Category Archives: Microbiology

I’m a consultant in infectious diseases. ‘Long Covid’ is anything but a mild illness | Joanna Herman

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Nine months on from the virus, I am seriously debilitated. This is how the new NHS clinics need to help thousands of us

With the excitement of the Covid vaccine’s arrival, it may be easy to forget and ignore those of us with “long Covid”, who are struggling to reclaim our previous, pre-viral lives and continue to live with debilitating symptoms. Even when the NHS has managed the herculean task of vaccinating the nation, Covid-19 and the new mutant variants of the virus will continue to circulate, leaving more people at risk of long Covid. Data from a King’s College London study in September suggested as many as 60,000 people in the UK could be affected, but the latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics suggest it could be much higher.

I was acutely ill in March, though – like many people with long Covid – mine was defined as a “mild” case not requiring admission to hospital. Nine months on, I am seriously debilitated, with crashing post-exertional fatigue, often associated with chest pains. On bad days, my brain feels like it doesn’t want to function, even a conversation can be too much. I have no risk factors, I’m in my 50s, and have always been fit, but remain too unwell to work – ironically as a consultant in infectious diseases. Watching the pandemic unfold from the sidelines when I should have been working in the thick of it has only added to the frustration of my protracted illness.

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Scientists call for UK lockdown after rapid spread of Covid-19 variant

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Stricter measures needed as cases of mutated virus, linked to UK travellers, are reported across globe

Cases of the new variant Covid-19 virus were confirmed in several European countries on Saturday, including Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. All were linked to people who had arrived from the UK.

Meanwhile, Japan has announced it is banning all new entries of foreign nationals from Monday following the discovery of the variant in travellers from the UK.

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Ten reasons why we got Covid-19 vaccines so quickly without ‘cutting corners’ | Adam Finn

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The speedy rollout is thanks to a combination of foresight, hard work and lucky breaks

The speed at which effective Covid-19 vaccines have come through to authorisation has caused surprise. Compared with previous vaccines, the process has been very fast and so, naturally, people are asking how can it have happened without some kind of compromise on standards and care. Explaining it all as simply a result of the wonders of the latest scientific advances seems vague. So how has it actually come about? In reality, there are at least 10 reasons: some are about good planning, some good science and some just good luck.

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South African Covid-19 variant may be ‘more effective at spreading’

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Research still to confirm threat posed but variant does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms

The South African variant of Covid-19, two cases of which have now been detected in the UK, is likely to be more transmissible, may hit young people harder, and may be slightly more resistant to vaccines, scientists in South Africa believe.

However, research is still continuing to confirm the threat posed by the variant, which does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms or require different treatment.

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What do we know about the two new Covid-19 variants in the UK?

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One appears to have arisen in Kent, the other brought in from South Africa. Both are highly transmissible

Two new variants of Covid-19 have been identified as of concern in the UK, both said to be more transmissible than the previously dominant version. Here’s what we know so far.

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New Covid variant in UK: spreading Christmas fear?

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B117 is more transmissible than original virus, but there is no evidence it makes people sicker

If a new virus sounds scary, a new mutating virus sounds scarier still. In Kent in September, scientists now believe, somebody with Covid was the unlucky first person to pass on a variant form of the coronavirus that is maybe as much as 70% more transmissible than the version we have been used to.

The exponential recent rise in cases now blamed on that incident and the UK government response have sparked alarm around the world, with other countries banning flights into the UK for at least 48 hours while everyone figures out what is going on.

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Covid is a chance to build a world where everyone has access to basic vaccines | David Miliband and Anuradha Gupta

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Preventable diseases still plague those missing out on vaccines. Efforts to halt coronavirus could help crack this issue

The massive public, private and foundation investments in a coronavirus vaccine are producing results at a record pace. And countries are reacting accordingly. A recent global assessment of purchasing agreements for Covid-19 vaccines reveals that high-income countries, as well as a few middle-income countries with high manufacturing capacity, have already bought enough doses for their populations.

But delivery of the vaccine needs a new level of focus. This is especially the case for populations in poor and war-torn countries, where the health system is weak or nonexistent. Even before the pandemic, approximately 20 million infants a year, often some of the most vulnerable in the world, were missing out on basic vaccines. For example, there are estimated to be more than 10.6 million children in the world’s poorest countries who in 2019 did not receive even a first dose of a diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine (DPT).

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British American Tobacco wins approval to test Covid vaccine on humans

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Treatment grown on tobacco plants gets US backing for clinical study

British American Tobacco has moved a step closer to producing a vaccine for coronavirus using tobacco plants, as it won approval in the US to begin testing on humans.

