A key challenge to setting up a civilization is the plumbing. This is one reason why major cities, particularly those with a long history, are conspicuously placed along rivers; pressurized water and the kind of plumbing we have today would not be unfamiliar thousands of years ago to civilizations like the Mayans. Despite its long and [...]

Commentary We appeal to the medical community and to the relevant national and international bodies to recognize the potential for airborne spread of COVID-19. There is significant potential for inhalation exposure to viruses in microscopic respiratory droplets (microdroplets) at short to medium distances (up to several meters, or room scale), and we are advocating for [...]

We have just had a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases exploring the extent and magnitude of hospital surface and air contamination with SARS-CoV-2 during the (first!) peak of COVID-19 in London. The bottom line is that we identified pretty extensive surface and air contamination with SARS-CoV-2 RNA but did not culture viable virus. We concluded that this highlights [...]

A few years ago, the medical community was in a bit of a tizzy over a scientific report that the human placenta has its own microbiome–a complex mixture of bacteria that maybe, just maybe, affected the health of newborn babies. According to the New York Times‘ rather breathless reporting at the time: “the placenta … harbors a world of bacteria [...]

The World Health Organization does not believe that Africa harbours large numbers of undetected covid-19 infections, said its regional director Matshidiso Moeti, although “there is underestimation of cases.” African countries had reported 434 442 cases and 10 662 deaths from covid-19 on 3 July, with 209 616 patients having recovered. Only about 4% of the world’s cases and 2% [...]

Background Spain is one of the European countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Serological surveys are a valuable tool to assess the extent of the epidemic, given the existence of asymptomatic cases and little access to diagnostic tests. This nationwide population-based study aims to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Spain at national and [...]

Authorities in China have stepped up precautions after a city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region confirmed one case of bubonic plague. According to state reports, the Bayannur patient – a herdsman – is in quarantine and in a stable condition. Officials said they were also investigating a second suspected case, according to China’s Global Times. The bubonic [...]

The lack of universal recognition that COVID-19 is transmitted via airborne particles, along with unclear infection-prevention recommendations, have led to a false sense of security that is putting the public at risk—especially amid reopenings of workplaces, schools, and colleges, according to a research letter published today in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Study authors Lidia Morawska, PhD, MSc, director of the [...]

As the pace of COVID-19 activity accelerates in a number of large countries, the global total surged past 11 million cases over the weekend, which was also marked by a record daily high case number—212,326—reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Jul 4. It only took 5 days for world’s number of COVID-19 cases to [...]

In the past 10 days, new daily COVID-19 case counts both nationally and in individual states have continued to climb, setting new records and leading at least one expert to suggest the activity now places America in its second wave of virus activity. “We’re going to hit 60,000 cases this week for certain. So we’re back [...]