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UCLA scientists say COVID-19 test offers solution for population-wide testing
(University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences) In an article appearing in Nature Biomedical Engineering, a team of scientists from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA School of Engineering report real-world results on SwabSeq, a high-throughput testing platform that uses sequencing to test thousands of samples at a time to detect COVID-19. They were able to perform more than 80,000 tests in less than two months, with the test showing extremely high sensitivity and specificity. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - July 1, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Computational analyses reveal 200 drugs that could be repurposed to treat COVID-19
(American Association for the Advancement of Science) A new study based on computational analyses of how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with host cell proteins has identified 200 previously approved drugs that could be repurposed to treat COVID-19, 40 of which have already entered clinical trials. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Scientists identify 160 new drugs that could be repurposed against COVID-19
(University of Cambridge) Cambridge scientists have identified 200 approved drugs predicted to work against COVID-19 - of which only 40 are currently being tested in COVID-19 clinical trials. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Investigational malaria vaccine gives strong, lasting protection
(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) Two U.S. Phase 1 clinical trials of a novel candidate malaria vaccine have found that the regimen conferred unprecedentedly high levels of durable protection when volunteers were later exposed to disease-causing malaria parasites. The vaccine combines live parasites with either of two widely used antimalarial drugs -- an approach termed chemoprophylaxis vaccination. A Phase 2 clinical trial of the vaccine is now underway in Mali, a malaria-endemic country. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Effects of masks on exercise
(JAMA Network)What The Study Did:This crossover trial found that perceived breathing resistance at peak exercise is uniquely andsignificantly elevated when exercise stress testing (EST) is performed while wearing a mask. Performing EST with a maskyielded lower peakexercise oxygen uptakeand heart rates as compared with no mask. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Targeted messaging for return to in-person visits
(JAMA Network)What The Study Did:Researchers in this randomized clinical trial found that a large proportion of patients who canceled visits andprocedures early in the COVID-19 pandemic didn't reschedule once reopening occurred. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Breakthrough for tracking RNA with fluorescence
(Chalmers University of Technology) Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have succeeded in developing a method to label mRNA molecules, and thereby follow, in real time, their path through cells, using a microscope - without affecting their properties or subsequent activity. The breakthrough could be of great importance in facilitating the development of new RNA-based medicines. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Ivermectin treatment in humans for reducing malaria transmission
(Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) Malaria still kills millions. Researchers are excited by a new intervention: giving people a drug which kills mosquitoes that bite them. Incredibly, this is a reality, as the drug ivermectin, widely used for the control of parasite infections such as lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, appears to do this. With some mosquitoes now resistant to the insecticides used in treated bed nets, this is a potentially important new control measure. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

COVID-19 in Europe and travel: Researchers show the important role of newly introduced lineages in COVID-19 resurgence after last summer
(Universit é libre de Bruxelles) On the eve of summer holidays, a study conducted by researchers of the KU Leuven and ULB and published in the journal Nature, assesses how newly introduced viral lineages contributed to COVID-19 resurgence after last summer in Europe. The researchers show that in the majority of European countries under investigation, more than half of the lineages circulating at the end of summer 2020 resulted from new introductions since June 15. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Lack of exercise while in quarantine had adverse effects on the health of women aged 50-70
(Funda ç ã o de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de S ã o Paulo) Tests performed by Brazilian researchers after the first 16 weeks of COVID-19-induced confinement showed loss of muscle strength and diminished aerobic capacity, as well as an increase in cholesterol and glycated hemoglobin, both of which are risk factors for metabolic disorders. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Frequent COVID-19 testing key to efficient, early detection, study finds
(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau) The chance of detecting the virus that causes COVID-19 increases with more frequent testing, no matter the type of test, a new study found. Both polymerase chain reaction and antigen tests, paired with rapid results reporting, can achieve 98% sensitivity if deployed at least every three days. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 30, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Employed individuals more likely to contract the flu, study shows
(University of Arkansas) A University of Arkansas researcher and international colleagues found that employed individuals, on average, are 35.3% more likely to be infected with the flu virus. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 29, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

This 5,000-year-old man had the earliest known strain of plague
(Cell Press) The oldest strain of Yersinia pestis -- the bacteria behind the plague that caused the Black Death, which may have killed as much as half of Europe's population in the 1300s -- has been found in the remains of a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer. A genetic analysis publishing June 29 in the journal Cell Reports reveals that this ancient strain was likely less contagious and not as deadly as its medieval version. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 29, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Mongoose in the city: How landscape can impact disease transmission in Botswana
(Virginia Tech) " The question has always been how do we predict what's going to happen once an infectious disease emerges, " said Kathleen Alexander, the William E. Lavery Professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. " By using systems that are tractable, we can begin to learn a lot more about how disease dynamics are shaped by host behavior and environmental drivers, including urbanizing landscapes. " (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 29, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news

Counties with state prisons had 11% more first-wave COVID-19 cases
(University of Wisconsin-Madison) The presence of a state prison in a county was associated with 11% more COVID-19 cases through July 1, 2020, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 29, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news