Category Archives: Medical research

Covid-19 virus does not infect human brain cells, study suggests

Posted on by

Exclusive: study raises hopes that Covid-related damage to sense of smell may be more superficial than previously feared

The virus that causes Covid-19 does not infect human brain cells, according to a study published in the journal Cell. The findings will raise hopes that the damage caused by Sars-CoV-2 might be more superficial and reversible than previously feared.

The study contradicts earlier research that suggested the virus infects neurons in the membrane that lines the upper recesses of the nose.

Continue reading...

Flu, cancer, HIV: after Covid success, what next for mRNA vaccines?

Posted on by

The technology was viewed with scepticism before the pandemic but there is now growing confidence about its use

It is one of the most remarkable success stories of the pandemic: the unproven technology that delivered the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in record time, helping to turn the tide on Covid-19. The vaccines are based on mRNA, the molecule that instructs our cells to make specific proteins. By injecting synthetic mRNA, our cells are turned into on-demand vaccine factories, pumping out any protein we want our immune system to learn to recognise and destroy.

Pre-pandemic, the technology was viewed with scepticism – a clever concept, but not guaranteed to deliver. Now there is growing confidence that mRNA vaccines could have far-reaching applications in tackling diseases from flu to malaria.

Continue reading...

Fresh air or foul odour? How Covid can distort the sense of smell

Posted on by

Coronavirus-induced parosmia is surprisingly common and the sensory confusion can have profound effects

Deirdre likens her body odour to raw onions; Deepak says his favourite aftershave smells foul, and coffee like cleaning products; Julie thinks coffee and chocolate both smell like burnt ashes.

Most people are aware that a cardinal symptom of Covid-19 is loss of smell, or anosmia. It may last for weeks or even months. Increasingly though, those who have recovered subsequently develop another disorienting symptom, parosmia, or a distorted sense of smell. This typically results in things that once smelled pleasant smelling bad or rotten.

Continue reading...

Call for action on TB as deaths rise for first time in decade

Posted on by

Tuberculosis campaigners tell G20 leaders $1bn is needed annually for vaccine research to reverse decades of underfunding

A group of tuberculosis survivors are calling for more funding and action to find new vaccines, after the numbers dying of the infection rose for the first time in 10 years.

In 2020, 1.5 million were killed by TB and 10 million infected, according to the World Health Organization. Campaigners want world leaders to invest $1bn (£730m) every year into vaccine research, spurred on by the momentum from the Covid jab development.

Continue reading...

The world was woefully unprepared for a pandemic. Let’s be ready for the next one | Elhadj As Sy

Posted on by

The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board is calling for a coherent action plan to counter future health emergencies

Two years ago, three months before coronavirus erupted, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) issued a warning to the international community that a pandemic was only a matter of time, and that the world was not prepared. Tragically, we were proved right.

After 20 months of Covid-19, with nearly five million directly attributed deaths and economic devastation, we say again that the world is not prepared. It has neither the capacity to end the current pandemic in the near future, nor to prevent the next one.

Continue reading...

Covid testing failures at UK lab ‘should have been flagged within days’

Posted on by

Senior scientists say problems at Immensa site show private firms should not be carrying out PCR tests

Health officials should have known about major failings at a private Covid testing lab within days of the problem arising, rather than taking weeks to shut down operations at the site, senior scientists say.

About 43,000 people, mostly in south-west England, are believed to have wrongly been told they did not have the virus by Immensa Health Clinic’s laboratory in Wolverhampton in a debacle described as one of the worst scandals in the UK’s Covid crisis.

Continue reading...

Without Covid-19 jab, ‘reinfection may occur every 16 months’

Posted on by

Reports grow of repeat infection as experts warn prevalence among school pupils puts older people at risk

As Covid-19 infections surge in England, people are increasingly reporting catching Sars-CoV-2 for a second or even third time.

New analysis has suggested that unvaccinated individuals should expect to be reinfected with Covid-19 every 16 months, on average.

Continue reading...

Offshoot of Covid Delta variant on the rise in England

Posted on by

UK Health Security Agency monitoring AY.4.2 as daily cases at highest level since late July

A newly detected coronavirus variant is on the rise in England, with the virus believed to be an offshoot of Delta.

According to a briefing from the UK Health Security Agency, released on Friday, “a Delta sublineage newly designated as AY.4.2 is noted to be expanding in England”, with the body adding that the variant is being monitored and assessed.

Continue reading...

Valneva Covid vaccine could be as effective as Oxford jab, study suggests

Posted on by

Vaccine produced by French company uses inactivated Sars-CoV-2 virus and can be stored in fridge

A coronavirus jab based on traditional vaccine technology might be as effective as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, data suggests, offering new hope for global vaccination efforts.

Vaccines currently approved for use in the UK deliver instructions for producing the coronavirus “spike” protein to cells in order, which triggers an immune response. However, the jab produced by the French pharmaceutical company Valneva involves delivering the whole – but inactivated – Sars-CoV-2 virus.

Continue reading...

How my ivermectin research led to Twitter death threats | Dr Andrew Hill

Posted on by

I was sent images of coffins and hanged Nazi war criminals after finding medical fraud in clinical trials

The story of online threats and abuse is very dark. In early 2021, my research team was analysing a new drug called ivermectin. In the first clinical trials, this drug seemed to prevent new infections and improve survival. When I first wrote about this, I started getting regular threats on Twitter, demanding that ivermectin should be approved worldwide and questioning the safety of vaccines.

