An interesting study led by scientists in the U.S. has recently revealed that the microbial community in the gut is directly affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and that virus-mediated gut microbiome dysbiosis may cause severe secondary infections in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* […]

There has been a great deal of interest and intense debates surrounding the origins of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since the novel coronavirus was first detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. These debates revolve around two competing ideas – zoonotic emergence and a laboratory leak scenario. Study: The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: […]

In a recent study conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA, scientists have identified six vaccine breakthrough cases caused by the delta variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A vaccine breakthrough case is defined as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in individuals who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 […]

A new study in the UK, by researchers at Imperial College London, The Francis Crick Institute and the University of Glasgow, explores the loss of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine efficacy against the virus behind the current pandemic caused by the emergence of newer variants that have undergone mutational escape. The paper, available on the […]

An interesting new study available as a preprint on the medRxiv* server suggests that vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) is a physiological marker of resilience to stress by indicating how well an individual handles the emotions when faced with changes in the surroundings. Study: Safe in my heart: resting heart rate variability longitudinally predicts emotion […]

A million more questions arise for every answer we have against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Where did it come from? And will it ever go away? A recent article published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology reviews what scientists currently know about the origin, SARS-CoV-2 structure, and potential treatments against this […]

A recent review paper by researchers in Portugal and Spain, published in the journal Biologics, revealed the current state of knowledge regarding hedgehog health – most notably the presence of infectious agents, diseases and other threats that can affect the health of the population. A European hedgehog or western-European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is broadly distributed […]

Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported at the end of 2019, the virus has undergone numerous mutations, with the emergence of multiple variants. Some of these have shown increased infectivity, while others are resistant to the antibodies elicited by the parental strain or the vaccine. These are called variants […]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic – caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – was declared in March 2020, two months after the initial recognition of novel pneumonia-like symptoms in a group of patients in Wuhan, China. Since then, it has spread to over 192 countries and territories, causing well […]

A recent study conducted at the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory provides the first atomic-level detailed model of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) envelope protein when bound to human proteins within the lungs. The study was recently published in Nature Communications. Study: Structural basis for SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein […]