COVID-19: Don't Forget About Plasmapheresis COVID-19: Don't Forget About Plasmapheresis
The strategy to filter out virions from infected plasma has been tested with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Why not consider it for SARS-CoV2, asks nephrologist Tejas Desai.Medscape Nephrology (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)
Source: Medscape Today Headlines - April 28, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Nephrology Viewpoint Source Type: news
Why Reproductive Rights Must Be a Critical Part of Our Arsenal to Fight Pandemics
A pregnant woman in Kenya's North Eastern Province with one of her children. Overpopulation in the area contributes to poor maternal health. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPSBy Siddharth ChatterjeeNAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 27 2020 (IPS) Sexual and reproductive health and pandemics might seem to be unrelated topics, but large and dense populations are drivers of the high velocity transmission of COVID-19, and there are lessons to be learned for the future.
Gains made in women’s sexual reproductive health and rights just took several steps backward in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to contraceptives has been interrupted, r...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - April 27, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Siddharth Chatterjee Tags: Africa Combating Desertification and Drought Gender Violence Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Women's Health Source Type: news
The World Health Organization ’s Maria Van Kerkhove On Balancing Science, Public Relations and Politics
Maria Van Kerkhove had never held a World Health Organization (WHO) press briefing before January. Now, people in countries across the globe tune in almost daily to watch the American epidemiologist—along with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Dr. Mike Ryan—break down the latest updates in the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic.
The job is not easy, particularly given recent criticism of the WHO’s handling of COVID-19 in its earliest days in China. The Trump Administration pulled U.S. funding to the WHO earlier this month, alleging that it...
Source: TIME: Health - April 27, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Potential Effectiveness and Safety of Antiviral Agents in Children with Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Rapid Review and Meta-Analysis, MedRxiv, 2020
Conclusions: There is no evidence showing the effectiveness of antiviral agents for children with COVID-19, and the clinical efficacy of existing antiviral agents is still uncertain. We do not suggest clinical routine use of antivirals for COVID-19 in children, with the exception of clinical trials. (Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH))
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - April 24, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Leaked Data From a Key Remdesivir Study Suggest the Potential Coronavirus Drug Is Not Effective
A summary of a study conducted in China on a potential COVID-19 treatment, remdesivir, was posted on the World Health Organization (WHO) website on Thursday and then removed.
The researchers responsible for the study had not approved its posting; Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson told STAT that it was “inadvertently posted on the website and taken down as soon as the mistake was noticed. The manuscript is undergoing peer review and we are waiting for a final version before WHO comments.”
Remdesivir, an experimental drug originally developed to treat Ebola, is not yet approved for that or any other disease. Bu...
Source: TIME: Health - April 23, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
What Is Contact Tracing? Here ’s How It Could Be Used to Help Fight Coronavirus
In the coronavirus era, a host of epidemiological terms have entered common public use. There’s the now-ubiquitous “social distancing,” and the newly politicized “flatten the curve.” And as states and local governments seek a way out of lockdowns that have brought their economies to a near-standstill, “contact tracing” has made its way into everyday conversation as well.
But what exactly is contact tracing, and how can it help society battle the COVID-19 epidemic? Here, the basics of the time-tested public health strategy, and the hopes for its use in the coronavirus pandemic:
Wh...
Source: TIME: Health - April 22, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alejandro de la Garza Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 UnitedWeRise20Disaster Source Type: news
What Is Contact Tracing? Here ’s How It Could Be Used to Help Fight Coronavirus
In the coronavirus era, a host of epidemiological terms have entered common public use. There’s the now-ubiquitous “social distancing,” and the newly politicized “flatten the curve.” And as states and local governments seek a way out of lockdowns that have brought their economies to a near-standstill, “contact tracing” has made its way into everyday conversation as well.
But what exactly is contact tracing, and how can it help society battle the COVID-19 epidemic? Here, the basics of the time-tested public health strategy, and the hopes for its use in the coronavirus pandemic:
Wh...
