Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

CMU researchers develop new technique for isolating brain cells associated with Parkinson's disease

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a new technique for isolating a type of brain cell associated with Parkinson's disease symptoms, enabling them to study that cell type in detail.

16 Nov 2020

First-ever phase 3 advanced anal cancer trial opens for patient enrollment

The first randomized phase 3 clinical trial ever to be conducted in patients with advanced cancer of the anal canal is now open and enrolling patients.

16 Nov 2020

Sanger Institute and COG-UK get £12.2M funding to build genomic surveillance system for COVID-19

The Department for Health and Social Care Testing Innovation Fund has backed the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium in expanding whole genome sequencing of positive SARS-CoV-2 virus samples to map how COVID-19 spreads and evolves.

16 Nov 2020

COVID-19 outbreak on an American aircraft carrier: A case study in transmission

A new study showing the dynamics of infectious spread within close quarters of an aircraft carrier. The study presents a rich case study that may help us better understand the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2’s transmission and thereby fine-tune present policies that aim to prevent its spread.

16 Nov 2020

Antifungal agent Itraconazole inhibits SARS CoV-2 in vitro

Itraconazole is a broad-spectrum antifungal agent that has been shown to have some in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 by a team of Belgian and German researchers.

16 Nov 2020

Nanobodies: unharnessed potential in COVID-19 treatment

A new study published in the Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics in October 2020 discusses the use of nanobodies in diagnosing and treating this deadly disease.

16 Nov 2020

Care pathways for pregnant women with COVID‐19

A recent review published in the journal Global Challenges in October 2020, sums up what is currently known about the treatment of COVID-19 during pregnancy and offers recommendations for how healthcare professions might better manage pregnant COVID-19 patients in the future.

16 Nov 2020

Goblet cells are prime target for SARS-CoV-2, study finds

A recent study reports that in the airway of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a type of airway epithelial cell – called a goblet cell – presents a prime target for the virus and plays a vital role in promoting viral replication in this tissue.

16 Nov 2020

Xylitol and grapefruit seed extract nasal spray could help COVID-19 patients

United States based researchers have published a report exploring the potential role of Xylitol and Grapefruit seed extract (in the form of a nasal spray) in treating COVID-19.

16 Nov 2020

Researchers explain why COVID-19 infects older people and spares younger children

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and their colleagues have determined a key factor as to why COVID-19 appears to infect and sicken adults and older people preferentially while seeming to spare younger children.

16 Nov 2020

Long-term care workers, grieving and under siege, brace for COVID’s next round

In the middle of the night, Stefania Silvestri lies in bed remembering her elderly patients' cries.

16 Nov 2020

Homeless shelters grapple with COVID safety as cold creeps in

Ben Barnes has slept in abandoned buildings, hallways and alleys. For the past year or so, he's been staying at the city's largest homeless shelter, Pacific Garden Mission, in the shadows of the famous skyline.

16 Nov 2020

Study sheds new light on the immune system response to COVID-19

A team of immunology experts from research organizations in Belgium and the UK has come together to apply their pioneering research methods to put individuals' COVID-19 responses under the microscope.

16 Nov 2020

Antiviral immune response is suppressed in COVID-19 patients compared to flu patients

Rather than life-threatening hyperinflammation, most adults with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 have a suppressed viral immune response when compared to adults with another viral respiratory infection, influenza. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis led research that suggests most COVID-19 patients are not candidates for treatment with steroids such as dexamethasone.

16 Nov 2020

Difference in antibody evolution could predict COVID-19 outcomes

For COVID-19, the difference between surviving and not surviving severe disease may be due to the quality, not the quantity, of the patients' antibody development and response, suggests a new Cell paper published by Galit Alter, PhD, a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard.

16 Nov 2020

Global health leaders discuss the urgent funding needs of ACT Accelerator

Heads of state, global health leaders, scientists, and the private sector have come together at the Paris Peace Forum this week to discuss how to meet the urgent funding needs of the ACT Accelerator.

16 Nov 2020

New Timestrip indicators to support the use of promising coronavirus vaccines

Timestrip®, the developer of smart indicator technology, has moved fast to develop a range of products that support use of the coronavirus vaccines now promising to become available.

16 Nov 2020

Primate model helps detect features of COVID-19 virus

Features of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19, which could be useful for developing vaccines and treatment strategies, were identified using a nonhuman primate model developed at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB).

16 Nov 2020

Study explains why conservatives and liberals differ on COVID-19 threat

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, political ideology has been perhaps the strongest predictor of consumers' perceptions of the coronavirus' threat.

16 Nov 2020

Researchers use aerosolized molecules to shut down proteins generated by coronavirus

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have successfully used molecules comprised of small strands of RNA to shut down the production of destructive proteins generated by the COVID-19 virus.

16 Nov 2020