A team of scientists from the University of California Santa Cruz, USA, recently identified a novel variant (B.1.x) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that might be circulating in at least 20 US states and six countries globally. The mutations found in this variant are also present in other known variants of concern […]
The effect of different neutralizing antibodies, both vaccine-elicited and from convalescent sera, suggests new variants are emerging that can evade the human immune response. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) binds to host cells via its spike protein, which has two parts, the S1 and S2 subunits. The S1 subunit has the receptor-binding […]
Evolutionary ecology theory offers avenues to anticipate the future behavior of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogen. The repeated emergence of more infectious and possibly more virulent variants of SARS-CoV-2 shows that the virus is adapting under selective pressure. Although there has been a lot of discussion on how biodiversity-related events facilitate […]
The emergence of a novel human coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. SARS-CoV-2 causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a heterogeneous disease. Due to its rapid spread across the world within a short period, by March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared […]
With the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the world entered a phase of social restrictions which limited routine social and economic activities covering a wide spectrum, accompanied by a soaring and often overwhelming disease and death toll. A new study, released on […]
A team of researchers based in Stockholm, Sweden, has demonstrated that individuals exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have antibodies for the disease up to nine months after acquiring the disease, even if they displayed only mild symptoms. Study: Persisting Salivary IgG against SARS-CoV-2 at 9 Months After Mild COVID-19: A Complementary […]
A team of scientists from Brazil recently explored the abilities of the UK, South African, and Brazilian variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to evade host CD8+ T cell responses induced by natural infection or vaccination. The findings reveal reduced antigenic coverage for the P.2 Brazilian lineage, indicating its ability to evade […]
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to ravage worldwide, infecting over 118.15 million people. Caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the infection has claimed 2.62 million lives globally. More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and health experts have developed safe and effective vaccines, including the BNT162b2 by […]
As new variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continue to emerge, fueling the continued spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a new study offers encouragement. Released as a preprint on the bioRxiv* server, the study reports the protection offered by antibodies elicited by natural infection against the newer variants […]
An increase in overall hospitalizations was reported for older adults in the week following exposure to a tropical cyclone, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University's Earth Institute and colleagues at Colorado State University and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The researchers […]
