Category Archives: Medical research

Mutant virus: should we be worried that Sars-CoV-2 is changing?

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Scientists tracking the virus have uncovered a major mutation, but it may not be as scary as it sounds

Scientists have had eyes on Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, since the beginning of this pandemic.

They can see it is evolving, but it is happening at a glacial pace compared with two other viruses with pandemic potential: those that cause flu and Aids. That is good news for efforts to develop vaccines and treatments, but scientists remain wary that anything could still happen.

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‘Confounding’: Covid may have already peaked in many African countries

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One explanation for virus not behaving as expected could be previous exposure to other infections, experts tell MPs

The coronavirus pandemic has peaked earlier than expected in many African countries, confounding early predictions, experts have told MPs.

Scientists do not yet know why, but one hypothesis is the possibility of people having pre-existing immunity to Covid-19, caused by exposure to other infections.

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New antibody drug added to Oxford University trial of Covid-19 treatments

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Regeneron’s experimental drug REGN-COV2 to be added to UK’s Recovery trial

The Oxford-based Recovery trial which proved that steroids saved the lives of some Covid patients will now take on a promising but far more expensive new antibody combination treatment, it has been announced.

A cohort of patients joining the trial in most NHS acute hospitals will be randomly allocated to Regeneron’s experimental drug, called REGN-COV2. The drug is a combination of two human neutralising antibodies against the virus. The company previously developed a similar antibody drug against Ebola.

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I was infected with coronavirus in March, six months on I’m still unwell

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Charlie Russell, 27, is one of an estimated 600,000 people with post-Covid illness, a condition that may give an insight into ME

It’s day 182 after being infected by Covid-19, and Charlie Russell is not doing the things that other 27-year-olds are doing.

He’s not running 5km three times a week like he used to. He’s not going to the pub. He’s not working. And he’s not getting better.

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Coronavirus: France hits daily record of over 10,000 cases; protests in Germany against restrictions – live updates

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Number of new cases in California falls; Cuba restricts internal travel; English hospitals stress test for a second wave. Follow all the developments

Brazil registered 814 coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours and 33,523 additional cases, the nation’s health ministry said on Saturday evening.

The South American country has now reported 131,210 total deaths and 4,315,687 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

El Salvador’s government said on Saturday it plans to reopen airports for international flights starting on 19 September, but with a twist: incoming passengers will be required to show a negative PCR coronavirus test no more than three days old.

Anyone lacking the test would be denied entry, according to the Associated Press.

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The Covid-19 vaccine gamble: where bets have been placed and why

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Wealthy nations have ordered millions of doses of unproven candidates, but equal access is the key to beating virus

The UK has ordered a total of 340m doses of potential coronavirus vaccines from six manufacturers.

The EU has done a deal said to be worth €2.4bn (£2.2bn) with one developer, while the US has orders with six companies for 800m doses under Operation Warp Speed, with options on a further 1.6bn.

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UK coronavirus live: England to launch Covid-19 app this month, Scotland and Wales bring in ‘rule of six’

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Stricter regulations across the UK come as a study reports that mask wearing and lockdown rules are causing deeper social divides than Brexit

The Covid-19 app will be launched across England and Wales on September 24, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Ahead of the roll-out businesses including pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas are being urged to ensure they have NHS QR code posters visible on entry so customers who have downloaded the new app can use their smartphones to check-in.

QR codes provide an easy and simple way to collect contact details to support the NHS Test and Trace system.

“Hospitality businesses can now download posters for their premises ahead of the launch of the NHS Covid-19 app. This will allow the public to seamlessly check in to venues using the app when it launches.

Grassroots campaigners for EU nationals in the UK and Britons in Europe have expressed fears that they too could be hit by a government U-turn on the Brexit deal.

They say that Boris Johnson’s willingness to backtrack on the Northern Ireland protocol he agreed in January undermines trust that he will stick with the other core parts of the deal in the future including the section on citizens’ rights.

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Fatigue and headache most common Covid symptoms in children – study

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Researchers call for age-based symptom checklists as virus presents differently in children

Fatigue, headache and fever are the most common symptoms of coronavirus in children, with few developing a cough or losing their sense of taste or smell, researchers have found, adding to calls for age-specific symptom checklists.

The NHS lists three symptoms as signs of Covid-19 in adults and children: a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, and a loss or change in the sense of smell or taste.

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High blood pressure and diabetes impair brain function, study suggests

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The conditions appeared to cause structural changes that harmed memory and thinking

High blood pressure and diabetes bring about brain changes that impair thinking and memory, research suggests.

Doctors examined brain scans and medical data from 22,000 volunteers enrolled in the UK Biobank project and found significant structural changes in the grey and white matter among those with diabetes and high blood pressure.

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Political leaders are raising ‘false hopes’ about coronavirus vaccines

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Drugs now under development are unlikely to end the pandemic, the Wellcome Trust’s Jeremy Farrar warns

Vaccines will not be a silver bullet to end the Covid-19 pandemic and leaders must avoid creating false hope, a key government adviser has warned.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, writes in today’s Observer that the first vaccines are likely to be only partially effective. Raising expectations and rushing new drugs into production risks damaging public trust in any vaccination programmes that eventually arrive, he said.

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Coronavirus live news: India cases pass 4m; anti-lockdown protesters arrested in Victoria

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India adds 86,432 cases in the past 24 hours; arrests made after hundreds gather for Melbourne anti-lockdown rallies

The UK government will deliver 250,000 clear face masks to frontline NHS and social care workers to help them communicate with people with conditions such as hearing loss and dementia.

The transparent masks are made from plastic with an anti-fogging barrier, meaning patients will be able to see the mouth of the wearer as they speak. The Department of Health and Social Care said this would help the millions of people with hearing loss who needed to use lip-reading to communicate.

