Protests simmered in Shanghai early on Sunday, as residents in several Chinese cities, many of them angered by a deadly fire in the country’s far west, pushed back against heavy COVID-19 curbs nearly three years into the pandemic. www.ndtv.com/world-news/china-building-fire-that-killed-10-sparks-questions-on-zero-covid-policy-3556802 A fire on Thursday that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Urumqi, capital of […]
Infectious diseases
WHO to revise list of priority pathogens
The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to revise its current list of priority pathogens, or those pathogens theoretically capable of causing widespread outbreaks or even leading to a new pandemic-level event.The current list includes COVID-19, Crimean-Cong haemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus disease, Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute […]
Large scale respiratory illness study reports interference between diseases
In one of the largest, longest, and most comprehensive studies of respiratory virus infections in humans, Murcia and colleagues used a PCR assay that can identify members of 11 viral families to probe nasal and throat samples from more than 36,000 individuals who sought care from the National Health Service in Glasgow over 9 years. […]
Triple threat of viral diseases threatens northern hemisphere this winter
Triple threat. Tripledemic. A viral perfect storm. These frightening phrases have dominated recent headlines as some health officials, clinicians, and scientists forecast that SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) could surge at the same time in northern hemisphere locales that have relaxed masking, social distancing, and other COVID-19 precautions. https://www.science.org/content/article/competition-between-respiratory-viruses-may-hold-tripledemic-winter? But a growing body […]
Pharma companies potentially mandated to disclose prices on emergency treatments
Pharmaceutical companies could be made to disclose prices and deals agreed for any products they make to fight future global health emergencies, under new rules that would govern a World Health Organization (WHO)-backed pandemic accord reviewed by Reuters. A draft version of the WHO accord, which is being negotiated by the UN health agency’s 194 […]
Research in Thailand develops long shelf life COVID-19 vaccine
A team of researchers affiliated with several entities in Thailand, working with two colleagues from the US and two from Canada, has developed an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine that can be safely refrigerated for up to three months before use. The team has named it ChulaCov19. In their paper published in the journal Nature Microbiology, the […]
Beijing locks down district of 3.5 million residents
Beijing told the 3.5m residents of its most populous district to stay at home from Monday, in a bid to contain rising COVID-19 infections. China’s capital reported 516 new infections as of 3pm on Sunday, as well as the death of an 87-year-old man, China’s first known COVID fatality since 26 May. The government recently […]
COVID-19 hits largest research outpost in Antarctica
McMurdo Station, the largest research outpost in Antarctica, is suffering from an unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19, with at least 64 active cases among its more than 900 residents, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) said on 7 November. The agency this week paused most flights to the continent for 2 weeks and recommended that all […]
Novel antibiotic for UTIs passes first clinical trial
A new antibiotic that represents an entirely novel chemical class has passed it first clinical test. The drug, gepotidacin, cured urinary tract infections (UTIs) so well in two large trials that researchers stopped them early. www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-new-antibiotic-covid-19-antarctica-and-venus-mission-deferred? Its manufacturer, GSK, says it plans to seek approval of the drug from the US Food and Drug Administration […]
Cruise liner becomes COVID-19 hotspot
The Majestic Princess cruise liner docked in Sydney recently with hundreds infected after departing from the same port two weeks earlier, Nine News reports. The ship had just finished a 12-day tour of New Zealand – having dropped anchor in ports around Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Bay of Islands, and Fiordland National Park. In a joint […]