Treating those most severely affected by COVID-19 has necessarily taken priority during the pandemic. But could long COVID be the next wave of the crisis?
Likelihood of severe and ‘long’ COVID may be established very early on following infection
Among the key findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, are: Individuals who have asymptomatic or mild disease show a robust immune response early on during infection. Patients requiring admission to hospital have impaired immune responses and systemic inflammation (that is, chronic inflammation that may affect several organs) from the time of symptom onset. Persistent […]
DNA test can quickly identify pneumonia in patients with severe COVID-19, aiding faster treatment
For patients with the most severe forms of COVID-19, mechanical ventilation is often the only way to keep them alive, as doctors use anti-inflammatory therapies to treat their inflamed lungs. However, these patients are susceptible to further infections from bacteria and fungi that they may acquire while in hospital – so called ‘ventilator-associated pneumonia’. Now, […]
Remdesivir likely to be highly effective antiviral against SARS-CoV-2 for some patients
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been hampered by the lack of effective antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease. Scientists had pinned hope on the drug remdesivir, originally developed to treat hepatitis C and subsequently tested against Ebola. However, results from large clinical trials have been inconclusive, and in early […]
Reflections on a year of fighting COVID-19
2020 will be forever remembered for COVID-19. As the year draws to a close, Dr Estée Török looks back at how colleagues across the NHS and the research community worked tirelessly to fight back.
CITIID PhD in Infection and Immunity Programme Launched
Scientists identify warning signs over effectiveness of HIV ‘wonder drug’ in sub-Saharan Africa
As HIV copies itself and replicates, it can develop errors, or ‘mutations’, in its genetic code (its RNA). While a drug may initially be able to suppress or even kill the virus, certain mutations can allow the virus to develop resistance to its effects. If a mutated strain begins to spread within a population, it […]
Cambridge-led SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance consortium receives £12.2 million
The additional investment will enable COG-UK to grow and strengthen current genomic surveillance efforts spearheaded by the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge, together with the four UK Public Health Agencies and other COG-UK partners, with the aim of increasing sequencing capacity across the national network and reducing turnaround time from patient sample […]
Why it takes guts to protect the brain against infection
The brain is arguably the most important organ in the body, as it controls most other body systems and enables reasoning, intelligence, and emotion. Humans have evolved a variety of protective measures to prevent physical damage to the brain: it sits in a solid, bony case – the skull – and is wrapped in three […]
Drug-resistant hospital bacteria persist even after deep cleaning, genomic study reveals
Enterococcus faecium is a bacterium commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract, where it usually resides without causing the host problems. However, in immunocompromised patients, it can lead to potentially life-threatening infection. Over the last three decades, strains have emerged that are resistant to frontline antibiotics including ampicillin and vancomycin, limiting treatment options – and particularly […]
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