The FDA reviewed data from Israel from children 12–15 years old who received a booster five months after the primary Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and is amending the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to allow the booster five months after the primary two-dose vaccination for children aged 12–15. In addition, real-world data that has become available provide […]
Multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants are circulating globally. Several new variants have emerged in the fall of 2020. Many variants are relatively unremarkable. But scientists have been keeping a close watch on three rapidly spreading variants—first identified in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil—which harbor an unusual constellation of mutations. They all share a mutation that affects […]
In 2002–03, the SARS virus infected 8,000 people in more than two dozen countries and killed almost 800. Infectious disease specialists created a specific check box list to identify viruses to watch out for pandemic potential in the future. Two are very important virus characteristics at the top of that specific check box list. One […]
On August 24, PNAS – A very high risk of COVID 19 infection in primate species has been reported. Their analysis predicts that several critically endangered primate species are at very high risk of the virus, although the results need to be confirmed with further experiments or surveillance. An international team of scientists has assessed […]
At least 28 communities living in extreme isolation in the Brazilian Amazon, and there may be as many as 80 more, have confirmed to be in existence. On April 9, a Yanomami adolescent had died of COVID-19 in the northern state of Roraima. The youth had moved back and forth through an area rife with […]
A pilot study in China in which seven COVID-19 patients received intravenous infusions of donor mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) indicates that the intervention was safe, and that the approach may improve infection outcomes was reported in Aging and Disease last month. We understand that it is only a small number of cases, and studies in […]
Four vaccine candidates—two in the US, one in China, and one in the UK—have been approved for early testing in people. Many others are also following. Researchers look to messenger RNA encased in nanoparticles, DNA plasmids, molecular clamps, and other approaches as they rush to design a vaccine against the new coronavirus. Inovio to develop […]
Confirmed cases reported from each country so far. Data from cruise ship outbreaks not included. SOURCE: ECDC
We’ve had a few events where they’ve jumped from animals into people. There’s a lot being done on how coronaviruses infect people from animals. We know the real key is to know what the host cell receptor is—that’s the protein on the surface of cells that viruses bind to and invade. For SARS coronavirus, the […]