Category: Science and Tech
What Happened to the Monoclonal Antibodies for COVID-19?
(MedPageToday) Losing focus on monoclonals means neglecting those who need them most: the immunocompromised. Hello, it’s Jeremy Faust, editor-in-chief of MedPage Today. Thanks for joining us. Today, I’m going to cover an article I wrote in Inside Medicine called, “Data Snapshot: The rise and fall of monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19opens in a new tab or window.” Six monoclonal […]
Feb 13, 2023
Technologies Spearheading Infectious Disease Research
(Genetic Engineering and Biotech News) Infectious diseases, believed to be a thing of the past only a few decades ago owing to the discovery of antibiotics, have resurfaced as an area of active research with the rampant spread of antimicrobial resistance and evolving viruses. Caused by pathogens ranging in size from viruses to worms that […]
Feb 13, 2023
Will mink-to-mink H5N1 flu on a farm in Spain spread ferret-to-ferret in a lab?
(ISDA) Last week, Aguero et al. reported in the journal Eurosurveillance that in October 2022, H5N1 avian influenza (clade 2.3.4.4b) caused mink-to-mink infections and some deaths (peak of 4.3%) on a farm with more than 51,000 mink in Galicia in northwest Spain. Although H5N1 “avian flu” has infected limited numbers of mammalian species, this is the first reported outbreak […]
Feb 8, 2023
2022 was a breakthrough year for understanding rare diseases. 2023 needs to be better
(STAT) Major advances in the study and treatment of rare diseases occurred in 2022, from a better understanding of just how many of these diseases exist to the start of new clinical trials that may lead to new therapies. For the last decade or so, the number of accepted rare diseases has stood between 7,000 […]
Feb 7, 2023
Three Montana Grizzly Bears Euthanized Last Fall Tested Positive for Avian Flu
(NYT) The bears are believed to have contracted the virus from diseased birds, amid what a U.S.D.A. spokesman called the “largest foreign animal disease outbreak in U.S. history.” Three young grizzly bears in Montana that were euthanized last fall later tested positive for the highly contagious avian influenza, the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks service announced […]
Jan 31, 2023
‘Incredibly concerning’: Bird flu outbreak at Spanish mink farm triggers pandemic fears
(Science) Spread among captive mink could give the H5N1 strain opportunities to evolve and adapt to mammals. When mink at a big farm in Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain, started to die in October 2022, veterinarians initially thought the culprit might be SARS-CoV-2, which has struck mink farms in several other countries. But lab […]
Jan 31, 2023
When is it OK to make germs worse in a lab? It’s a more relevant question than ever
(NPR) Over 150 virologists have signed on to a commentary that says all the evidence to date indicates that the coronavirus pandemic started naturally, and it wasn’t the result of some kind of lab accident or malicious attack. They worry that continued speculation about a lab in China is fueling calls for more regulation of experiments with […]
Jan 31, 2023
How Effective Is Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir in Vaccinated Persons with COVID-19?
(NEJM) Preferred therapies for mild-to-moderate COVID-19 include a 3-day intravenous course of remdesivir or nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid). The only published randomized trial of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir was conducted prior to widespread vaccination (N Engl J Med 2022; 386:1397. opens in new tab). Thus, clinicians need further information on the effectiveness of this treatment in more-heavily immune populations. Investigators […]
Jan 24, 2023
A New Report Outlines a Vision for National Wastewater Surveillance
(New York Times) The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the promise of tracking pathogens in sewage. Now, the nation needs to act on it, experts say. Wastewater surveillance provided valuable public health information during the Covid-19 pandemic and merits “further development and continued investment,” according to a new report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine […]
Jan 24, 2023