Category: Science and Tech
The uncharted world of emerging pathogens
In their quest to detect early outbreaks, virus hunters are sampling environmental DNA in water, dirt, and air. It all started when Christopher Mason’s 3-year-old daughter licked a subway pole.Like any parent, he was horrified, but also keenly curious: What types of microbes might be clinging to a metal pipe gripped by countless commuters every […]
Feb 20, 2024
COVID-19- and Flu-Ravaged Lungs Could Be Repaired with mRNA Therapy
Genetic Engineering and Biotech News Respiratory infections, such as those caused by SARS-CoV-2 or influenza, can damage the lungs’ delicate network of capillary blood vessels, compromising oxygen delivery and carbon dioxide removal. To overcome this damage, the lungs depend on the regenerative capacities of vascular endothelial cells. As valuable as these cells are, they can, […]
Feb 7, 2024
More Americans Could Benefit from Paxlovid for COVID Infection
Johns Hopkins One of the best tools for preventing severe complications from COVID infection is the prescription antiviral drug Paxlovid. But not nearly as many people who could benefit from it are being prescribed it, says Amesh Adalja, MD, FIDSA, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security who specializes in infectious diseases and pandemic […]
Feb 6, 2024
Why Aren’t More Doctors Prescribing Paxlovid to High-Risk Patients?
MedPage Today It’s not all about drug-drug interactions, experts say. Recent evidence is piling up that many people at high risk for severe COVID-19 don’t receive nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) — or any outpatient antiviral treatment — when diagnosed with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. MedPage Today looked at new studies and talked to experts to find out why. In a […]
Jan 30, 2024
Why does COVID-19 make you sneeze?
Science Viral protein stimulates nerves in respiratory passages, could be target for treatment SARS-CoV-2 has many ways of making people miserable, including by causing them to sneeze. Now, researchers have discovered the basis for this nose-tickling effect. One of the virus’ proteins stimulates neurons in respiratory passages, triggering the sneeze reflex. The results could spawn […]
Jan 23, 2024
Paxlovid helps prevent severe illness from COVID. Why don’t more people take it?
Yahoo News With the current COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. at more than 1.1 million and new evidence that COVID infections can damage the brain, heart and lungs, it’s clear that the disease is more than “just a bad cold.” Paxlovid, which is a combination of two drugs (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir), can lower the risk of severe symptoms […]
Jan 23, 2024
Why Don’t Covid Tests Seem to Work as Well as They Used To?
Bloomberg With Covid outbreaks being whipped up for a fifth year, testing has emerged as a source of frustration once again. Whereas obtaining a test was often difficult in early 2020, now the abundance of cheaper rapid kits in grocery stores and home medicine cabinets has led to a new concern — they don’t seem […]
Jan 16, 2024
Should I take Paxlovid if I get covid? Here’s what to know.
Washington Post Paxlovid lowers risk of serious illness and hospitalization, and may help prevent long covid, yet many patients don’t use the drug. The antiviral drug Paxlovid can significantly reduce symptoms of covid-19 and dramatically lower the risk of severe illness or dying of the disease. Yet many eligible people aren’t using it, and some […]
Jan 16, 2024
A big shift in collecting COVID data — from case counts to monitoring poop
NPR Earlier this year, the CDC stopped collecting data on new infections (as in positive tests) – relying instead on COVID hospitalizations, deaths and, increasingly, on wastewater surveillance – a network set up during the pandemic to regularly test sewage samples from around the country. The surveillance network has expanded beyond COVID to track flu, RSV, norovirus and other health threats that are […]
Dec 26, 2023
Scientists Identify Interferon-gamma as Potential SARS-CoV-2 Antiviral
NIH Conditioning the lungs with interferon-gamma, a natural immune system protein (cytokine) best known for fighting bacterial infections, appears to be a strong antiviral for SARS-CoV-2, according to National Institutes of Health scientists and colleagues. Their new study, published in Nature Communications, shows in two different mouse models that when a bacterial infection triggers the release […]
Dec 12, 2023
