An employee checks a woman’s temperature before she enters a store in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Reuters)
The following is a brief summary of some of the latest scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Temperature and humidity affect how long the virus survives on surfaces
New mathematical model adds to evidence that warmer, drier conditions can reduce the amount of time virus-containing droplets remain contagious on surfaces. Once the droplets emitted by an infected person are dry, the virus particles inside become inactive, researchers in the journal Physics of Fluids said on Monday. “Outdoor time … determines how long respiratory droplets on surface dry out. Drying time is related to the survival of the coronavirus inside the droplets,” co-author Rajneesh Bhardwaj told Reuters. the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. “It may not be the only factor, but outdoor weather is certainly important … and our study provides evidence of this.” Lower temperatures combined with higher humidity would allow the virus to stay active longer on surfaces, the report said. The researchers also calculated that certain surfaces favor longer viral activity times. “Our study suggests that surfaces such as smartphone screens and wood need to be cleaned more often than glass and steel surfaces, since the droplets form drop-like shapes on old surfaces and the droplets evaporate slowly on these surfaces, thereby increasing the survival of the coronavirus, “said Bhardwaj. (https://bit.ly/30qE8od)
Cesarean section may be linked to poorer outcomes for coronavirus patients
Cesarean delivery can increase the health risks of women infected with the coronavirus, suggests a small Spanish study. Among 78 mothers slightly or moderately ill, 13.5% of the 37 caesarean deliveries had to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) thereafter, compared to none of the 41 who gave birth vaginally. About 5% of women who delivered vaginally developed an increased need for oxygen, compared to 21.6% of those who delivered by cesarean. Cesarean birth was also linked to an increased risk of neonatal intensive care admission for the newborn. “Women who give birth by cesarean section may be at higher risk for adverse effects,” the researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday. Even after taking everyone’s risk factors into account, “Cesarean delivery remained independently associated with an increased risk of clinical deterioration”, possibly due to the additional stress on the body due to the surgery itself , according to the researchers. An observational study like this cannot, however, prove that cesarean deliveries make infected women sicker, and more evidence is needed from larger populations. (https://bit.ly/3haFTMx)
COVID-19 patients share ventilators safely in a small trial
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with intensive care units overflowing with patients who were having difficulty breathing and insufficient mechanical ventilators, doctors discussed the idea of ”ventilating by ventilation” or connecting two single machine patients. In late March, doctors at a New York hospital were able to separate a ventilator between two operated patients with similar respiratory needs. Today, doctors at the same hospital report having successfully used ventilator fractionation in three pairs of COVID-19 patients. Their results in only six patients need to be confirmed in larger studies. In this study, the ventilator sharing experience lasted only two days in each pair, while severe COVID-19 patients often remain ventilated for weeks. “Sharing fans does not remove the need for more fans,” the research team wrote in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine on Tuesday. “This approach can be more useful when additional time is needed to move ventilators or patients to match supply to demand.” They warned that when ventilator sharing is necessary, this should only be done in medical centers with technical experience. (https://bit.ly/3hc6Pv7)
China’s experimental vaccine shows promise in animals
A coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by Chinese researchers has shown promise in animal studies, triggering antibodies and posing no safety concerns, the researchers said. A human trial of the vaccine with more than 1,000 participants is underway. In monkeys, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits, two doses of the candidate vaccine, called BBIBP-CorV, have induced so-called neutralizing antibodies that can block the virus from infecting cells, researchers in the journal reported. Cell. BBIBP-CorV is one of five potential COVID-19 vaccines that China is testing in humans. (https://reut.rs/2Ur8t2g; https://bit.ly/3hg56oM)
Remdesivir, an antiviral medication, protects the lungs of infected monkeys
Remdesivir, the first drug in which COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in clinical trials, has prevented lung disease in a new study on macaque monkeys infected with the new coronavirus, researchers in the journal Nature reported on Tuesday. Twelve monkeys were infected with the new coronavirus and half received early treatment with the antiviral from Gilead Sciences. Macaques who received remdesivir showed no signs of respiratory illness and reduced damage to the lungs. In addition, the viral load, or amount of virus, in the lungs of animals treated with remdesivir was lower. The authors of the new study indicate that remdesivir should be considered as a treatment as soon as possible to prevent progression to pneumonia in COVID-19 patients. (https://reut.rs/2UpPfdt; go.nature.com/2Yj9xq2)
(Report by Nancy Lapid, Manas Mishra, Deena Beasley, Roxanne Liu, Tony Munroe and Linda Carroll; edited by Bill Berkrot)
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
