Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Is the BCG vaccine really protective against COVID-19?

A new paper published on the preprint server medRxiv in April 2020 challenges the hypothesis that BCG vaccination confers some degree of protection against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the pneumonic illness COVID-19.

26 Apr 2020

Oncologist and mum-to-be chronicles COVID-19 experiences

Writing in the latest issue of JAMA Oncology researcher Coral Olazagasti along with her Dr. Nagashree Seetharamu from Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra, Northwell Health, Hempstead, New York, spoke about her experience being pregnant during the present COVID-19 pandemic. Olazagasti’s chronicle is titled “Facing a pandemic while pregnant.”

26 Apr 2020

Women more concerned about COVID 19

Studies have revealed that men seem to be more at risk of getting severe effects of the COVID-19 infection compared to women. Studies also show that women seem to be worrying more about getting infected than men. Both these findings may be related to each other.

26 Apr 2020

Mapping complex peripheral immune response to severe COVID-19

In a recent article publicly available at medRxiv, researchers from Stanford have presented a single-cell atlas of the peripheral immune response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), highlighting pertinent immunological features associated with the severe forms of the disease.

26 Apr 2020

New approach to predicting the number of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases

Researchers in China have proposed a machine-based learning approach that predicts the transmission of COVID-19 and estimates the number of asymptomatic cases more accurately than classic virus transmission models.

26 Apr 2020

A new test for rapid large-scale testing of COVID-19

OU Medicine, the OU Health Sciences Center and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation collaborated to create a new test for COVID-19 using technology and reagents from Fluidigm Corporation, an innovative biotechnology tools provider

25 Apr 2020

OHSU researchers design low-cost ventilators using 3D printing technology

Responding to a looming global shortage of ventilators, a team from Oregon Health & Science University has come up a low-cost version that can be widely produced with 3D printing technology.

25 Apr 2020

Misinformation on COVID-19 is tied to media usage

People who relied on conservative media or social media in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak were more likely to be misinformed about how to prevent the virus and believe conspiracy theories about it, a study of media use and public knowledge has found.

25 Apr 2020

UCLA scientists receive awards to pursue treatments and vaccines for COVID-19

Three researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have received awards to pursue treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state's stem cell agency.

25 Apr 2020

New antibody test to identify individuals infected with COVID-19 virus

Several tests have been developed for detecting the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but these generally only allow detection of the virus during acute infection.

25 Apr 2020

Research Luxembourg launches Predi-COVID study

The Research Luxembourg COVID-19 task force announces the start of "Predi-COVID", a study that aims to identify important risk factors and biomarkers associated with COVID-19 severity and long-term health consequences of the disease in Luxembourg.

24 Apr 2020

Resurgence of measles or polio outbreaks likely to happen, experts warn

Interruptions to vaccination programmes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could result in new waves of measles or polio outbreaks, health experts warn.

24 Apr 2020

Improvements in air quality and health during COVID-19 lockdown

COVID-19 has devastated lives and communities and will have a horrendous impact on the economy, but it has also revealed some environmental truths that we as humans may not want to hear.

24 Apr 2020

USask's VIDO-Intervac receives $23 million to fast-track development of COVID-19 vaccine

The University of Saskatchewan's VIDO-InterVac (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre) has been awarded $23 million to fast-track efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today.

24 Apr 2020

Study looks into COVID‐19 preparedness in Michigan nursing homes

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit some nursing homes especially hard - including in the hotspot state of Michigan. Hundreds of deaths of residents in homes from Seattle to Boston have raised concerns about how well facilities are protecting the 1.3 million older Americans who live in them.

24 Apr 2020

Indiana State Department of Health and IU collaborate to study COVID-19 spread

The Indiana State Department of Health is collaborating with the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI to conduct a scientific study to measure the spread of COVID-19 throughout the state.

24 Apr 2020

FAU scientists aim to develop a passive vaccine against COVID-19

Nothing less than the development of a passive vaccine against Covid-19 has been undertaken by a team of scientists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Universitätsklinkum Erlangen and their partners from the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology in Leipzig and the German Primate Centre in Göttingen.

24 Apr 2020

Siemens Healthineers to expand SARS-CoV-2 testing to include a total antibody test to aid in the COVID-19 pandemic

Siemens Healthineers announced today it is significantly expanding its infectious disease testing capabilities to aid in the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the critical need for accurate diagnostic testing to manage COVID-19, the company has developed a laboratory-based total antibody test1 to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in blood.

From Siemens Healthineers Point of Care Diagnostics 24 Apr 2020

Anti-vaccine activists latch onto coronavirus to bolster their movement

While most of the world hungers for a vaccine to put an end to the death and economic destruction wrought by COVID-19, some anti-vaccine groups are joining with anti-lockdown protesters to challenge restrictions aimed at protecting public health.

24 Apr 2020