Category: Published Research
A molnupiravir-associated mutational signature in global SARS-CoV-2 genomes
Nature Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication that has been widely used against SARS-CoV-2, acts by inducing mutations in the virus genome during replication. Most random mutations are likely to be deleterious to the virus, and many will be lethal, and so molnupiravir-induced elevated mutation rates reduce viral load1,2. However, if some patients treated with molnupiravir do […]
Sep 26, 2023
Risk of long COVID main symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Nature This review aimed to summarise the relative risk (RR) of the main symptoms of long COVID in people infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared to uninfected controls, as well as the difference in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after infection. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, NLM-LitCovid, WHO-COVID-19, arXiv and Europe-PMC were searched up to 23rd March 2022. Studies […]
Sep 19, 2023
Molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 resistance to nirmatrelvir
Nature Nirmatrelvir is a specific antiviral targeting the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2, and has been approved to treat COVID-191,2. As an RNA virus characterized by high mutation rates, whether SARS-CoV-2 will develop resistance to nirmatrelvir is a concern. Our previous studies have shown that several mutational pathways confer resistance to nirmatrelvir but some result […]
Sep 12, 2023
Airborne transmission of human-isolated avian H3N8 influenza virus between ferrets
Cell H3N8 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in China caused two confirmed human infections in 2022, followed by a fatal case reported in 2023. H3N8 viruses are widespread in chicken flocks; however, the zoonotic features of H3N8 viruses are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that H3N8 viruses were able to infect and replicate efficiently in organotypic […]
Sep 5, 2023
Communication of COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media by Physicians in the US
JAMA Approximately one-third of the more than 1 100 000 confirmed COVID-19–related deaths as of January 18, 2023, were considered preventable if public health recommendations had been followed. Physicians’ propagation of misinformation about COVID-19 on social media and other internet-based platforms has raised professional, public health, and ethical concerns.
Aug 15, 2023
Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19
The Lancet Many patients with COVID-19 develop physical, cognitive, and mental health impairments that persist for more than 3 months after infection, known collectively as long COVID or post-COVID-19 condition. Survivors of COVID-19-related critical illness are also at risk of the complications of post-intensive care syndrome. These multisystem manifestations can have a devastating impact on […]
Jul 18, 2023
Nature The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has resulted in a serious public health burden worldwide. In addition to respiratory, heart, and gastrointestinal symptoms, patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 experience a number of persistent neurological and psychiatric symptoms, known as long COVID or “brain fog”. Studies […]
Jul 5, 2023
Blood Group A Enhances SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Key Points Among risk factors for SARS-CoV-2, ABO(H) blood group antigens have been one of the most recognized predictors of infection. However, the mechanisms whereby ABO(H) antigens influence susceptibility to COVID-19 remain incompletely understood. The receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, which facilitates host cell engagement, bears significant similarity to galectins, an ancient family of […]
Jun 27, 2023
The Journal of Infectious Diseases Understanding severity of infections with SARS-CoV-2 and its variants is crucial to inform public health measures. Here we used COVID-19 patient data from Hong Kong to characterise the severity profile of COVID-19. Methods Time-varying and age-specific effective severity measured by case-hospitalization risk and hospitalization-fatality risk was estimated with all individual […]
Jun 27, 2023
The Lancet Background The omicron BA.1 bivalent booster is used globally. Previous open-label studies of the omicron BA.1 (Moderna mRNA-1273.214) booster showed superior neutralising antibody responses against omicron BA.1 and other variants compared with the original mRNA-1273 booster. We aimed to compare the safety and immunogenicity of omicron BA.1 monovalent and bivalent boosters with the […]
Jun 20, 2023