Tag: covid-19

Science

The most powerful health innovations of 2022

 sykes  0 62 

Almost three years into the pandemic, the spotlight isn’t just on COVID medicine anymore. While booster shots and take-home antiviral pills gave us new tools to fight the infectious disease, health researchers and drug makers regained momentum in other crucial areas, like organ transplants, STI prevention, and white-whale therapies for alopecia and HIV. At the same time, AI deepened its role as a diagnostic aid, while mental health services got an accessibility boost across the US. We know the pandemic…

Science

An at-home test for both COVID-19 and the flu gains approval

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On February 24, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) authorized what the agency says is the fist at-home test for detecting both COVID-19 and the flu. The test uses one nasal swab to collect a sample from the nose and generates results in roughly 30 minutes. It can be purchased without a prescription and is authorized for use in anyone over 14 years-old, or in children two to 14 with the help of an adult. It is made by Lucira…

Science

Camels and sharks have small, sneaky antibodies that can help fight human diseases

 Naomi  0 60 

This article was originally featured in Knowable Magazine. Every four months, pathologist Aaron LeBeau scoops into a net one of the five nurse sharks he keeps in his University of Wisconsin lab. Then he carefully administers a shot to the animal, much like a pediatrician giving a kid a vaccine. The shot will immunize the shark against a human cancer, perhaps, or an infectious disease, such as Covid-19. A couple of weeks later, after the animal’s immune system has had…

Science

In the latest State of the Union, Biden highlights infrastructure, chips, and healthcare

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On February 7, President Joe Biden gave his 2023 State of the Union Address to a joint session of a newly split Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans controlling the House. This is what he had to say on major science, tech, and health related issues.  Health policy priorities—COVID and healthcare Biden touted the progress made to combat COVID-19 since he first took office in January 2021, when the COVID-19 vaccine rollout was just getting underway since beginning…

Science

COVID antiviral pills work against Omicron—when people can get them

 Emma  0 227 

Last week, Pfizer reported that a trio of lab experiments suggest that its COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, will hold up well against the Omicron variant.  The antiviral was authorized in December for people at high risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. Unfortunately, despite these promising developments, Paxlovid and other COVID-19 treatments are still in short supply across the country. Half of the 20 million Paxlovid treatment courses purchased by the US aren’t expected to be delivered until June, and the…

Science

Can cannabis protect people from COVID? Buzzy studies can’t say.

 Amy  0 208 

Another study has been published linking cannabis with protective effects against COVID-19, two weeks after similarly buzzy-but-limited research indicated hemp might ward off the virus, too. But once again these results are preliminary and without evidence in living human subjects. They do not mean that smoking marijuana will protect you against SARS-CoV-2 infection.  A large team of researchers conducted experiments on human lung cells and on live mice to see how different cannabis compounds affected the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2. They…

Science

‘Preliminary research’ on COVID has been surprisingly solid

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Before the COVID pandemic, peer-review was the beating heart of scientific publishing. In order for studies to enter the body of scientific knowledge, the expectation was that researchers would submit them to academic journals, which would send the papers out to other experts for edits and revisions before publishing. But it’s a process that wasn’t well-suited to the urgency of the COVID pandemic, when early research could save lives. Peer-review often takes months, and it asks for huge amounts of…

Science

This new recycling system could keep COVID PPE out of landfills

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The waste from COVID-19 personal protective equipment is a gigantic problem. As of late last year, estimates put the amount of COVID-related plastic waste at about 8 million tons, with around 25,000 tons of that trickling into the ocean. A lot of that has to do with the fact that recycling PPE—from plastics to reusable cloth masks—is a bit of a mystery. For normal folks, that means our used necessary protective items end up in the landfill.  This obviously puts…

Science

A COVID vaccine for young US children may be closer than ever

 Naomi  0 171 

Members of the last age group to be authorized for COVID-19 vaccinations may soon get their due, and earlier than anticipated. Pfizer and BioNTech are expected to request emergency use authorization for their mRNA vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration as early as today, which would permit children between 6 months and 5 years of age to be vaccinated in a two-dose regimen.  The companies announced last fall that preliminary analyses of clinical trials of two vaccine doses in…

Science

Why the FDA paused monoclonal antibody treatments

 Ingle  0 185 

On Monday evening, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would limit the use of two monoclonal antibody COVID-19 treatments, made by pharmaceutical companies Regeneron and Eli Lilly. Those treatments had been successful at keeping symptomatic patients out of the hospital in earlier waves, but did not work against Omicron, the agency said. A third, less common monoclonal treatment, called sotrovimab, can still be used. The FDA’s decision, based on lab studies of the treatments, mirrors the practices of…

Science

What to do with your old cloth masks

 Emma  0 170 

Every week it feels like something changes when it comes to COVID, be it a new variant, a new spike, a new magic “cure,” or a new shot we all need. But recently, the news hasn’t just been about what’s new. Just last week, the CDC announced that reusable cloth masks aren’t as safe as respirator masks in certain situations. One study showed that fabric coverings can sometimes net as low as 5 percent of aerosolized particles.  For people trying…

Science

Why healthy, vaccinated people should still care about Omicron

 admin  0 158 

Since mid-December, the highly contagious Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus has dominated the latest surge in COVID-19 cases across the US. However, growing evidence is painting a picture of a variant that is less virulent than earlier versions of the virus, particularly among vaccinated people. Although Omicron is often described as mild, this variant still poses a very real danger, particularly for people whose age or medical conditions put them at higher risk of becoming very sick with COVID-19. …