the bioRxiv* server, shows how this can be tweaked to make it a reliable source of genomic data by reducing the known potential for contamination.

19 Mar 2021

New variant may not have changed COVID-19 pandemic course in UK, says study

A new study examines the effect of the new "Kent variant" of SARS-CoV-2 on the epidemic course within the UK.

19 Mar 2021

Researchers explore nanotechnology’s potential to deliver synergistic therapeutics for COVID-19

A team of scientists reviewed the nanoencapsulation approaches of synergistic compounds (Lectins, Caffeine, Cocoa, Flavonoids, Quercetin) and the role of nanotechnology in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

19 Mar 2021

Study examines efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine across demographic groups

A new study examines data from Israel's vaccination campaign to assess the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine across different demographics.

19 Mar 2021

Study shows how ACE2 mutations influence SARS-CoV-2 spike binding in humans and animals

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison aimed to better understand how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with various mammalian angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors. This way, they can identify the factors that influence intra- and cross-species virus transmission.

18 Mar 2021

Engineering immunogens to focus immune response to SARS-CoV-2

Researchers have designed constructs by adding more glycans and adding the receptor-binding motif from related sarbecoviruses to focus the immune response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) receptor-binding motif. Such immunogens could potentially also neutralize other variants and coronaviruses.

18 Mar 2021

Identifying druggable targets on an essential SARS-CoV-2 protein

In a research paper recently uploaded to the preprint server bioRxiv by Newman et al. (March 15th, 2021) the structure and role of one such protein: NSP13, is investigated, with two appealingly druggable targets being identified, possibly opening a new route towards a novel SARS-CoV-2 antiviral agent.

18 Mar 2021

Fighting SARS-CoV-2 with materials science

In a recent editorial in the journal Emergent Materials, Dr. Huseyin C. Yalcin from Qatar University Biomedical Research Center and Dr. Ajeet Kaushik from Florida Polytechnic University announce several important developments in their timely special issue entitled “Materials Science in the Battle against COVID-19”.

18 Mar 2021

UK SARS-CoV-2 variant 40% more transmissible than previous strains

Researchers in Japan have estimated that the B.1.1.7 strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that recently emerged in England is 40% more transmissible than strains previously circulating in the country.

18 Mar 2021

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination should be carefully targeted towards certain groups, say researchers

Researchers in the UK have provided important insights into the impact that vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – may have on infection rates, disease prevalence and immune escape by the virus.

18 Mar 2021