Progress toward antiviral treatments for COVID-19
(American Institute of Physics) COVID-19 is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, which is structurally similar to the viruses that cause SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. In The Journal of Chemical Physics, scientists report molecular-level investigations of these viruses, providing a possible pathway to antiviral drugs to fight the diseases. They looked at a viral protein that plays a role in the virus's ability to replicate and in defeating the host's immune system, making it an attractive target for potential drug treatments. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - September 15, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Cochrane Rapid Review examines travel-related control measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic
Can travel-related control measures contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic?What are travel-related control measures?To contain the spread of COVID-19, numerous countries have implemented control measures related to international travel. These include:complete closure of borders (i.e. a total ban on any border crossings);partial travel restrictions (e.g. restrictions on air travel only, or restrictions on travellers from certain countries);entry or exit screening (e.g. when travellers are asked about symptoms, examined physically, or tested for infection when leaving or entering a country);quarantine of travellers (e...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - September 10, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Muriah Umoquit Source Type: news
The Great Vaccine Race: Inside the Unprecedented Scramble to Immunize the World Against COVID-19
The cleverest of enemies thrive on surprise attacks. Viruses—and coronaviruses in particular—know this well. Remaining hidden in animal hosts for decades, they mutate steadily, sometimes serendipitously morphing into more effective and efficient infectious agents. When a strain with just the right combination of genetic codes that spell trouble for people makes the leap from animal to human, the ambush begins.
Such was the case with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind COVID-19, and the attack was mostly silent and insidious at first. Many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 remained oblivious as they served as the v...
Source: TIME: Health - September 10, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Magazine Source Type: news
Roche receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization for the cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B Test for use on the cobas 6800/8800 Systems
Basel, 04 September 2020 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) today announced that the cobas ® SARS-CoV-2& Influenza A/B Test for use on the cobas ® 6800/8800 Systems has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This test is intended for the simultaneous qualitative detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A and Influenza B in patients suspected by their healthcare provider of having respiratory viral infection consistent with COVID-19. Additionally, it is available in markets accepting the CE mark.“With the approaching flu season, this new test is p...
Source: Roche Media News - September 4, 2020 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Roche receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization for the cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B Test for use on the cobas 6800/8800 Systems
Basel, 04 September 2020 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) today announced that the cobas ® SARS-CoV-2& Influenza A/B Test for use on the cobas ® 6800/8800 Systems has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This test is intended for the simultaneous qualitative detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A and Influenza B in patients suspected by their healthcare provider of having respiratory viral infection consistent with COVID-19. Additionally, it is available in markets accepting the CE mark.“With the approaching flu season, this new test is p...
Source: Roche Investor Update - September 4, 2020 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Plasmin could be the link between COVID-19 comorbidities and serious illness
(University of Alabama at Birmingham) Why is the COVID-19 virus more dangerous in people with comorbidities? Literature analysis shows that comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular illness, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney dysfunction all feature elevated levels of the extracellular protease plasmin. Plasmin is able to nick proteins sequences called furin sites. For many viruses, this nicking increases viral infectivity, including SARS and MERS -- the two virulent coronaviruses that are related to the COVID-19 virus. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - September 2, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
High rates of delirium, persistent fatigue and post-traumatic stress disorder were common after severe infection in previous coronavirus outbreaks, NIHR
Little is known about the mental health consequences of severe COVID-19 illness because it is caused by a new coronavirus. Previous outbreaks caused by other coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, MERS) may provide insights into ongoing problems after recovery from severe illness. (Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH))
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - August 28, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
How Convalescent Plasma Could Help Fight COVID-19
The last time most of us gave any thought to antibodies was probably in high school biology, but we’re getting a crash refresher course thanks to COVID-19. They are, after all, the key to our best defenses against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that’s caused the global pandemic. People who have been infected likely rely on antibodies to recover, and antibodies are what vaccines are designed to produce.
Or at least that’s what infectious-disease and public-health experts assume for now. Because SARS-CoV-2 is such a new virus, even the world’s best authorities aren’t yet sure what it will take to build p...
