Causes of death and comorbidities in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: the majority of patients had died of COVID-19 with only contributory implications of preexisting health conditions to the mechanism of death.

Infection by the new corona virus strain SARS-CoV-2 and its related syndrome COVID-19 has been associated with more than two million deaths worldwide. Patients of higher age and with preexisting chronic health conditions are at an increased risk of fatal disease outcome. However, detailed information on causes of death and the contribution of pre-existing health

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NCI study finds that people with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies may have a low risk of future infection

People who have had evidence of a prior infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, appear to be well protected against being reinfected with the virus, at least for a few months, according to a newly published study from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This finding may explain why reinfection appears to be relatively rare,

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FDA analysis:Janssen COVID vaccine is safe and effective also against Brazil and South Africa variant

The Food and Drug Administration’s staff released a briefing document on Wednesday endorsing Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot coronavirus vaccine as safe and effective. An FDA advisory panel will meet Friday to review the briefing document and vote on whether to recommend an emergency use authorization (EUA). The FDA could then issue the (EUA) as soon as this

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B.1.351 South Africa SARS-CoV-2 Variant is immune escaping but no increase in infectivity is shown in a paper on Cell

The 501Y.V2 variants of SARS-CoV-2 containing multiple mutations in Spike are now dominant in South Africa and are rapidly spreading to other countries. In this paper, experiments with 18 pseudotyped viruses showed that the 501Y.V2 variants do not confer increased infectivity in multiple cell types except for murine ACE2-overexpressing cells, where a substantial increase in

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Evidence of escape of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.351 (South Africa) from natural and vaccine induced sera. An analysis of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Novavax and Janssen vaccine efficacy.

The race to produce vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 began when the first sequence was published, and this forms the basis for vaccines currently deployed globally. Independent lineages of SARS-CoV-2 have recently been reported: UK–B.1.1.7, South Africa–B.1.351 and Brazil–P.1. These variants have multiple changes in the immunodominant spike protein which facilitates viral cell entry via the Angiotensin

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Extremely potent human monoclonal antibodies from COVID-19 convalescent patients

Human monoclonal antibodies are safe, preventive and therapeutic tools, that can be rapidly developed to help restore the massive health and economic disruption caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this just published paper on Cell researchers of Fondazione Toscana Life Sciences, National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Imperial College London and

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Scottish vaccine roll-out working, data suggests. Vaccination has been linked to a substantial reduction in the risk of Covid-19 admissions to Scotland’s hospitals.

The study is the first to describe across an entire country the effect of the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs in the community on preventing severe illness resulting in hospitalisation. Previous results about vaccine efficacy have come from clinical trials. Hospitalisation drop By the fourth week after receiving the initial dose, the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines

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One Vaccine Dose can be enough for people already having COVID-19 Infection for a small NIH supported study

For the millions of Americans now eligible to receive the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, it’s recommended that everyone get two shots. The first dose of these mRNA vaccines trains the immune system to recognize and attack the spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The second dose, administered a few weeks later, boosts

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Immune system protects children from severe COVID-19

Children are protected from severe COVID-19 because their innate immune system is quick to attack the virus, a new study has found.     The research led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and published in Nature Communications, found that specialised cells in a child’s immune system rapidly target the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).  MCRI’s Dr Melanie Neeland said the

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