COVID-19 vaccine candidates are garnering all the news these days, which is appropriate as they are our key to ending this pandemic. Earlier in this outbreak antiviral drugs received a good deal of attention, but they have proven less useful in curtailing infection. Less discussed are the many antiviral drug candidates that are in testing, …
An antiviral compound that blocks SARS-CoV-2 transmission in ferrets Read More »
Recently I had a false positive PCR result for SARS-CoV-2. To confirm that I was not infected, I did an assay for viral antibodies in my blood using a rapid, at home, lateral flow assay. In this video I explain how the assay works and what my results mean.
Cigarette smoking appears to be associated with more severe COVID-19, but the underlying mechanisms have not been deciphered. The results of infection of airway cells in culture with SARS-CoV-2 provide some insight. Smoking is the most important cause of chronic lung disease, which in turn is a risk factor for severe COVID-19. Some studies have …
Cigarette smoke increases infection severity of SAR-CoV-2 in airway cells in culture Read More »
After SARS-Cov came and went in 2003, we learned that bats in China harbor SARS-like coronaviruses with the capacity to infect human cells. This information was largely ignored, otherwise we would have stopped this pandemic in its tracks. A coronavirus that went from bats to pigs might represent yet another threat to human health. Swine …
We missed SARS-CoV-2, what other coronaviruses are we ignoring? Read More »
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles Rice for their work leading to the discovery of hepatitis C virus. To me this prize makes a great deal of sense because each of the recipients produced key sequential discoveries, all of which were needed to find a …
A super spreader is an individual who is more likely to infect others compared with a typical patient (pictured). An example is the doctor who treated early SARS-CoV patients in China, traveled to a hotel in Hong Kong, and infected 10 others who then went on bring the virus to multiple countries. Superspreaders of SARS-CoV-2 …
