Focus: Coronavirus Channel Featured Story TOP

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Smoking traditional or non-combustible cigarettes while wearing a surgical mask results in a two-fold rise in exhaled carbon monoxide and impaired blood vessel function compared to non-mask periods.

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The CDC’s vaccine prioritization strategy performed well compared to other approaches, though with some room for improvement

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Patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma often mount a poor antibody response to COVID-19 vaccines. Mount Sinai researchers have now discovered that these patients also have a weak response from a different part of the immune system, known as T cells. Their discovery was published in a research letter in Cancer Cell in October.

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The drug, known as molnupiravir, was first shown to be efficacious against coronaviruses including the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, by investigators in the lab of Mark Denison, MD, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and their colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Individuals with COVID-19 are most likely to spread the virus to close contacts two days before the onset of symptoms to three days after symptoms appear, and the risk of transmission is highest when patients had mild or moderate disease severity, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia.

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People with severe or prolonged COVID-19 achieve the highest antibody levels, Rutgers study finds

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The FDA and CDC have just approved and recommended an additional dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for moderately and severely immunocompromised people. Who should get it?

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Researchers who have worked for nearly two decades on the previously unglamorous topic of nursing home infection prevention say the spotlight shone because of COVID-19 could accelerate efforts to reduce transmission of all types of microbes.

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The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo. The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group - after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.

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The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo. The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group - after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.

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Many parents are missing opportunities to discuss questions and concerns about the COVID vaccine for kids with a doctor.

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Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine have produced a stem cell model that demonstrates a potential route of entry of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, into the human brain.

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A new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, published June 28 in the journal Nature, has found evidence that the immune response to Pfizer's mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 is both strong and potentially long-lasting.

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The virus that causes COVID-19 normally gets inside cells by attaching to a protein called ACE2. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that a single mutation confers the ability to enter cells through another route, which may threaten the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics designed to block the standard route of entry.

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Public health measures designed to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus may have fostered a substantial side benefit: A 53 percent drop in hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), likely due to a drop in circulating seasonal respiratory viruses such as influenza.

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UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers discovered that SARS-CoV-2, or at least its genetic signature, abounds on hospital surfaces, often co-locating with one particular type of bacteria.

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In a new study published in Nature, Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, Director of BIDMC's Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, and colleagues report on the antibody and cellular immune responses generated by the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine against the original viral strain and against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. The team found that this vaccine induced immune responses against all the viral variants.

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A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that, among men, low testosterone levels in the blood are linked to more severe COVID-19. The study contradicts widespread assumptions that higher testosterone may explain why men, on average, develop more severe COVID-19 than women do.

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As the global race for COVID-19 vaccination continues, new research from the University of South Australia shows that the uptake of vaccines could be vastly improved if approved vaccine brands received more positive promotion and media coverage.

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A paper published today in JAMA Network Open presents early results of the global effort to gather information about the incidence, severity and outcomes of neurological manifestations of COVID-19 disease.

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University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers report the widespread blood vessel dysfunction, or endothelial dysfunction, that results from the COVID-19 infection could contribute to erectile dysfunction, or ED, according to a study published in the World Journal of Men’s Health .

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A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that even mild cases of COVID-19 increase the risk of death in the six months following diagnosis and that this risk increases with disease severity. The comprehensive study also catalogues the wide-ranging and long-term health problems often triggered by the infection, even among those not hospitalized.

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A research project led by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has found that Los Angeles County neighborhoods with poor air quality had the highest death rates from the pandemic.

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In a study that looked at racial differences in outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit, researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit found that patients of color had a lower 28-day mortality than white patients. Race, however, was not a factor in overall hospital mortality, length of stay in the ICU or in the rate of patients placed on mechanical ventilation, researchers said. The findings, published in Critical Care Medicine, are believed to be one of the first in the United States to study racial differences and outcomes specific to patients hospitalized in the ICU with COVID-19.

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Investigators from UC San Diego and UCLA report COVID-19 infection rates for a cohort of health care workers previously vaccinated for the novel coronavirus. Risk of infection is minuscule, but exists.