Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 genome variation appeared to be low, with an average of 10 base differences in the 30,000 base genome between any two isolates. Late in 2020, as many more people were infected, variants were isolated that had more changes than previously seen. A study of variation at the genome level …
SARS-CoV-2 variants arise during individual infections Read More »
When the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in the UK in December 2020 it was accompanied by unsubstantiated claims of increased transmissibility and virulence. The results of a hospital-based study in London reveals no association of the variant with severe disease in this cohort. In a note published by NERVTAG on 21 January …
Niclosamide (pictured) is a drug that has been approved in humans to treat infections with a variety of tapeworms. It might be useful for preventing SARS-CoV-2 replication and COVID-19 pathogenesis by inhibiting virus-catalyzed membrane fusion. Examination of the lungs of 41 patients who died of COVID-19 revealed, in addition to expected lung injury, the presence …
In our quest to stop the COVID-19 pandemic by vaccination, we have been myopically focussed on inducing antibodies against the spike protein. As variants of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged that reduce the ability of such antibodies to block infection, concern has arisen that we will not be able to halt the disease. Such concerns appear to …
The current outbreak of Ebolavirus disease in Guinea, which began in February 2021, may have originated from a survivor of the 2013-16 outbreak in the same country. Phylogenetic analysis of genome sequences revealed that viruses from the current outbreak group with the Makona variant, which caused the 2013-16 epidemic. The new isolates are most closely …
Vaccines work by educating the host’s immune system to recall the identity of a virus years after the initial encounter, a phenomenon called immune memory. Viral vaccines establish immunity and memory without the pathogenic consequences typical of a natural infection. The success of immunization in stimulating long-lived immune memory is among humanity’s greatest scientific and …