The company behind cigarette brands including Lucky Strike, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges said the US Food & Drug Administration had given it clearance to begin a clinical study with adult volunteers.

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The great project: how Covid changed science for ever

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The emergence of a novel coronavirus prompted a wave of global collaboration that has led to vaccines, treatments and the promise of new discoveries

For scientists, 5 January was a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus. That day, a team led by Prof Yong-Zhen Zhang at Fudan University in Shanghai sequenced the genetic code of the virus behind Wuhan’s month-long pneumonia outbreak. The process took about 40 hours. Having analysed the code, Zhang reported back to the Ministry of Health. The pathogen was a novel coronavirus similar to Sars, the deadly virus that sparked an epidemic in 2003. People should take precautions, he warned.

The Chinese government had imposed an embargo on information about the outbreak and Zhang and his co-workers were under pressure not to publish the code. The blackout couldn’t hold. On 8 January, news broke about the nature of the pathogen and was confirmed a day later by Chinese authorities. To sit on the code now seemed ridiculous.

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Coronavirus: key moments – timeline

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From December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19 – here are the points where momentum shifted

From December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19, it has been an extraordinary year. Here’s how the momentum shifted

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Origin story: what do we know now about where coronavirus came from?

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When Chinese scientists alerted colleagues to a new virus last December, suspicion fell on a Wuhan market. What have health officials learned since then?

Maria van Kerkhove was staying with her sister in the US for the Christmas holidays, but checking her emails. As always. Every day there are signals of potential trouble, said the World Health Organization virologist who was to become a household name and face within weeks.

“There’s always something that happens at Christmas time. There’s always some alert, or a signal of a suspected case. The last several years it’s been Mers [Middle East respiratory syndrome] – a suspect case travelling to Malaysia or Indonesia or Korea or somewhere in Asia from the Middle East. So there’s always some kind of signal. There’s always something that happens,” she said.

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‘Covid-19 has an odour, and the dogs are detecting it’: meet the canine super-squad sniffing out the virus

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They’re loyal, diligent – and have unbeatable noses. Could dogs play a key part in the fight against the pandemic?

A single-storey building in a lonely rural business park, a few miles from Milton Keynes on a grey autumn day. It looks like a location for a bleak thriller: where a kidnap victim is held, perhaps, or the scene of a final shootout. Inside, though, something kind of cool is happening.

In a brightly lit room, four inverted metal cups have been placed on the red carpet, each containing a small glass jar. One of these contains a smell: a “training odour”. Into the room bursts Billy, followed by Jess. Billy is a labrador, and Jess his human trainer. Billy bounces about the place, clearly super excited. He sniffs at everything – furniture, people, the cups – wagging ferociously. When he sniffs at the cup that contains the smell, another trainer, Jayde, indicates success with a clicking noise. Billy is rewarded with his favourite toy, a well-chewed rubber ball, and a chorus of “good boy”.

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Anosmia: how Covid brought loss of smell centre stage

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A condition once overlooked by researchers is now in the spotlight as a key symptom of Covid-19

Seven years ago, rhinology surgeon Peter Andrews found himself performing an operation that would go on to change the course of his career.

Andrews was operating on a patient who had broken his nose many decades earlier after being struck by a cricket ball. The procedure was delicate: straightening the septum – the thin wall of cartilage that separates the nostrils – and in the process improving his breathing, which had become more laboured in later life.

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Coronavirus live news: Biden vows to get vaccinated in public; Cyprus to waive tests for vaccinated visitors

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Biden will ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office; Cyprus announces new measure to ease travel; Iran’s cases top 1m

In the UK saliva tests for Covid-19, which are being introduced for NHS workers as part of the government’s mass testing programme, pick up only 13% of people with low levels of the virus and not 91%, as the official assessment has claimed, according to experts.

Two members of the Royal Statistical Society’s working group looking at the accuracy of Covid tests have questioned the results and the way they have been evaluated.

Related: Experts question claimed accuracy of Covid-19 saliva tests

Revelations of distorted corona virus tallies have caused growing controversy in Greece reports our correspondent Helena Smith in Athens.

Figures released by the government nightly have been slammed for not reflecting the truth after reports of mismanagement by the national public health organisation, EODY.

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France will carry out border checks to stop skiers from spreading Covid

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Coronavirus clusters in Alpine resorts played key role in early spread of virus in Europe

France will carry out random border checks over the holiday season targeting French skiers on their way to and from foreign resorts – particularly Switzerland and Spain – where slopes stay open, the prime minister, Jean Castex, has said.