Source: TIME: Health - August 24, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Leading in Time of COVID: A True Test of Leadership
By Folake OlayinkaAug 15 2020 (IPS) In 1918, the Spanish Flu, a deadly influenza caused by the H1N1 virus, decimated the world. Over the course of four successive waves, it infected 500 million people, about a third of the world’s population at the time, resulting in 50 million deaths.
More recently between 2014 and mid-2016 , the Ebola virus epidemic was the most widespread outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history—causing devastating loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the West Africa region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. These outbreaks, as well as SARS and MERS, each have provided lessons...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - August 15, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Folake Olayinka Tags: Democracy Headlines Health Source Type: news
High rates of delirium, persistent fatigue and post-traumatic stress disorder were common after severe infection in previous coronavirus outbreaks, NIHR
Little is known about the mental health consequences of severe COVID-19 illness because it is caused by a new coronavirus. Previous outbreaks caused by other coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, MERS) may provide insights into ongoing problems after recovery from severe illness. Researchers looked at reports of psychiatric problems during SARS and MERS outbreaks and compared this to early data from the COVID-19 pandemic. Delirium (sudden confusion) was common while patients were in hospital with any of the coronavirus infections (SARS, MERS or COVID-19). Later, once ...
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - August 13, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Africa: The One Health Approach to Preventing the Next Pandemic
[AfricaFocus] Editor's Note: "COVID-19 is just one example of the rising trend of diseases - from Ebola to MERS to West Nile and Rift Valley fevers - caused by viruses that have jumped from animal hosts into the human population. ... The rising trend in zoonotic diseases is driven by the degradation of our natural environment - through land degradation, wildlife exploitation, resource extraction, climate change, and other stresses." - Press release from UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Livestock Re (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - August 3, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Broad antivirals kill SARS-CoV-2, the MERS virus, and other coronaviruses in cells and mice
(American Association for the Advancement of Science) A team of scientists has engineered antiviral compounds that can kill several types of coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - August 3, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Bill Gates on How the U.S. Can Course Correct Its COVID-19 Response: ‘You Wish Experts Were Taking Charge’
The U.S. domestic response to the COVID-19 pandemic thus far has been “weak,” Bill Gates believes. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair and Microsoft co-founder told TIME senior health correspondent Alice Park during a TIME100 Talks discussion on Thursday that he’d give the U.S.’s COVID-19 response, “on a relative and absolute basis, not a passing grade.”
But, he added, the U.S.’s funding for vaccine and therapeutic research “has been the best in the world,” so if it coordinates to share resources globally, the U.S. could “potentially score the highest&...
Source: TIME: Health - July 30, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Madeleine Carlisle Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 News Desk TIME100 Talks Source Type: news
Inside the Global Quest to Trace the Origins of COVID-19 —and Predict Where It Will Go Next
It wasn’t greed, or curiosity, that made Li Rusheng grab his shotgun and enter Shitou Cave. It was about survival. During Mao-era collectivization of the early 1970s, food was so scarce in the emerald valleys of southwestern China’s Yunnan province that farmers like Li could expect to eat meat only once a year–if they were lucky. So, craving protein, Li and his friends would sneak into the cave to hunt the creatures they could hear squeaking and fluttering inside: bats.
Li would creep into the gloom and fire blindly at the vaulted ceiling, picking up any quarry that fell to the ground, while his companion...
Source: TIME: Health - July 23, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Charlie Campbell/ Yuxi, Yunnan and Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 feature Magazine Source Type: news
Early COVID-19 Vaccine Results Look ‘Really Encouraging,’ Says NIH Boss Dr. Francis Collins
This article is part of #TIME100Talks: Finding Hope, a special series featuring leaders across different fields encouraging action toward a better world. Want more? Sign up for access to more virtual events, including live conversations with influential newsmakers. (Source: TIME: Health)
Source: TIME: Health - July 17, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Chris Wilson Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 TIME100 Talks Source Type: news
