Category: Science and Tech
The Genetic Edge: Unmasking the Secret of COVID-19 “Super Dodgers”
Sci Tech Daily Scientists have discovered a gene variant, HLA-B*15:01, linked to asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, opening potential avenues for new treatments and vaccines. People who contract COVID-19 but never develop symptoms – the so-called super dodgers – may have a genetic ace up their sleeve. They’re more than twice as likely as those who become symptomatic to […]
Nov 14, 2023
How tiny hinges bend the infection-spreading spikes of a coronavirus
Science Daily Disabling those hinges could be a good strategy for designing vaccines and treatments against a broad range of coronavirus infections, including COVID-19. Far from being stiff and pointy, a coronavirus’s infectious spikes are shaped like chicken drumsticks with the meaty part facing out, and the meaty part can tilt every which way on […]
Nov 14, 2023
In a first, scientists see viruses cling to each other
Times of India In a groundbreaking discovery, reported by LiveScience, scientists have observed an unprecedented phenomenon in which one virus attached itself to another. This unique event involves two bacteriophage viruses that are believed to have cooperated in the replication process. “No one has ever seen a bacteriophage — or any other virus — attach […]
Nov 7, 2023
Paxlovid Probably Won’t Cut Your Odds for Long COVID: Study
HealthDay The antiviral drug Paxlovid is great at treating COVID-19 infections, but a new study casts doubt on its effectiveness at preventing symptoms associated with long COVID. Nearly 9,600 veterans given Paxlovid had about the same risk of most post-COVID side effects as vets not treated with the antiviral med, according to findings published Oct. […]
Nov 1, 2023
Anti-COVID drug accelerates viral evolution
Nature Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug used to treat COVID-19, induces numerous mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome that can increase the rate at which the virus evolves — yielding viral variants that might survive and be passed on. Drugs are potent weapons against viral pathogens. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were intensive […]
Oct 24, 2023
Smell loss from COVID fades quickly with help of new pill
Nature The antiviral drug ensitrelvir eases both smell and taste loss, and is one of the few COVID-19 drugs available to people not at high risk of grave illness. New clinical-trial data suggest that an antiviral pill called ensitrelvir shortens the duration of two unpleasant symptoms of COVID-19: loss of smell and taste. The medication is among the first […]
Oct 17, 2023
Holy immunity! Bat genes key against COVID, cancer
CSHL Bats have acquired remarkable traits throughout their evolution. They’re the only mammals that can fly, and they live much longer than other animals their size. But perhaps most impressive is their robust immune system. It protects bats from viruses that wreak havoc in humans, like COVID-19 or Ebola. It also keeps bats relatively cancer-free. How? […]
Oct 17, 2023
Lab Leak Fight Casts Chill Over Virology Research
NYT Scientists doing “gain-of-function” research said that heightened fears of lab leaks are stalling studies that could thwart the next pandemic virus. Questions about whether Covid leaked from a Chinese laboratory have cast a chill over American virus research, drying up funding for scientists who collect or alter dangerous pathogens and intensifying a debate over […]
Oct 17, 2023
How gene editing could help curb the spread of bird flu
MIT Technology Review The disease kills millions of birds each year, and it has recently started to spread among mammals too. Gene editing could help prevent chickens from catching and spreading bird flu, according to a proof-of-concept study. Researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter the DNA of 10 chickens to resist the bird […]
Oct 10, 2023
RedHill’s antiviral, once tested for COVID, works in mice with Ebola
Fierce Pharma RedHill Biopharma, in collaboration with the U.S. Army, announced Oct. 3 that twice-daily oral doses of the medication opaganib boosted survival from about six days in controls to 11 days in animals infected with the virus. In the group treated with the highest dose, 30% of the mice survived, compared to none of […]
Oct 3, 2023