Immunology

SARS-CoV-2 Is Not Transmitted By Mosquitoes

In some good news for 2020, it is confirmed that SARS-CoV-2, the 2019 form of coronavirus that has led to worldwide COVID-19 disease, is not transmitted by mosquitoes, so ecologically useless disease vectors like Aedes aegypti, that carry so many other dis ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 17 2020 - 5:44pm

The SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Is Close Enough To SARS That FDA-Approved Drugs May Work

A protein in the viruses causing COVID-19 and SARS is almost identical, which means existing FDA-approved drugs, already tested in mice infected with SARS, could improve the outcomes for COVID-19 patients experiencing severe respiratory symptoms. ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 27 2020 - 1:09pm

Symptomatic Case Fatality Ratio- A Better Way To Know True COVID-19 Mortality?

Reliable estimates of the mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infection are essential to understanding the COVID-19 epidemic and develop public health interventions, but we don't have them. If you realistically think that China, where the disease originated, on ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 29 2020 - 2:01pm

Ad26.COV2.S: Single-Shot COVID-19 Vaccine Successful In Rhesus Macaques

Johnson  &  Johnson's Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine raised neutralizing antibodies and robustly protected rhesus macaques against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 30 2020 - 2:15pm

A Tale Of Two Virus Strategies

Viruses have strategies. They may not be dominated by politics or people who have desire to work in government but they are strategies just the same. Unable to reproduce on their own, viruses replicate by infecting a living organism's cells and gettin ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 3 2020 - 1:48pm

COVID-19 Is Not Transmitted Through Breast Milk

Samples of breast milk collected by the M ommy's Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository from women infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) only showed one positive for viral RNA. However, subsequent tests found that ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 19 2020 - 4:08pm

Why COVID-19 Infection Curves Have Not Been What Epidemiologists Predicted

Epidemiologists assured us S-shaped curves would be the case for COVID-19, but many countries had decreases of infection numbers "social distancing" and a linear rise of infection curves after the first peak. A new paper offers an explanation for ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 25 2020 - 1:50pm

How Effective Will A COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be To Stop The Pandemic? There's Bad News

Researchers are on the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine to eliminate the need for mask wearing and current limits on interpersonal gatherings (except protests), but a new model says it still may not help the world exit a lingering economic depression. ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 26 2020 - 9:29am

COVID-19: Myths And Reality About Weather And Seasonality

You've probably gotten a summer cold, perhaps even the flu, even though the weather is warm. SARS-CoV-2, the 2019 form of coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, is in the same family as the common cold, so it is correct that heat will kill it, ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 28 2020 - 11:21am

Yaws: Infectious Disease Of 2000 BC

Yaws is a childhood disease causing highly infectious skin lesions. It is spread by touch and, in advanced cases, can leave sufferers with severe bone disfigurement. While it is easily curable in its early stages today, and is almost eradicated, the bone d ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 22 2020 - 4:52pm