CoronaVirus

Dec 20th, 2024 - Just over 300 people have been sickened in norovirus outbreaks on three different cruise ships in December, new government data shows. This is the only month this year in which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported three confirmed norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships . In all, 301 passengers and crew members fell ill during the December outbreaks, health officials said. "Norovirus can be especially challenging to control on cruise ships because of the close living ... [Read More]

Dec 19th, 2024 - The CDC's confirmation on Wednesday of the first case of severe bird flu in the United States was just the latest development in the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. This year, H5N1 has been reported not only among wild birds, poultry and backyard flocks, but also cows, humans and a pig. The other 60 people who acquired H5N1 in the U.S. this year developed mild symptoms and recovered, according to local, state and federal officials. More than half of the cases were ... [Read More]

Jul 25th, 2024 - A woman who died in eastern China earlier this month was infected with H5N6 bird flu and two more poultry workers in Colorado have tested positive for H5N1, according to local officials. A UN agency is calling for urgent action. In China, the latest case is a 70-year-old woman who went to a live poultry market in Hefei, Anhui Province before she developed symptoms on June 17. She was hospitalized two days later and died on July 8, according to Chinese officials. The Chinese government often ... [Read More]

Jun 6th, 2024 - A particular type of bird flu has now killed its first human. On Wednesday, Mexican health officials and the World Health Organization announced a confirmed case of H5N2 avian influenza in a 59-year-old man, who subsequently died from complications of the infection. The incident is the first lab-confirmed case and death tied to H5N2, but WHO officials say that the risk to the general public from this virus is low. According to the WHO, the man first developed symptoms of the infection on April ... [Read More]

May 9th, 2024 - Saudi Arabia has reported four new cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), a coronavirus which first emerged about 12 years ago, according to health officials. Two of them were caused by human-to-human transmission. According to a statement from the World Health Organization on Thursday, three of the cases were found in Riyadh between April 10 and April 17. The index case, a 56-year-old school teacher, had no clear history of exposure to MERS risk factors. The teacher first developed ... [Read More]

Apr 29th, 2024 - T he COVID-19 lull in the U.S. may soon come to an end, as a new family of SARS-CoV-2 variants—nicknamed "FLiRT" variants—begins to spread nationwide. These variants are distant Omicron relatives that spun out from JN.1, the variant behind the surge in cases this past winter . They've been dubbed "FLiRT" variants based on the technical names for their mutations, one of which includes the letters "F" and "L," and another of which includes the letters "R" and "T." Within the FLiRT ... [Read More]

Mar 19th, 2024 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday issued an advisory addressed to clinicians and public health officials to note a recorded increase in global and U.S. measles cases since the start of the year, and repeat its call for vaccinations against the disease. The public health agency urged Americans to make sure children over the age of 1 are up-to-date on their measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccinations to prevent infections and reduce the risk of community transmission of the ... [Read More]

Feb 27th, 2024 - The currently recommended five-day course of molnupiravir, an antiviral treatment, may not be long enough to treat COVID-19, according to a new paper involving UCL researchers. The study, published in Nature Communications , was conducted as part of PANORAMIC, an ongoing clinical trial evaluating potential treatments for COVID-19. In this virology sub-study, the researchers analyzed viral samples provided by 577 trial participants from across the U.K. who were randomly assigned to receive ... [Read More]

Jan 10th, 2024 - Case numbers were higher in the fortnight ending 6 January than during the 2023 winter peak, NSW Health data shows Covid-19 infections in the greater Sydney area are approaching levels not seen since December 2022 as the JN.1 variant continues to drive cases throughout Australia, but hospital presentations and admissions have reduced since late 2023. The latest New South Wales Covid surveillance data published on Thursday shows that in the fortnight ending 6 January, community transmission of ... [Read More]

Dec 7th, 2023 - E very COVID-19 vaccine is a step behind the virus. In the time it takes companies to make the shot, SARS-CoV-2 is already busy mutating into different versions that can evade the immune response produced by it. But even though the latest vaccine targets XBB.1.5, a variant no longer dominant in the U.S., it seems to be doing a decent job at warding off some of the emerging variants. In a study published on the preprint server bioRxiv, scientists led by Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron ... [Read More]

Nov 24th, 2023 - India prepared for any kind of public health exigency, says Centre amid child pneumonia outbreak in China NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry on Friday said there is a "low risk" to India from the recent outbreak of H9N2 and pneumonia cases being reported in parts of China. However, the ministry said that it is closely monitoring the situation. In a statement, the health ministry noted that there have been media reports about the rising cases of respiratory illness among children in northern ... [Read More]

Nov 22nd, 2023 - Covid-19 vaccines may offer better protection if they just target the omicron variant, rather than both omicron and the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain "Bivalent" covid-19 vaccines based on proteins from the initial SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus as well as the more recent omicron variant may be less effective than those that just target omicron, a study suggests. The findings come not from a randomised trial, the best kind of medical evidence, but from studying people's responses to natural infections. ... [Read More]

Oct 8th, 2023 - In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open , researchers discuss the efficacy of a primary cycle of the protein recombinant coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine Novavax (NVX-CoV2373) in protecting against symptomatic COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Study:  Estimated Effectiveness of a Primary Cycle of Protein Recombinant Vaccine NVX-CoV2373 Against COVID-19 Background The high morbidity and mortality rates during ... [Read More]

Oct 5th, 2023 - In a recent study published in Scientific Reports , researchers assessed the efficacy of tea and its catechins in inactivating the Omicron subvariant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Study:  Effects of tea, catechins and catechin derivatives on Omicron subvariants of SARS-CoV-2. Background SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants are highly contagious due to multiple spike (S) glycoprotein mutations. Previous research by the authors revealed that tea catechins, ... [Read More]

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Sep 28th, 2023 - In a recent preprint posted to the bioRxiv * server, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern, USA, developed an aerosolized and mutant form of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and tested its efficacy in neutralizing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro and in vivo . They found that the modified ACE2 could effectively inhibit infections by viral variants in cultured cells and neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in mice models, suggesting its ... [Read More]