Source: TIME: Science - April 22, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Alejandro de la Garza Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 UnitedWeRise20Disaster Source Type: news
Crunching the coronavirus curve is better than flattening it, as New Zealand is showing | Devi Sridhar
Countries that are actively working to contain coronavirus are buying themselves time to deal with its uncertain outcomesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAs Sars-CoV-2 has spread across the world, some countries have reacted with alarm and thorough preparations, given their previous experiences with Mers or Sars. In these countries, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam, containment of the novel coronavirus became the imperative, regardless of cost. However, other countries chose to treat it like a bad flu strain that would be unstoppable and spread across the population until some...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 22, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Devi Sridhar Tags: Coronavirus outbreak Infectious diseases Epidemics Science World news New Zealand UK news Asia Pacific Source Type: news
Promising MERS coronavirus vaccine trial in humans
(German Center for Infection Research) Scientists at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have now conducted a first-in-human trial with a vaccine against MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). The MVA-MERS-S vaccine was tolerated well and triggered the development of antibodies and T cell immunity. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - April 22, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Development: An Example of the Prototype Pathogen Approach for Pandemic Preparedness
Source: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [National Institutes of Health] (NIAID). Published: 4/22/2020.
In this one-hour presentation, the speaker discusses the prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness that has been applied to the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS CoV) over the last seven years, and explains the prototype pathogen approach in the context of developing a rapid COVID-19 vaccine.
(Video or Multimedia) (Source: Disaster Lit: Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health)
Source: Disaster Lit: Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health - April 22, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Coronavirus: five months on, what scientists know about Covid-19
Medical researchers have been studying everything we know about Covid-19. What have they learned – and is it enough to halt the pandemic?Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCoronaviruses have been causing problems for humanity for a long time. Several versions are known to trigger common colds and more recently two types have set off outbreaks of deadly illnesses: severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers).But their impact has been mild compared with the global havoc unleashed by the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic. In only a few months...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 21, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Robin McKie, Science Editor Tags: Coronavirus outbreak Infectious diseases Medical research Microbiology Science Source Type: news
‘We Don’t Blindly Accept Data.’ Top WHO Official Defends the Group’s Response to COVID-19
As the standoff between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Trump Administration continues, a top WHO official is defending the organization’s efforts to gather and share information about COVID-19 with the world, despite “the politics in the way right now.”
In an interview with TIME, Maria Van Kerkhove, the American infectious-disease epidemiologist serving as the WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, pushed back on criticism from people, including U.S. President Donald Trump, that the WHO was too reliant on Chinese data and waited too long to warn the world about risks like widespread person-...
Source: TIME: Health - April 20, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Factors that influence whether healthcare workers follow infection prevention and control guidelines for respiratory infectious diseases
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new respiratory infectious disease that has spread quickly throughout the world. Healthcare workers treating patients with COVID-19 are at risk of infection themselves through droplets from coughs, sneezes or other body fluids from infected patients and contaminated surfaces.This review is one of a series of rapid reviews that Cochrane contributors have prepared to inform the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this Cochrane review of qualitative research ( “qualitative evidence synthesis”) is to explore factors that influence whether healthcare workers follow infection prevention and control...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - April 20, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Lydia Parsonson Source Type: news
The Better Half: On the Genetic Superiority of Women review – bold study of chromosomal advantage
Sharon Moalem offers an intriguing theory on how two X chromosomes give women the edge in everything from colour vision to coronavirusIt was noticeable from the initial outbreak in Wuhan that Covid-19 was killing more men than women. By February,data from China, which involved 44,672 confirmed cases of the respiratory disease, revealed the death rate for men was 2.8%, compared to 1.7% among women. For past respiratory epidemics, including Sars, Mers and the 1918 Spanish flu, men were also at significantly greater risk. But why?Much of the reason for the Covid-19 disparity was put down to men ’s riskier behaviours – aro...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 19, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Gaia Vince Tags: Science and nature books Genetics Biology Culture Source Type: news
More Encouraging Signs for Remdesivir as COVID-19 Treatment
Researchers at University of Chicago reported promising results from a small study of remdesivir in treating people with COVID-19.
The findings were not published in a peer-reviewed journal, but revealed in an internal video discussion of the drug trial among University of Chicago faculty that was obtained by STAT.
The study included 125 people with COVID-19, all of whom were treated with the remdesivir, which is not currently approved in the U.S. for treating any disease. Of the 125 patients in the Chicago study, 113 had severe disease, meaning they had difficulty breathing. In the video discussion, Kathleen Mullane, a pr...
Source: TIME: Health - April 17, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
