It’s been just over a year since the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) first warned that “Covid-19 could lead to a food security crisis if proper measures are not taken.” The author, former IFPRI director general Shenggen Fan, was following developments in Wuhan, China at the time, ground zero for the novel coronavirus. He watched [...]
BACKGROUND Assessment of the safety and efficacy of vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in different populations is essential, as is investigation of the efficacy of the vaccines against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, including the B.1.351 (501Y.V2) variant first identified in South Africa. METHODS We conducted a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial [...]
Prion diseases occur when normal prion protein, found on the surface of many cells, becomes abnormal and clumps in the brain, causing brain damage. Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals. They are distinguished by long incubation periods, characteristic spongiform changes [...]
In May, as the temperatures in northern Sweden begin to creep to several degrees above freezing, scientists will once again descend on the squelchy peat of Stordalen Mire. They’ll tread across sagging wooden boardwalks, past clusters of clear plexiglass boxes placed among the cotton grass. Once every three hours during the mire’s short growing season, the [...]
Background Wuhan was the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. We aimed to determine the seroprevalence and kinetics of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at population level in Wuhan to inform the development of vaccination strategies. Methods In this longitudinal cross-sectional study, we used a multistage, population-stratified, cluster random sampling method to systematically select 100 communities from the 13 districts [...]
Two million covid-19 deaths have brought the violence of unequal societies squarely into public discussion—“social murder” as Kamran Abbasi has argued in The BMJ.1 What recourse do we have, he and others2 have asked, when elected authorities are too incompetent, or too callous, to address public health failures? In many cases, these failures follow society’s existing fault lines, [...]
Overview The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted much of the research and development done in the field of tuberculosis (TB) prevention, diagnostics, and treatment measures, as well as shifted the focus away from TB care. Lockdowns and the high burden placed on national healthcare systems has prevented patients from accessing TB diagnostic and treatment services, and it [...]
Philadelphia may have figured out one way to help improve the racial equity of its COVID-19 vaccine distribution, early data suggests. At the federally run clinic at the Convention Center — a location responsible for administering half of the city’s daily shots — the city on Wednesday began reserving half of its daily doses for walk-in [...]
With the current pandemic pointing the finger at enclosed public areas, the built environment has never had so much flack. Yet we can’t live without them, so ensuring buildings are safe, accessible, environmentally friendly and just nice places to be is the best we can do. It is also the objective of a large number [...]
for both reasons of backwardness of the medical-hospital infection control profession and political influences of the AHA and corporate medicine. Their guidance’s list of the five key prevention strategies for K-12 schools, even with the 19 March 2021 update is still not consistent with the scientific evidence. It does not list ventilation, an effective engineering [...]
