Covid19-Sources

Introduction Effective immune protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 disease continues to change due to viral evolution and waning immunity. We estimated population-level immunity to SARS-CoV-2 for each of the fifty United States (U.S.) and the District of Columbia from January 2020 through December 2023. Methods We updated a model of SARS-CoV-2 infections to align with the latest evidence on SARS-CoV-2 natural history and waning of immunity, and to integrate various data sources available throughout the pandemic. We used this model to produce population estimates of effective protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 disease. Results On December 30, 2023, 99.9% of the U.S. population had experienced immunological exposure to SARS-CoV-2 through infection and/or vaccination, with 99.4% (95% credible interval (CrI): 92.4-100%) having had at least one SARS-CoV-2 infection. Despite this high exposure, the average population-level protection against infection was 53.6% (95% CrI: 38.7-71.5%). Population-level protection against severe disease was 82.6% (95% CrI: 71.5-91.7%). Discussion A new wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19-associated hospitalizations began near the end of 2023, with the introduction of the JN.1 variant. This upturn suggests that the U.S. population remains at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 disease despite the high level of cumulative exposure in the United States. This decline in effective protection is likely due to both waning and continued viral evolution. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This project has been funded (in part) by contract number 200-2016-91779 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (Grant Number NU3OT000297). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All code and data used in this analysis are available on GitHub (). The produced datasets are available on the Harvard Dataverse ().

Die Rentenversicherung sagt, eine Studie belege den Nutzen einer Reha bei Long Covid. Doch die Studie, auf die sie sich beruft, gibt das gar nicht her. Groß sind hingegen die Interessenkonflikte.

More than 1.2 million deaths have been reported across the US with Covid as the contributing cause

Fünf Jahre nach dem Beginn der Pandemie ist das Thema Corona für die meisten Menschen vorbei. Doch so einfach ist es (immer noch) nicht.

The results of the study at two Helsinki daycare centres are still preliminary but promising, a researcher says.

Nature Medicine - Blood biomarkers in a middle-aged population suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with greater brain β-amyloid plaque accumulation.

Alzheimer’s disease-like neuropathological changes in postmortem brain samples from patients who died from acute COVID-19 and convalescents.

A novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is causing the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. ...

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 is a newly recognized condition in children with recent severe acute...

AbstractBackground. It has been hypothesized that inflammation related to SARS-CoV-2 infection can affect cancer cell proliferation, without having a direc

These findings are not exclusive to severe cases of the virus and have been observed in individuals who reported having more moderate infections.

The long-term effects of repeated COVID-19 vaccinations on adaptive immunity remain incompletely understood. Here, we conducted a comprehensive three-year longitudinal study examining T cell and antibody responses in 78 vaccinated individuals without reported symptomatic infections. We observed distinct dynamics in Spike-specific humoral and cellular immune responses across multiple vaccine doses. While antibody titers incrementally increased and stabilized with each booster, T cell responses rapidly plateaued, maintaining remarkable stability across CD4+ and CD8+ subsets. Notably, approximately 30% of participants showed CD4+ T cell reactivity to non-Spike antigens, consistent with asymptomatic infections. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed a diverse landscape of Spike-specific T cell phenotypes, with no evidence of increased exhaustion or significant functional impairment. However, qualitative changes were observed in individuals with evidence of asymptomatic infection, exhibiting unique immunological characteristics, including increased frequencies of Th17-like CD4+ T cells and GZMKhi/IFNR CD8+ T cell subsets. Remarkably, repeated vaccinations in this group were associated with a progressive increase in regulatory T cells, potentially indicating a balanced immune response that may mitigate immunopathology. By regularly stimulating T cell memory, boosters contribute to a stable and enhanced immune response, which may provide better protection against symptomatic infections. ### Competing Interest Statement A.S. is a consultant for Darwin Health, EmerVax, Gilead Sciences, Guggenheim Securities, RiverVest Venture Partners, and Arcturus. D.W. is a consultant for Moderna. S.C. has consulted for GSK, JP Morgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley, Avalia NZ, Nutcracker Therapeutics, University of California, California State Universities, United Airlines, Adagio, and Roche. LJI has filed for patent protection for various aspects of T cell epitope and vaccine design work.

Pediatric Research - Distinct pro-inflammatory/pro-angiogenetic signatures distinguish children with Long COVID from controls

Distinct protein profiles linked to inflammation and angiogenesis found in children with Long COVID, paving the way for improved diagnostics and therapies.

Supporting families and raising awareness by providing comprehensive support to families navigating the challenges of pediatric Long Covid.

Während sich ein großer Teil der Bevölkerung bezüglich Covid-19 weiterhin in Scheinsicherheit wiegt, zeichnen Daten ein anderes Bild: Eine kanadische Studie aus dem Jahr 2023 unter dem Titel &#8222…

More than 3 years have passed since the outbreak of COVID-19 and yet, the origin of the causal virus SARS-CoV-2 remains unknown. We examined the evolu…

Acta Neuropathologica - The underlying pathogenesis of neurological sequelae in post-COVID-19 patients remains unclear. Here, we used multidimensional spatial immune phenotyping and machine...

