Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Understanding the structure of SARS-CoV-2 proteins may lead to novel drugs

COVID-19 is a disease caused by an RNA virus called SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), that is, a virus that employs RNA to preserve its genetic data.

31 Jul 2020

New initiative launched to tackle climate change and global poverty

With a founding $25 million gifts from King Philanthropies, MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is launching a new initiative to solve problems at the nexus of climate change and global poverty.

30 Jul 2020

Study may lead to new therapeutic approaches against coronaviruses

The immune system secretes an endogenous protein that can strongly suppress coronaviruses, the pathogen that is responsible for causing the current pandemic.

29 Jul 2020

Scientists discover evolutionary lineage of SARS-CoV-2 virus

By reconstructing the evolutionary history of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, an international research team of Chinese, European and U.S. scientists has discovered that the lineage that gave rise to the virus has been circulating in bats for decades and likely includes other viruses with the ability to infect humans.

29 Jul 2020

Gym equipment found to contain high levels of antibiotic-resistant pathogens

According to a study 43% of Staphylococcus bacteria harboring on exercise equipment in university gyms was resistant to ampicillin.

27 Jul 2020

Heparin blocks SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell studies

In a test of antiviral effectiveness against the virus that causes COVID-19, an extract from edible seaweeds substantially outperformed remdesivir, the current standard antiviral used to combat the disease.

27 Jul 2020

Healthy travelers are not at high risk for C. auris acquisition, study suggests

Researchers have shown that there is a low risk for healthy people to acquire Candida auris during travel.

27 Jul 2020

AI can be used as a supplementary tool for identifying causal pathogens of pneumonia

A team of researchers showed that artificial intelligence (AI) could help predict the type of bacteria that caused the infection in patients with pneumonia.

27 Jul 2020

Study shows how human activities impact Earth

This quiet period, likely caused by the total global effect of social distancing measures, closure of services and industry, and drops in tourism and travel, is the longest and most pronounced quiet period of seismic noise in recorded history.

24 Jul 2020

New pathways that could help treat RNA viruses discovered

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have identified new pathways in an RNA-based virus where inhibitors, like medical treatments, unbind.

23 Jul 2020

Study calls for review on nutritional value of subsidized food items

The nutritional benefit of rice and sugar distributed by a national food subsidy program in India may be limited, says new research published today.

22 Jul 2020

Scientist receives DoD grant to develop freeze-dried synthetic platelets

A Case Western Reserve University scientist, who has for more than a decade pioneered research into synthetic platelet substitutes, has been awarded a $3.8 million grant by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to develop freeze-dried artificial platelets that can treat bleeding in wounded soldiers in the battlefield before they can be taken to a hospital.

22 Jul 2020

Researchers comprehensively describe the 'human tissue virome atlas'

Human-resident microbes can influence both health and disease. Investigating the microbiome using next-generation sequencing technology has revealed examples of mutualism and conflict between microbes and humans.

22 Jul 2020

Hybrid virus infects cells, interacts with antibodies just like COVID-19 virus

Airborne and potentially deadly, the virus that causes COVID-19 can only be studied safely under high-level biosafety conditions.

22 Jul 2020

New tools developed to test the ability of antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2

Researchers at The Rockefeller University in New York have developed new tools to rapidly test the ability of antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

22 Jul 2020

Advanced cryo-EM reveals stunning details of viral RNA replication complex structure

For the first time, scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research have generated near atomic resolution images of a major viral protein complex responsible for replicating the RNA genome of a member of the positive-strand RNA viruses, the large class of viruses that includes coronaviruses and many other pathogens.

21 Jul 2020