In England, coronavirus restrictions are to be eased in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and West Yorkshire, Matt Hancock has said.

Casinos, skating rinks, bowling alleys, exhibition halls, conference centres and indoor play areas, including soft play areas, will be able to lawfully reopen on Tuesday in all three places, apart from Bolton in Greater Manchester.

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Covid symptoms: diarrhoea and vomiting may be key sign of coronavirus in children – study

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Research suggests stomach trouble more predictive of virus in young people than a cough

Diarrhoea and vomiting could be an important sign of Covid-19 in children, researchers say, leading to calls for the official NHS list of symptoms to be updated.

The checklist for coronavirus in children currently includes just three symptoms: a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, and a loss or change to the sense of smell or taste. The latter was added to the list in May.

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‘It destroys lives’: why the razor-blade pain of vaginismus is so misunderstood

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This common condition can lead to relationship breakdown and unnecessary surgery. So why is treatment still so poor and underfunded?

I was just a few weeks into a new relationship when the pain started. Whenever my boyfriend and I started to have penetrative sex, it felt as if there were razor blades inside me. At first I laughed it off, but soon I became terrified of intercourse. My body would freeze with fear as my clothes came off. By the time we said: “I love you,” even kissing made me feel anxious. I would spend entire day trips and holidays with him worrying about the pain.

When I first went to my GP, the advice I got was to “try and relax”. It was about as helpful as telling someone having a panic attack to “just chill out”. Without a real solution, I started to question whether I was imagining the pain. Or if maybe, somehow, I was to blame for it. My boyfriend was kind and supportive but I felt I was letting him down. Some days, I would feel so ashamed that it was hard to think about anything else. Other days, I’d feel an overwhelming sense of loss for the carefree woman I had been.

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How the race for a Covid-19 vaccine is getting dirty

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Scientists worldwide are working against the clock to find a viable coronavirus vaccine – but are corners being cut for the sake of political gain and profit?

To begin with, it felt like a sleek performance from a well-honed relay team. On 11 January, only 10 days after reporting a new respiratory disease, the Chinese published the genome sequence of the virus that causes it. Researchers around the world set to work building vaccines against Covid-19, as the disease became known, and the first candidate entered human trials on 16 March; it was joined, as the months passed, by dozens of others.

Scientists were jubilant, and they had every right to be. They’d broken all vaccinology records to get to that point. But then tensions began to surface among the team members, and lately even the most distracted spectator will have noticed that they appear to be trying to nobble each other openly on the track. With accusations that the Russians and Chinese hacked research groups in other countries, biotech executives criticised for cashing in on their own, as yet unapproved vaccines, and Russia approving a vaccine that is still in clinical trials, the quest for a vaccine seems to have turned sour.

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Coronavirus live news: UK health secretary ‘cannot rule out’ England-wide restrictions as thousands gather in Berlin for protest

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Demonstration against coronavirus curbs gets go-ahead for German capital; Australian state sees 18 deaths and 94 cases; India sets new daily record with more than 77,000 cases. Follow all the updates live

Russia said on Saturday 111 people had died from the new coronavirus in the last 24 hours, raising the official death toll to 17,025. Russia’s coronavirus taskforce reported 4,941 new cases, bringing its nationwide tally to 985,346, the fourth largest caseload in the world.

Operations have resumed at the world’s biggest gold mine in Indonesia, the company that runs it said on Saturday after workers blocked access to the site in protest at being stopped from visiting their families over virus concerns.

The miners at the Grasberg complex in the country’s easternmost Papua region reached an agreement with the US-based operator Freeport, which said it would resume bus services for workers to return home.

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Dengue breakthrough after mosquitoes laced with natural bacteria

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Infections in Indonesian city plummet after release of mosquitoes injected with Wolbachia bacteria

Infecting mosquitoes with a naturally occurring bacteria dramatically reduces their ability to transmit dengue, according to a breakthrough study that could pave the way to eliminating the disease.

Research conducted in Indonesia, where dengue is endemic, found that releasing mosquitoes infected with the bacteria Wolbachia into parts of Yogyakarta city reduced the number of dengue infections by 77% compared with untreated areas.

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Obesity increases risk of Covid-19 death by 48%, study finds

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Comprehensive study suggests vaccine may not work as well for overweight people

Obesity increases the risk of death from Covid-19 by nearly 50% and may make vaccines against the disease less effective, according to a comprehensive study using global data.

The research from leading global experts warns that the risks for people with obesity are greater than previously thought.

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Why do Covid fatalities seem steady when infection numbers are rising?

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While some scientists believe the virus has become less deadly, others look at the factors that suggest otherwise

Are Covid-19 death rates decreasing?
Most statistics indicate that although cases of Covid-19 are rising in many parts of Europe and the United States, the number of deaths and cases of severe complications remain relatively low. For example, patients on ventilators have dropped from 3,000 at the epidemic’s peak in Britain to 70. At the same time, the number of cases in the UK have begun to rise in many areas.

What lies behind this trend?
Doctors are unsure exactly what is going on. Some suggest that medical interventions are more successful at treating those who suffer complications from the disease. For example, the drug dexamethasone was recently shown to improve survival rates among patients requiring ventilation. Others argue that different factors are involved. One suggestion is that Covid-19 is now becoming a disease of younger people who are less likely to die or suffer serious complications.

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Infants exposed to air pollution have less lung power as adolescents – study

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Researchers find that even exposure to levels below EU limits has an impact

Infants exposed to even low levels of air pollution experience reduced lung function as children and teenagers, researchers have found.

Their study found that exposure to air pollution in the first year of life reduced lung function development from the ages of six to 15, even at pollution levels below EU standards.

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