Category: COVID
What a ‘Tripledemic’ Means for Your Body
(The Atlantic) In 2020, and again in 2021, the dreaded twindemic never came. The worry among experts was that a winter COVID surge layered on top of flu season—or even, in worst-case scenarios, a flu outbreak of pandemic proportions—would push already strained hospitals to the brink. Thankfully, we got lucky. Flu season simply didn’t materialize […]
Nov 10, 2022
(Nature) SARS-CoV-2 infection causes COVID-19, a severe acute respiratory disease associated with cardiovascular complications including long-term outcomes. The presence of virus in cardiac tissue of patients with COVID-19 suggests this is a direct, rather than secondary, effect of infection. Here, by expressing individual SARS-CoV-2 proteins in the Drosophila heart, we demonstrate interaction of virus Nsp6 with host […]
Nov 8, 2022
How a SARS-CoV-2 virus protein damages the heart?
(Tech Expert) Scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Center for Precision Disease Modeling identified how SARS-CoV-2 damages heart tissue. Last year, in research involving fruit flies and human cells, the most lethal SARS-CoV-2 proteins were discovered. They found a promising drug selinexor reduced the toxicity of one of these proteins but not the […]
Nov 8, 2022
New VA study finds Paxlovid may cut the risk of long COVID
(NPR) It’s well-documented that Paxlovid — a 5-day course of antiviral pills from Pfizer — can reduce the risk of hospitalization in COVID-19 patients who are more likely to develop severe illness. Now, researchers from the Veterans Health Administration find that taking the medication may also reduce the risks of later developing long COVID, according […]
Nov 8, 2022
Pfizer’s Paxlovid Antiviral Lowered Long-Covid Risk in Study
(Bloomberg) Pfizer Inc.’s blockbuster Paxlovid antiviral that lowers rates of illness and death in people infected with the coronavirus also cuts the risk of some symptoms of disabling long Covid, a study found.Taking the oral medication within five days of testing positive for a SARS-CoV-2 infection was linked to a 26% lower risk of lingering […]
Nov 7, 2022
Pulmonary Dysfunction after Pediatric COVID-19
(Radiology) Long COVID occurs in lower frequency in children and adolescents than in adults. Morphologic and free-breathing phase-resolved functional low-field MRI may identify persistent pulmonary manifestations after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Nov 4, 2022
(Pfizer) today announced the advancement of an mRNA-based combination vaccine candidate for influenza and COVID-19 to a Phase 1 trial with the aim to address two severe respiratory diseases with one vaccine. The first participant has been dosed in a Phase 1 trial evaluating the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a nucleoside-modified RNA (modRNA)-based combination […]
Nov 4, 2022
(CDC) We investigated a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections in a quarantine hotel in Taiwan in December 2021. The cluster involved 3 case patients who lived in nonadjacent rooms on different floors. They had no direct contact during their stay. By direct exploration of the space above the room ceilings, we found residual tunnels, wall defects, […]
Nov 4, 2022
Pfizer, BioNTech say bivalent COVID-19 booster shot performs better against BA.5 omicron subvariant
(ABC News) American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced Friday that a booster dose of their bivalent COVID-19 vaccine performs better against two circulating versions of the omicron variant, compared with a booster shot of their original vaccine.According to a joint press release, updated data from a Phase 2-3 clinical trial shows […]
Nov 4, 2022
A Reporter in Search of Long Covid’s Impact
(Bloomberg Prognosis/Jason Gale) While the evidence is still emerging, what’s clear already is that the social and economic impacts are profound. Harvard economist David Cutler puts the cost of long Covid at $3.7 trillion in the US alone. And the condition could impair more than 140 million people worldwide.
Nov 3, 2022