As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its sixth month in India, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of AIIMS, tells The Indian Express about key learnings from managing it, and new aspects that have emerged. Edited excerpts:
As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its sixth month in India, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of AIIMS, tells The Indian Express about key learnings from managing it, and new aspects that have emerged. Edited excerpts: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/dr-randeep-gulleria-coronavirus-covid-19-india-cases-6502680/
Emerging reports show that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection precedes the appearance of various autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, including paediatric inflammatory multisystemic syndrome (PIMS) or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), thus adding to the growing mystery… Continue Reading →
Accounting for a limited stockpile of cholera vaccine can provide insight into the most effective way to distribute future COVID-19 vaccines.
Accounting for a limited stockpile of cholera vaccine can provide insight into the most effective way to distribute future COVID-19 vaccines. https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/opinion-look-to-cholera-vaccine-campaigns-for-covid-19-guidance-67632
Prophylactic vaccination is the most effective intervention to protect against infectious diseases. The commonly accepted paradigm is that immunization with both attenuated virus (live but with substantially reduced virulence) and inactivated (killed virus particles) vaccines induces adaptive and generally long-term and specific immunity in the form of neutralizing antibodies and/or activating pathogen-specific cellular immune responses. However, an increasing body of evidence suggests that live attenuated vaccines can also induce broader protection against unrelated pathogens likely by inducing interferon and other innate immunity mechanisms that are yet to be identified. The stimulation of innate immunity by live attenuated vaccines in general, and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in particular, could provide temporary protection against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Prophylactic vaccination is the most effective intervention to protect against infectious diseases. The commonly accepted paradigm is that immunization with both attenuated virus (live but with substantially reduced virulence) and inactivated (killed virus particles) vaccines induces adaptive and generally long-term… Continue Reading →
As the world grapples with the public health emergency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, various control strategies have been attempted across the globe resulting in a growing body of evidence. Thus, we see a wide range of ‘lockdowns’, from the extremely tight Wuhan style, to the more measured Rwandan and more open Swedish model, and a range of testing protocols and quarantine durations.
As the world grapples with the public health emergency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, various control strategies have been attempted across the globe resulting in a growing body of evidence. Thus, we see a wide range of ‘lockdowns’, from… Continue Reading →
Recent Updates: A much larger scale study of over 26 lakh participants who self reported symptoms on a smartphone-based app. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0916-2#Tab1 Real-time tracking of self-reported symptoms to predict potential COVID-19 We report that loss of smell and taste is a potential… Continue Reading →
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To upload most recent infographic, along with this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KmLkOArlJem-PArnBMbSp-S_E3OozD47UzvRG4qM5Yk/edit
Bayesian analysis of publicly available time series of cases and fatalities in different geographical regions of India during April 2020 is reported. It is found that the initial apparent rapid growth in infections could be partly due to confounding factors… Continue Reading →
Broad-spectrum antivirals are desirable, particularly in the context of emerging zoonotic infections for which specific interventions do not yet exist. Sheahan et al. tested the potential of a ribonucleoside analog previously shown to be active against other RNA viruses such as influenza and Ebola virus to combat coronaviruses. This drug was effective in cell lines and primary human airway epithelial cultures against multiple coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2. Mouse models of SARS and MERS demonstrated that early treatment reduced viral replication and damage to the lungs. Mechanistically, this drug is incorporated into the viral RNA, inducing mutations and eventually leading to error catastrophe in the virus. In this manner, inducing catastrophe could help avoid catastrophe by stemming the next pandemic.
The emergence of the novel human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China has caused a worldwide epidemic of respiratory disease (COVID-19). Vaccines and targeted therapeutics for treatment of this disease are currently lacking. Here we report a human monoclonal antibody that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 (and SARS-CoV) in cell culture. This cross-neutralizing antibody targets a communal epitope on these viruses and may offer potential for prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16256-y