Long COVID is a major public health consequence of COVID-19 and is characterized by multiple neurological and neuropsychatric symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 ant…

archived 23 Jan 2025 03:28:15 UTC

SARS-CoV-2 variants are mainly defined by mutations in their spike. It is therefore critical to understand how the evolutionary trajectories of spike affect virus phenotypes. So far, it has been challenging to comprehensively compare the many spikes that emerged during the pandemic in a single experimental platform. Here we generated a panel of recombinant viruses carrying different spike proteins from 27 variants circulating between 2020 and 2024 in the same genomic background. We then assessed several of their phenotypic traits both in vitro and in vivo. We found distinct phenotypic trajectories of spike among and between variants circulating before and after the emergence of Omicron variants. Spike of post-Omicron variants maintained enhanced tropism for the nasal epithelium and large airways but displayed, over time, several phenotypic traits typical of the pre-Omicron variants. Hence, spike with phenotypic features of both pre- and post-Omicron variants may continue to emerge in the future.

Five years after the virus that causes COVID emerged in China it still holds some mysteries.

GeroScience - Long COVID (also known as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection [PASC] or post-COVID syndrome) is characterized by persistent symptoms that extend beyond the acute phase of...

This study evaluated the association between acute COVID-19 cases and the number of car crashes with varying COVID-19 vaccination rates, Long COVID rates, and COVID-19 mitigation strategies. Background The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to significant concern over long-term post-infection sequelae, especially in the Neurologic domain. Long COVID symptoms, including cognitive impairments, could potentially impact activities requiring high cognitive function, such as driving. Despite various potential impacts on driving skills and the general prevalence of Long COVID, the specific effects on driving capabilities remain understudied. Design/Methods This study utilized a Poisson regression model to analyze data from 2020-2022, comparing aggregate car crash records and COVID-19 statistics. This model adjusted for population and included binary variables for specific months to account for stay-at-home orders. The correlation between acute COVID-19 cases and car crashes was investigated across seven states, considering vaccination rates and COVID-19 mitigation measures as potential confounders. Results Findings indicate an association between acute COVID-19 rates and increased car crashes with an OR of 1.5 (1.23-1.26 95%CI). The analysis did not find a protective effect of vaccination against increased crash risks, contrary to previous assumptions. The OR of car crashes associated with COVID-19 was comparable to driving under the influence of alcohol at legal limits or driving with a seizure disorder. Conclusions The study suggests that acute COVID-19, regardless of Long COVID status, is linked to an increased risk of car crashes presumably due to neurologic changes caused by SARS-CoV-2. These findings underscore the need for further research into the neuropsychological impacts of COVID-19. Further studies are recommended to explore the causality and mechanisms behind these findings and to evaluate the implications for public safety in other critical operational tasks. Finally, neurologists dealing with post-COVID patients, should remember that they may have an obligation to report medically impaired drivers.

The virus winter season has struck—and COVID-19 is still part of everyday life. However, unlike during the pandemic, we now know more about how it spreads through the air we breathe. Research from Lund ...

Lymphopenia is a health condition in which people have low white blood cell count in their blood. Without these cells, the body is unable to defend itself effectively against pathogens. Lymphopenia is one type of way your body can be immunocompromised; it can be caused by many things, including infections, inherited conditions, autoimmune disorders, and nutritional deficiencies. Earlier in the pandemic, scientists learned that some patients can develop lymphopenia from SARS-CoV-2 infection — but there’s been little research into it since. Although this condition is more rarely seen in COVID-19 as compared to HIV/AIDS, some advocates have suggested the two diseases are similar in their damage to the immune system.

Researchers are zeroing in on the ways SARS-CoV-2 damages and persists inside blood vessels, raising the risk for heart attacks and strokes years after an initial infection.

The study reveals the diagnostic significance of nucleocapsid antibodies and the strategy for testing past COVID-19 infection in the posvaccination era. The results demonstrate that hybrid immunity a...

LitCovid is a curated literature hub for tracking up-to-date scientific information about the 2019 novel Coronavirus.

• hPSC-derived DA neurons are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection • SARS-CoV-2 infection of DA neurons triggers cellular senescence response • Several FDA-approved drugs were identified to rescue senescence of DA neurons • Cellular senescence was found in substantia nigra tissues of COVID-19 patients Summary COVID-19 patients commonly present with signs of central nervous system and/or peripheral nervous system dysfunction. Here, we show that midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are selectively susceptible and permissive to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. SARS-CoV-2 infection of DA neurons triggers an inflammatory and cellular senescence response. High-throughput screening in hPSC-derived DA neurons identified several FDA-approved drugs that can rescue the cellular senescence phenotype by preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection. We also identified the inflammatory and cellular senescence signature and low levels of SARS-CoV-2 transcripts in human substantia nigra tissue of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, we observed reduced numbers of neuromelanin+ and tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH)+ DA neurons and fibers in a cohort of severe COVID-19 patients. Our findings demonstrate that hPSC-derived DA neurons are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, identify candidate neuroprotective drugs for COVID-19 patients, and suggest the need for careful, long-term monitoring of neurological problems in COVID-19 patients.