Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Lessons for COVID-19 from 2009 H1N1

The world has experienced many outbreaks of viral diseases. Over the past two decades, we have also seen the emergence of zoonotic human respiratory coronaviruses with pandemic potential.

13 May 2020

Low albumin levels could predict poor outcome in COVID-19

A Spanish study has revealed that COVID-19 patients who have a low level of albumin have a poorer outcome compared to those with normal levels of blood albumin. The study titled, “Low albumin levels are associated with poorer outcomes in a case series of COVID-19 patients in Spain: a retrospective cohort study,” was released prior to peer-review on the open-access preprint server site Medrxiv*.

13 May 2020

Study shows 19 out of 25 COVID-19 patients improved with convalescent plasma treatment

The country's first convalescent plasma transfusion trial results have been published and show 19 out of 25 patients improved with the treatment, and 11 were discharged from the hospital.

13 May 2020

Leave packages unopened and untouched for 72 hours to prevent the spread of COVID-19

Researchers have advised that people need to leave their parcels and packages unopened and untouched for 72 hours to help stop the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 disease. The virus, as is evident from the raging pandemic across the world, is highly infectious and could survive on surfaces for up to 72 hours.

13 May 2020

COVID-19 lockdown exit strategies: deliverance or disaster?

A new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge, Universidad de Sevilla, and the University of Massachusetts, published on the preprint server medRxiv in May 2020, shows that it is essential to choose a restrictive exit strategy while easing COVID-19 lockdowns, because failure to do so may lead to catastrophic results.

13 May 2020

Researchers identify CoV Mac1 proteins as a potential SARS-CoV-2 drug target

A recent study by researchers at the University of Kansas and published on the preprint server bioRxiv* reveals that Mac1 protein implicated in the infection process of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has a strikingly similar structure and activity in all coronaviruses – suggesting that possible future treatments targeting this protein may exert broad antiviral activity.

13 May 2020

U of A researchers and Tonix Pharmaceuticals join forces to develop, test COVID-19 vaccine

University of Alberta researchers launched a joint effort with U.S.-based Tonix Pharmaceuticals to develop and test a vaccine against COVID-19.

13 May 2020

Placentas of pregnant women with COVID-19 showed abnormalities

A study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, Chicago, has found that the placentas of pregnant women who were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) showed abnormalities, compared with those of uninfected women.

13 May 2020

Research explores how COVID-19 is spreading and mutating in the environment

A multi-disciplinary team of experts in virology and computer modeling has quickly assembled at San Diego State University to learn more about how the new coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads in the environment and how its trajectory can be better predicted.

13 May 2020

Study on airborne virus transmission in buildings launched

As society prepares to reopen indoor spaces and ease back into some sense of normalcy during the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is launching a study of the risk of airborne transmission of viruses within buildings and how to mitigate those risks.

13 May 2020

Study shows why older individuals are vulnerable to COVID-19

A group of tiny RNA that should attack the virus causing COVID-19 when it tries to infect the body are diminished with age and chronic health problems, a decrease that likely helps explain why older individuals and those with preexisting medical conditions are vulnerable populations, investigators report.

13 May 2020

Experts review symptoms, diagnosis, and current treatment of COVID-19

The ongoing economic and social impact of the pandemic is staggering, but despite a daily flood of news on the disease, few laypeople know that paradoxically, COVID-19 mostly kills through an overreaction of the immune system, whose function is precisely to fight infections.

13 May 2020

Vaccine design can face specific challenges, say researchers

The goal of a vaccine is to trigger a response that safely protects against an infection and/or the burden of disease.

13 May 2020

Hospital workers complain of minimal disclosure after COVID exposures

Dinah Jimenez assumed a world-class hospital would be better prepared than a chowder house to inform workers when they had been exposed to a deadly virus.

13 May 2020

Racial status and the pandemic: A combustible mixture

In early March, Madalynn Rucker, then 69, agonized over whether to close her Sacramento consultancy office.

13 May 2020

Researchers assess potential impact of COVID-19 on people with psychosis

Researchers at Orygen and La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia have completed a rapid review of contemporary epidemic and pandemic research to assess the potential impact of COVID-19 on people with psychosis.

13 May 2020

Applying AI to map how COVID-19 virus attacks the heart

A joint UK-US research team is applying a pioneering artificial intelligence system to map for the first time how the COVID-19 virus attacks the heart with such deadly impact.

13 May 2020

New study investigates the effect of asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission

COVID-19's rapid spread throughout the world has been fueled in part by the virus' ability to be transmitted by people who are not showing symptoms of infection.

13 May 2020

COVID-19 pandemic is taking toll on mental and physical health of smokers

The havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic is twofold: in addition to suffering direct effects of the virus, the world is grappling with the challenge of social distancing.

13 May 2020

Quest and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics join forces to expand COVID-19 antibody testing

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a global leader of in vitro diagnostics with a rich history of bringing critical tests for infectious diseases to market, today announced it is working with Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, to expand COVID-19 antibody testing to more than 20 Quest laboratories across the U.S.

13 May 2020