Scientists from Hokkaido University have discovered a novel defensive response to SARS-CoV-2 that involves the viral pattern recognition receptor RIG-I. Upregulating expression of this protein could strengthen the immune response in COPD patients. In the 18 months since the first report of COVID-19 and the spread of the pandemic, there has been a large amount
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have identified the protein “signature” of severe COVID-19, which they describe in a new study published in Cell Reports Medicine. “We were interested in asking whether we could identify mechanisms that might be contributing to death in COVID-19,” says MGH infectious disease expert Marcia Goldberg, MD, who studies interactions between
There are many things we know and many things we don’t know about the B.1.617.2 variant. We know that it is spreading fast (roughly doubling each week in the UK and nearly tripling last week from 520 to 1313 cases), that it is becoming established in a number of areas across the country, and that
The most complete picture yet is coming into focus of how antibodies produced in people who effectively fight off SARS-CoV-2 work to neutralize the part of the virus responsible for causing infection. In the journal Science, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin describe the finding, which represents good news for designing the next generation of
A number of antiviral immune defenses are compromised among people who develop severe COVID-19, a new single-cell RNA sequencing analysis has found. Some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop severe disease marked by acute respiratory failure and possibly sepsis and death. While studies have highlighted the possible role of systemic inflammatory responses in severe COVID-19, the
A German researcher thinks he knows what has caused some people to develop blood clots after receiving coronavirus vaccines. University of Greifswald hematologist Andreas Greinacher believes the reaction is linked to EDTA, a preservative found in the AstraZeneca vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccine contains more than 1,000 proteins that have been derived from human proteins —
Mucormycosis: hyphae of the fungus Mucor, from the paranasal sinus of a patient with diabetes mellitus. Public health officials report a rare black fungus infection, called mucormycosis, which is increasingly seen in vulnerable patients, including those with COVID-19 disease. India faces a global health crisis as the number of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Vaccines are often described as one of the greatest public health interventions in recent history, based on the profound effect that they have had in decreasing global morbidity and mortality. Immunizations currently prevent 2-3 million deaths each year, and aside from sanitation and clean drinking water, they are credited as having the largest impact on population growth
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers analyzing test results began noticing something strange: patients who had already recovered from COVID-19 would sometimes inexplicably test positive on a PCR test weeks or even months later. Although people can catch COVID-19 for a second time, this did not appear to be the case
Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus reduces the risk of getting sick from COVID-19 by five- to 30-fold for fully immunized people, two new studies show. In one report, just 0.4 percent of healthcare workers in Israel who received both shots of the COVID-19 immunization later tested positive compared to 7.2 percent of unvaccinated employees. This means healthcare workers who
