The
death toll for COVID-19 is on the rise, and so is the total number of cases. In
the context of this global pandemic, feeling overwhelmed by all the negative
information is a natural response. But researchers are also hard at work trying
to understand, treat, and prevent the new coronavirus. We take a look at some
of their results.
For
live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and
COVID-19, click here.
As of yesterday, the total
number of deaths from COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 10,000.
Currently, the total number
of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the globe stands at 244,000.
These numbers can induce
restlessness and worry.
The importance of taking
precautions and staying safe during this global pandemic cannot be
overestimated, but it is also helpful to look at some emerging research that
could pave the way for future treatment and prevention.
In this article, we round
up some of this evidence, which has featured recently on Medical News
Today.
Infection control measures
work
Researchers in Hong Kong
have evaluated the impact
that the outbreak has had on 43 public hospitals there.
The numbers are
encouraging: In the first 6 weeks since the start of the outbreak, 413
healthcare workers dealt with 42 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of these
employees, 11 had unprotected exposure to the new coronavirus.
As a result of implementing
best practices for infection control, none of the healthcare staff contracted
the virus during the study period. Furthermore, no hospital-acquired infections
occurred.
Dr. Vincent C.C. Cheng,
from the Department of Microbiology at Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong, and
his colleagues conclude:
“Appropriate
hospital infection control measures can prevent healthcare-associated
transmission of the [new] coronavirus […] Vigilance in hand hygiene practice,
wearing of surgical masks in the hospital, and appropriate use of personal
protective equipment in patient care […] are the key infection control measures
to prevent hospital transmission of the virus.”
Getting the virus may
protect against reinfections
A study involving four
rhesus macaques found that contracting SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes
COVID-19 — protected against future reinfections.
The scientists reinfected
two of the four monkeys with the virus 28 days after the initial infection.
A total of “96
nasopharyngeal and anal swabs tested negative after the reexposure of
SARS-CoV-2,” report the researchers. The euthanasia and necropsy of one of the
two monkeys confirmed these results.
“Taken together, our results
indicated that the primary SARS-CoV-2 infection could protect from subsequent
exposures, which have […] vital implications for vaccine design [and disease
prognosis],” conclude the authors of the study.
MNT contacted
Martin Bachmann, a professor of vaccinology at Oxford University’s Jenner
Institute in the United Kingdom, on the broader subject of COVID-19 and
building up immunity to the virus.
“I
can tell you, if you got [COVID-19] and you got really sick, I am sure that
will make an antibody response that will also last.”
–
Prof. Martin Bachmann
Prof. Bachmann, who is also
the head of the department of immunology at the University of Bern in
Switzerland, continued: “But, if you have the virus and it only replicates a
little and never really reaches the lymph nodes, then maybe you don’t really
make [an antibody response], but then you have not really been sick. [Of]
anyone who has been really sick, I would be surprised to find anyone who didn’t
make an antibody response.”
A vaccine is being trialed,
more underway
A trial is currently
taking place to test a potential SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for the first time in
humans.
The National Institutes of
Health (NIH) have funded the trial, which is taking place at the Kaiser
Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.
In the trial, 45 healthy
volunteers will receive a vaccine that contains a segment of genetic code
copied from SARS-CoV-2. As the vaccine does not contain the actual SARS-CoV-2,
the participants will not develop COVID-19.
Government officials
caution that it may take 12–18 months before the vaccine reaches the market and
explain that the main purpose of this current trial is to make sure that there
are no serious side effects.
However, many other efforts
are underway for devising new vaccines. In this article, our research
editor, Yella Hewings-Martin, Ph.D., rounded up several projects that
identified a potential vaccine and therapy targets for SARS-CoV-2.
An old method could fight
COVID-19
Doctors may be able to use
an age-old method called “passive antibody therapy” to treat COVID-19,
suggests research featuring
in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The researchers who
authored the paper say, “Deployment of this option requires no research or
development,” as the method has been around since the 1930s.
The method involves
collecting blood from a person who has had the virus and recovered from it.
Using the serum — the part that contains infection-fighting antibodies —
researchers hope to be able to inject another person, thus either preventing an
infection or helping to fight it off.
Dr. Arturo Casadevall, a
professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD,
and co-author of the new paper, says:
“It’s
all doable — but to get it done, it requires effort, organization, resources…
and people who have recovered from the disease who can donate the blood.”
Our immune system could
defeat the virus
A new case study, appearing in
the journal Nature Medicine, documents the case of
a COVID-19 patient who recovered from the condition within days.
The patient was a
47-year-old woman who had contracted the virus in Wuhan, China, and the
researchers examined her immune response in their effort to understand her
recovery.
Prof. Katherine Kedzierska,
Head of the Human T cell Laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and
Immunology at the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and her colleagues
found an increase in immunoglobulins — the most common type of antibodies — in
the woman’s blood samples.
The scientists also found a
high number of key immune cells, such as specialized helper T cells, killer T
cells, and B cells, 7–9 days after symptom onset.
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