by Hiroshima University A member of the Japanese research team observes virus-infected cultured cells under the microscope. The researchers developed a new technique that can find broadly neutralizing antibodies, rare types of immune molecules effective against a virus and its related strains, at a pace that can better keep up with the pandemic and evolving pathogens....
by Rockefeller University Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain With every new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that emerges to cause a surge in cases, a worrisome question also arises: Could the virus eventually arrive at a set of mutations that would enable it to fully evade our immune response? A new study, published in Nature, suggests that it will...
Gayathri Vaidyanathan People queue to refill oxygen cylinders for COVID-19 patients at overwhelmed medical facilities in New Delhi, India.Credit: Ishant Chauhan/AP/Shutterstock Scientists are working to understand several coronavirus variants now circulating in India, where a ferocious second wave of COVID-19 has devastated the nation and caught authorities unawares. The country recorded nearly 400,000 new infections...
By Monique Brouillette on March 31, 2021 Credit: Jordan Siemens Getty Images A lot of worry has been triggered by discoveries that variants of the pandemic-causing coronavirus can be more infectious than the original. But now scientists are starting to find some signs of hope on the human side of this microbe-host interaction. By studying the blood of COVID survivors and...
by Columbia University Irving Medical Center Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A new study of the U.K. and South Africa variants of SARS-CoV-2 predicts that current vaccines and certain monoclonal antibodies may be less effective at neutralizing these variants and that the new variants raise the specter that reinfections could be more likely. The study was published...
By Sara Reardon Saaberie Chishty Ambulance Service paramedic Ronald Ramaselela leaves after assessing a COVID-19 patient in Lenasia, South Africa, on January 4, 2021. Currently suffering a second wave of infections, of which the majority are a new variant of the coronavirus, South Africa is the hardest hit country on the African continent. Credit: Michele Spatari Getty Images When...