In March 2021, I received my first vaccine dose and posted a photo on Twitter from the clinic. Within minutes I was receiving strange messages: “Why would you do that?”, “not safe”, “why not use ivermectin instead”, “you are paid by the Gates Foundation”. One person even sent a link to a suction device to remove the vaccine fluid from my arm. Any message I sent promoting the benefits of vaccines led to threats and abuse.

Continue reading...

Local Covid vaccines fill gap as UN Covax scheme misses target

Posted on by

India, Egypt and Cuba among first states to develop and make their own vaccines as Covax falls behind

Developing countries are increasingly turning to homegrown Covid vaccinations as the UN-backed Covax programme falls behind.

While western countries roll out booster jabs to their own populations, Covax, which was set up by UN agencies, governments and donors to ensure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, has said it will miss its target to distribute 2bn doses globally by the end of this year.

Continue reading...

New treatment destroys head and neck cancer tumours in trial

Posted on by

Exclusive: combination of drugs causes tumours to vanish in some terminally ill patients, study finds

A new cancer treatment can wipe out tumours in terminally ill head and neck cancer patients, scientists have discovered.

In a landmark trial, a cocktail of immunotherapy medications harnessed patients’ immune systems to kill their own cancer cells and prompted “a positive trend in survival”, according to researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, and the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust.

Continue reading...

Covid by numbers: 10 key lessons separating fact from fiction

Posted on by

To make sense of coronavirus data, the Observer asked David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters of the Royal Statistical Society Covid taskforce to write a column. That column has now inspired a book. Here are some of its insights

Genomic sequencing has identified more than 1,000 different seeds of Sars-CoV-2 introduced in early 2020. Instead of one central outbreak, reverberating outwards like an explosion, we now know there were many erupting simultaneously across the country. There were far more imports of Sars-CoV-2 from France, Italy and Spain than from China – viruses can take indirect flights. The peak was early March, after the school half-term, but a popular holiday time for adults. At the Champions League football match at Anfield between Liverpool and Atlético Madrid on 10 March, 49,000 local supporters mixed with 3,000 fans of the opposing team, while schools in Madrid were shut and supporters could not attend matches. To add insult to injury, Liverpool lost 3–2, and 4–2 on aggregate.

Continue reading...

Could the global Covid death toll be millions higher than thought?

Posted on by

A data scientist and economics student joined forces in search of the real pandemic death toll – and the results are startling

For the past 18 months, hunkered down in his Tel Aviv apartment, Ariel Karlinsky has scoured the web for data that could help him calculate the true death toll of Covid-19.

Continue reading...

WHO endorses use of world’s first malaria vaccine in Africa

Posted on by

World Health Organization’s director general hails ‘historic day’ in fight against parasitic disease

The World Health Organization has recommended the widespread rollout of the first malaria vaccine, in a move experts hope could save tens of thousands of children’s lives each year across Africa.

Hailing “an historic day”, the WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that after a successful pilot programme in three African countries the RTS,S vaccine should be made available more widely.

Continue reading...

‘Covid toe’ may be side-effect of immune response, says study

Posted on by

Chilblain-like inflammation causes redness on hands and feet and can last for months

The skin condition known as Covid toe may be a side-effect of the immune system’s response to fighting off the virus, according to a study.

The symptom results in chilblain-like inflammation and redness on the hands and feet, with the condition sometimes lasting for months at a time. It typically develops within a week to four weeks of being infected and can result in toes and fingers becoming swollen or changing colour.

Continue reading...

Woman successfully treated for depression with electrical brain implant

Posted on by

‘Stunning’ neuroscientific advance gives hope to those with mental illness not helped with drugs

A woman with severe depression has been successfully treated with an experimental brain implant in a “stunning” advance that offers hope to those with intractable mental illness.

The device works by detecting patterns of brain activity linked to depression and automatically interrupting them using tiny pulses of electrical stimulation delivered deep inside the brain.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus treatments: the potential ‘game-changers’ in development

Posted on by

After positive clinical trials for antiviral drug Molnupiravir, it joins other medicines that have shown promise

The first clinical trial results showing a positive effect for a pill that can be taken at home has been hailed as a potential gamechanger that could provide a new way to protect the most vulnerable people from the worst effects of Covid-19. Molnupiravir joins a growing list of medicines that have shown promise. Here are some of the main developments in treatments so far.

Continue reading...

Covid antiviral pill halves hospitalisations and deaths, maker says

Posted on by

If approved, Merck’s drug would be first simple oral medication shown to be effective against coronavirus

An antiviral pill was found to reduce hospitalisations and deaths by half in patients newly diagnosed with Covid-19, according to results announced on Friday.

If approved, the drug made by the US firm Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics would be the first simple oral medication shown to be effective against Covid-19, which would mark a crucial advance in the fight against the pandemic. Other drugs, such as remdesivir, have been shown to be effective if given early, but all currently approved treatments need to be given as injections or IV infusions.

Continue reading...

Flu and Covid jabs safe to be given at same time, study finds

Posted on by

Clinical trial on joint flu, Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccinations reported only mild to moderate side-effects

Flu jabs are safe to give at the same time as the Pfizer or AstraZeneca Covid vaccines, according to the first clinical trial to investigate co-administering the shots in a single appointment.

While some people experienced more side-effects with certain combinations of flu and Covid shots, the ailments were mainly mild to moderate, the study found. The most common side effects included pain at the injection site and temporary fatigue, headache or muscle pain.

Continue reading...