Research finds greater mortality risk among rural COVID patients in ICUs than urban counterparts
The earliest wave of COVID-19 spared much of rural America, striking people who live in urban areas with far more frequency. The latest surge was different, however. Nonmetropolitan COVID cases outpaced metropolitan ones. So did overall COVID mortality rates. // 11.11.2021
Association between SARS-CoV-2 infections and areal level deprivation and ethnicity in England
A new study from the UK shows that the presence of inequality favors a heavier impact and that this showed dynamic changes as policies changed and newer virus variants emerged. // 11.11.2021
Evidence that mild and even asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to sustained immune activation
A paper published in the open-access journal Viruses, reports on a study investigating long-term changes to soluble inflammatory factors and cellular immune phenotype and function in 22 survivors of mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. The observations were then compared to 11 individuals who had recovered from other mild respiratory infections. // 10.11.2021
Effectiveness of sotrovimab demonstrated in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19
In an attempt to study the safety and effectiveness of sotrovimab in more vulnerable patients suffering from mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19, a multinational team of researchers conducted the COVID-19 Monoclonal antibody Efficacy Trial-Intent to Care Early (COMET-ICE) trial. // 11.11.2021
REGEN-COV shown to rapidly reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral load in hospitalized COVID-19 patients
Studies have shown that mortality rates in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 are high, ranging between 10% and 30%. REGEN-COV®, a combination of monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab, is approved in the United States and other regions for emergency treatment of COVID-19 outpatients with mild to moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection and post-exposure prophylaxis. // 10.11.2021
Household transmission drove rise in SARS-CoV-2 Delta cases in England, finds new study
A new study published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe suggests household contacts were the leading cause behind the rapid circulation of Delta compared to Alpha. // 10.11.2021
First detection of SARS-CoV-2 remdesivir resistance in an immunocompromised patient
A research group from the US (led by experts from Yale University School of Medicine) recently presented a case of an immunocompromised female patient with acquired deficiency of B lymphocytes who subsequently developed a protracted course of the infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). // 10.11.2021
Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 immune escape variants in an immunocompromised patient
A German case study recently published in the journal Nature Communications has characterized a long-term severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection dynamics in an immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipient and provided evidence for the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 into potentially harmful immune escape mutants during persistent infections. // 10.11.2021
The autoantibody profile in COVID-19 patients with MIS-C
A new study assessed the presence of autoantibodies against autoantigens associated with known autoimmune diseases in patients with COVID-19. // 10.11.2021
Current understanding of the link between COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease
A review published in Chemo-Biological Interactions has focused on the prevalence of COVID-19 in CVD patients associated with ACE2 mechanisms. // 10.11.2021
Increase in SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Irish HCWs during third wave of pandemic
Healthcare workers and people they live with are at an increased risk of contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Hospital healthcare workers (HCWs) worldwide have been found to have a higher number of SARS-CoV-2 infections and higher antibody seroprevalence compared to the general population. // 8.11.2021
Scientists develop a high-throughput, cell-free screening platform for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody discovery
Scientists from Northwestern University, USA, have recently developed a high-throughput, automated screening platform to rapidly identify anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies. // 8.11.2021
Discovery of potent neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants
In a recent study, the researchers identify and characterize mAbs that are effective against the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 strain and B.1.351 variant. // 8.11.2021
The current study explores the antiviral activity of HO-1 induced by hemin against SARS-CoV-2 and attempts to describe the mechanism of its anti-viral action. // 8.11.2021
Household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 delta variant in England
Researchers from Public Health England have been investigating how one of the most dangerous variants, the Delta variant, spreads within households in England. // 8.11.2021
What are the anti-COVID drugs currently in development?
The first antiviral drugs effective against COVID-19 were recently approved in the UK and USA. A researcher from the Laboratory of Gene Technology has been exploring what we know so far. // 8.11.2021
According to an article published in the journal Reviews in Medical Virology, the effectiveness of mollusc-derived antiviral agents has been proven in many different laboratory and animal studies, while its efficacy against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has also been proposed by recent in silico studies.
Oral SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitor for therapeutic use
A new study describes a new small molecule compound that has shown impressive safety, tolerability, and bioavailability against SARS-CoV-2. // 7.11.2021
Study looks at how lupus genetics intersects with COVID-19
The study “Interferon pathway lupus risk alleles modulate risk of death from acute COVID-19” was recently published on the preprint medRxiv* server. // 8.11.2021
Highly-sensitive PCR-based method to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants
A team of UK-based scientists has recently developed an allele-specific probe polymerase chain reaction method that can accurately detect different variants/lineages of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in respiratory samples. Furthermore, the method can detect viral variants even in samples with low viral RNA or degraded viral RNA. // 7.11.2021