Another month and another fortnightly update of some of the latest news and research surrounding the novel coronavirus.
Statistics
At the time of writing, there have been:
- 388,887,925 cases
- 5,732,773 deaths
- 308,193,103 recoveries
Research
- Researchers have developed a blood test that can quickly detect if someone has COVID-19 and predict how severely the immune system will react to the infection. (Wargodsky et al, 2022)
- A new study has found that the Spike protein binds to the heart’s vascular cells transforming them into inflammatory cells. (Avolio et al, 2022)
- Researchers have identified immunological blood biomarkers that correspond to reinfection and re-exposure in rhesus macaques. (Siddiqui et al, 2022)
- A multi-institutional team of researchers has detected at least four ‘cryptic’ variants of SARS-CoV-2 in samples of wastewater. (Smyth et al, 2022)
- Researchers have identified a new protein, extracellular vimentin, that enables SARS-CoV-2 to access cells. (Amraei et al, 2022)
- A recent study has explored how the fully vaccinated respond to a range of SARS-CoV-2 variants. (Tarke et al, 2022)
- Researchers have shown that the Omicron variant is particularly sensitive to inhibition by the interferon response. (Bojkova et al, 2022)
- New research suggests that the make-up of the gut microbiome may be linked to a person’s risk of developing long COVID. (Liu et al, 2022)
- A recent study has found that racial and ethnic minorities were more hesitant or unwilling to receive a COVID-19 vaccine compared to White individuals. (Nguyen et al, 2022)
- Scientists have developed the first lethal hamster model for COVID-19. (Golden et al, 2022)
- A new study has demonstrated how the placenta may be blocking SARS-CoV-2 transmission to babies during pregnancy. (Taglaeuer et al, 2022)
- A computational study has shown how dozens of mutations help the virus’ Spike protein evade antibodies that target SARS-CoV-2. (Miller et al, 2022)
Image credit: canva
