The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread globally, with over 62.26 million people infected. With the rapid spread of its causative agent, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), it is crucial to determine ways to prevent infection. The immune system protects the host from pathogenic organisms, including viruses, bacterial, fungi, and parasites. To deal with [...]
A study published today in Pediatrics found that children in two states were just as likely as adults to become infected with COVID-19 within their households, and while kids spread the virus in one fifth of homes, their lack of severe symptoms may have allowed their infections to otherwise escape detection. Led by researchers from the Centers for Disease [...]
Abstract COVID-19 spreads via aerosols, droplets, fomites and faeces. The built environment that facilitates crowding increases exposure and hence transmission of COVID-19 as evidenced by outbreaks in both cool-dry and hot-humid climates, such as in the US prison system and dormitories in Singapore, respectively. This paper explores how the built environment influences crowding and COVID-19 [...]
The tree of life describes the evolution of life and seeks to define the relationships between species. Likewise, the tree of cell types aims to organize cells in the brain into groups and describe their relationships to each other. Scientists have long pondered just what the brain’s tree of cell types looks like. Now, an international collaboration led by [...]
An international study has found a link between the brain’s network connections and gray matter atrophy caused by certain types of epilepsy, a major step forward in our understanding of the disease. In neuroscience, it is becoming increasingly clear that the brain’s connectome is as important as its anatomy when studying human disease. The connectome is a [...]
A case report from a New Jersey hospital highlights how drug-resistant pathogens can take advantage of COVID-related disruptions to standard infection and prevention control (IPC) practices. In a paper published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH), and Rutgers University report on an [...]
The United Kingdom today became the first country in the world to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, which paves the way for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be available in the country starting next week. In other developments, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that cases remain at a very high level, with deaths rising [...]
Detection of replication-competent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the most reliable indicator of contagiousness.1 Although the duration of live-virus shedding is well-characterized in immunocompetent patients with coronavirus disease 19 (Covid-19), little is known about how long immunocompromised patients are contagious. Consequently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on transmission-based precautions [...]
Abstract This is a brief report of an unusual observation of COVID-19 infection in Hawaii. The State of Hawaii is one of the most remote of the Pacific islands with approximately 1.4 million persons. The racial and ethnic diversity is enormous. For example, the white Caucasians make up ∼25%, Asians including Japanese, Chinese and other [...]
All Hong Kong residents will be offered free doses when a Covid-19 vaccine is available next year, the health minister has promised, while a top pandemic adviser to the government cautioned that it could take until the end of 2021 to get everyone inoculated. The city confirmed 103 new infections on Wednesday in a reflection [...]
