Latest healthcare news
SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Why is there a Notable Difference in Mortality Rates Between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres?
An interesting correspondence by Hernandez published October 22, 2020 in The Lancet looks at the answers to this perplexing question. One of the most striking facts about the COVID-19 pandemic is the notable difference in approach, attitude, control measures,...
The R Number, What does it Mean for COVID-19 Pandemic Control?
An interesting comment by Chris T Bauch in The Lancet Infectious Diseases published October 22, 2020 looked at this point. The basic reproduction number (R0) is the average number of infections produced by a single infectious person in a population with no...
COVID-19 and Suicide
An interesting article by Moutier in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry October 16, 2020 discusses this topic. Moutier suggests that suicide was a leading cause of death with devastating emotional and societal costs prior to the COVID-19...
COVID-19 Outbreaks and Environmental Factors in the Transmission Rate
An interesting abstract by Poirer in Nature looks at this in detail. Influenza studies have shown that influenza viruses survive longer on surfaces or in droplets in cold and dry air, thus increasing the likelihood of subsequent transmission. A...
Herd Immunity Related to COVID-19
A letter published in The Lancet October 22 by Graham Medley looks at the term which he feels has become layered with political interpretations, label strategies, and feels that they are not clearly defined. It is hoped that at some time shortly there will be a...
LONG COVID , What Is It and Who Does It Affect?
The British Medical Journal published 14 October 2020 looked into this. They reviewed the National Institute for Health research paper published on 15 October 2020. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020. It has had...
Combining Rapid PCR and Antibody Tests Can Improve COVID-19 Diagnosis
An interesting article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association October 13 by Jennifer Abbasi suggested that nose and throat swab polymerase chain reaction testing could miss up to 50% of COVID-19 cases. This is due in part because the...
Evaluation of the RNA Vaccine Against SARS-CoV-2 in Non-Human Primates
An interesting study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, October 15 2020 by Anderson and others evaluated the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine. MethodNon-human primates received 10 or 100 mcg of the mRNA-1273 vaccine encoding the profusion stabilised spike...
Efficacy of the Vaccine Candidate BBIBP/CorV in Humans
An interesting article published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases October 15, 2020 by Xia and others did a randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 1/2 trial in Shangqui City, Liangyuan District Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Henan Province,...
BBIBP/CorV inactivated vaccine for COVID
Efficacy of the Vaccine Candidate BBIBP/CorV in Humans An interesting article published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases October 15, 2020 by Xia and others did a randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 1/2 trial in Shangqui City, Liangyuan District...