“The goal is to avoid French citizens getting contaminated. That will be done by performing random checks at the borders,” Castex told French television, adding that returning holidaymakers would be ordered to quarantine for seven days.

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UK approves Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine for rollout next week

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‘Historic moment’ allows mass immunisation, with 800,000 doses expected to be available next week

The UK has become the first western country to license a vaccine against Covid, opening the way for mass immunisation with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to begin next week for those most at risk.

The vaccine has been authorised for emergency use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA), before decisions by the US and Europe. The MHRA was given power to approve the vaccine by the government under special regulations before 1 January, when it will become fully responsible for medicines authorisation in the UK after Brexit.

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Coronavirus live news: CDC suggests first vaccines to US healthcare workers; England enters tier system

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US hospitalisations surge; New tier system replaces lockdown; BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna file for EU approval of Covid-19 vaccine

The national accounts, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics just now, shows that rise in seasonally adjusted chain volume measures, after a 7% fall in the June quarter.

In the US, a government panel on Tuesday formally recommended early doses of Covid-19 vaccines be given first to healthcare workers and long-term care facility residents in the US, generally seen as people who live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Together, that group would represent roughly 23 million Americans, disproportionately including women, people of color and low-wage workers who makeup the healthcare labor force.

Related: CDC panel recommends giving Covid-19 vaccines to healthcare workers first

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Coronavirus live news: WHO says vaccines won’t prevent short-term surge; Putin orders start of mass inoculation

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Health body says there won’t be enough doses to prevent new wave in cases in next six months; Russian president says programme should start next week

Morocco hopes to launch an ambitious vaccination campaign against the coronavirus by year-end, but its efforts have sparked suspicion and rumours in the country, hard-hit by the pandemic.

The North African kingdom is hoping to immunise 20 million adults against Covid-19 within three months, using vaccinations from China’s Sinopharm and a UK-sourced shot developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Boris Johnson might be persuaded to take a Covid-19 vaccination on television to show it is safe but he would not have one before those in greater need, his press secretary has said.

Johnson, 56, who spent time in intensive care earlier this year after contracting Covid-19, has hailed the UK approval of Pfizer’s vaccine as a global win and ray of hope.

I don’t think it would be something he would rule out.

But I think we also know that he wouldn’t want to take a jab that should be for someone who is extremely vulnerable, clinically vulnerable, and who should be getting it before him.

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Coronavirus live news: Moderna to seek US and EU approval for vaccine; Italy records 672 new Covid-related deaths

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Moderna reports a 100% success rate in preventing severe cases; Italy reports 672 new Covid-related deaths, a rise on Sunday’s figure

Turkey’s daily Covid-19 death toll hit a record high for an eighth consecutive day on Monday, with 188 fatalities in the last 24 hours.

The number of new coronavirus cases, including asymptomatic ones, over the past 24 hours also reached a record high of 31,219.

The state of Sao Paulo, home to Brazil’s biggest city, has imposed stricter social distancing measures as it wrestles to contain a fresh rise in Covid-19 cases.

Opening hours and capacities for bars, restaurants and shopping malls will be restricted in Brazil’s most populous state which has been the centre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak.

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Long Covid: ‘Is this now me forever?’

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Months after coming down with the virus, Eleanor Morgan is still struggling with ‘long Covid’. What is it and how can the burden be eased?

One night in early March, I had a fever that reminded me of being a child. My pyjama top stuck to me with sweat, my joints ached and, at some point, the walls looked like they were breathing. The next morning I started coughing and didn’t stop. It was pre-lockdown and, taking pity on me (I live alone in London), a friend in the countryside offered to be nurse. En route, in Paddington Station, I longed to curl up like a cat beside the warmth of the Upper Crust stall. One morning, my friend told me she’d poked her head round the door throughout the night to check I hadn’t coughed my aorta up into the bed.

Back in London, as lockdown began, unpredictable spells of fatigue started to hit me. Was it Covid? I had no idea; only NHS staff were being tested then. But it didn’t feel like chest infections I’d known. There was a crushing feeling in my chest for weeks, as if my ribs were a pair of bellows being squeezed. Adding to the fun, I’m asthmatic. On two occasions, things felt hairy and I called 111. Each time I was summoned to A&E and given a nebuliser and steroids, which helped dramatically. But March became April, became May and the fatigue remained. Some days, it felt like a possession. I’d walk the dog in the morning then fall asleep on the sofa until 3pm. Eight months on, I still have mild, irregular breathlessness and chest tightness. I have been upgraded to a steroid inhaler that, generously, keeps giving me oral thrush. My GP thinks I may have long Covid.

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