Latest healthcare news
Facing up to long COVID
An editorial in The Lancet dated December 12 looks at this important issue. Multiorgan symptoms after COVID-19 are being reported by an increasing number of patients. These range from cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, palpitations, chest pain, joint...
Appropriate Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine
How do we Ensure Appropriate Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine and Ensure Success for this Unprecedented Public Health Challenge? An interesting commentary in The Lancet published December 10, 2020 by Peter Hotez and Walter Orenstein looks at this issue. They offer a...
Is There Always Seroconversion, that is Antibody Formation against SARS-CoV-2 Following Exposure?
An interesting article published in emerging infectious diseases volume 27, number 1, January 2021 by Galle and others investigated this issue. They investigated SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies and T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 in 11 SARS-CoV-2 serodiscordant...
Long Covid – How do we Deal with it?
Many patients who under normal circumstances would have been admitted to hospital, manage their own extremely difficult circumstances at home during the crisis. How do we deal with its effects following COVID-19? Following the active rehabilitation from the start,...
Long COVID – How Many Sufferers Are There?
An interesting preprint by Cirulli and Others in medRxiv looks at this important issue. It has become increasingly apparent that a subset of infected individuals develop long term complications following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Doctors continue to report their...
Coronavirus Vaccine, Who is Going to Get It First?
An editorial in The Lancet dated December 4, 2020 looks at this important issue. There are now several COVID-19 vaccine candidates that seem to be at least 90% efficacious. This was clearly received with much enthusiasm and unquestionable relief. There is a challenge...
COVID-19: Which Rapid Test is the United Kingdom Pinning its Hopes On?
A recent article published in the British Medical Journal dated 7 October 2020 looked at this issue. Rapid diagnostic tests are integral to the government's Moonshot plan to carry out up to 10 million COVID-19 tests a day by early 2021. Jacqui Wise published her...
Viral Load Dynamics
Viral Load Dynamics, Duration of Viral Shedding, Infectiousness of the Various SARS Viruses Looking at SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV. How Infectious Are They? This is a systematic review and meta-analysis published in The Lancet November 19 by Cevik and others....
Immunity and Immune Memory Having Contracted SARS-CoV-2 Infection
At last a study published in bioRxiv by Dan and others as a preprint looks at this important topic. Understanding immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 is critical for improving diagnostics and vaccines and assessing the likely future course of the pandemic. The author's...
SARS-CoV-2 at the Airport
The CDC in the United States looked at the risk assessment and management of COVID-19 among travellers arriving at designated US airports between January 17 and September 13, 2020. This was an article published on November 13 by Phillip Dollard and others. Research...
