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Pfizer and Moderna cut COVID-19 infection risk by 91% in the fully vaccinated
mRNA vaccines were highly effective among working-age adults in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection when administered in real-world conditions, lessening the viral RNA load, risk of...
Need for full COVID vaccination to protect against Delta — Pasteur Institute
With the welter of news about the Delta variant spreading around the world, one theme has emerged: this form of the virus that causes...
Ivermectin: Studies come thick and fast; Regulators remain unmoved
Three significant studies of Ivermectin in COVID-19 have been released in the past week, with two sets of meta-analyses delivering contradictory results and the...
FDA approves arthritis drug for emergency use in hospitalised COVID patients
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorisation (EUA) for Roche's Actemra, an arthritis medicine, to treat adults and...
Millions of cancelled operations due to COVID and high death risk – UK study
The first nationwide study of the impact of COVID-19 on surgery at NHS hospitals in the United Kingdom has revealed that more than 1.5...
COVID-19, not Pfizer vaccine, tied to Bell’s palsy — 2 studies
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has not been linked with a higher risk for the facial nerve paralysis known as Bell's palsy, but COVID-19 itself does...
Ivermectin significantly reduces COVID-19 mortality risk — FLCC meta-analysis
Ivermectin may reduce mortality risk in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients by an average of 62%, according to a meta-analysis in American Journal of Therapeutics. The...
Pfizer mRNA vaccine induces persistent human germinal centre responses
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-based vaccination of humans induces a persistent GC B cell response, enabling the generation of robust humoral immunity, found a study in Nature.
The...
Long COVID-19 may have affected 2m in England – REACT-2
More than 2 million adults in England probably experienced persistent symptoms of so-called Long Covid, according to the large REACT-2 study, reports MedicalBrief.
Researchers from Imperial...
Gauteng’s 3rd wave: 'It’s too late for anything but to just stay at home,’ warn experts
Medical scientists have warned that moves to tighten restrictions as Covid-19 cases threaten to overwhelm Gauteng hospitals are too late to be of use,...
Diabetes drug shows promise for COVID-19 lung inflammation
Researchers have identified the molecular mechanism for the anti-inflammatory activity of diabetes drug metformin, reports the University of California – San Diego. They say...
Saliva can be more effective than nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 testing
The addition of a simple processing step to saliva samples before testing may improve COVID-19 detection rate, eliminate the challenges of nasopharyngeal testing, and...
Many post-COVID patients get new medical problems, US study finds
Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States have sought medical care for post-COVID health problems that they had not been diagnosed with...
Warmer temperatures lessen COVID-19 spread, but controls still needed
Research shows that transmission of the virus behind COVID-19 varies seasonally, but warmer conditions are not enough to prevent transmission. A study led by...
Regeneron treatment cuts COVID-19 mortality by 20% — RECOVERY trial
The world‘s largest trial of COVID-19 therapeutics has provided the first convincing evidence that a therapy that directly attacks the virus can save hospitalised...
Drop in convalescent plasma use in US hospitals linked to higher COVID-19 mortality
A slowdown in the use of convalescent plasma to treat hospitalised COVID-19 patients led to a higher COVID-19 mortality during a critical period during...
Vegetarians and pescatarians less likely to develop severe Covid-19
Vegetarians and pescatarians are up to 73% less likely to develop severe Covid-19 than meat-eaters, a Johns Hopkins study finds. But no association was...
Encouraging safety results from Sisonke trial of J&J vaccine in SA
The Sisonke Phase 3b clinical trial of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, during which an impressive nearly 290,000 frontline South African health workers...
COVID-19 Wuhan lab escape theory gets a second look
Initially dismissed as conspiracy theory, the possibility that the COVID-19 is the consequence of a Chinese laboratory accident is suddenly getting a second look,...
Low testosterone may link to more sever COVID-19 — Washington University study
Among men, low testosterone levels may to more severe disease, found a Washington University study, reports MedicalBrief.
Although the study could not prove low testosterone as a...
India’s COVID crisis – New cases decline but daily deaths top 4,500
New cases of COVID-19 are declining in India but the health system is failing and daily deaths continue rising, writes MedicalBrief. There have been horror...
Pfizer vaccine 'extraordinarily effective' against UK and SA variants — Two studies
The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is "extraordinarily effective" at protecting against severe disease caused by two dangerous variants, according to two studies, reports The New...
Cutaneous reactions to Moderna and Pfizer vaccination — Registry-based study
While some dermatologic reactions to Moderna and Pfizer vaccines mimicked SARS-CoV-2 infection itself, cutaneous reactions to COVID-19 vaccination are generally minor and self-limited, and...
New CDC guideline admits that COVID-19 transmission is airborne
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is finally acknowledging something that health experts have been saying for a while now: COVID-19...
Alternative corticosteroid regimes in treatment of COVID-19
Researchers at the Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital write: SARS-CoV-2 is the third known coronavirus within the past 18 years to cause severe...
Obesity's strong link to severe COVID outcomes, especially in under-40s and Black people
A study of 6.9m English patients found that people with excess weight, especially for younger adults and Black people, are at substantially increased risk...
Mortality 20x higher in pregnant women with COVID but SAHPRA says no to vaccination
US authorities this week advised pregnant women be inoculated — based on a study of the Moderna/Pfizer vaccines — at the same time that...
Injected antibody cocktail cuts COVID-19 infection risk by over 80%
A single injected administration of Regeneron's monoclonal antibody cocktail cuts the risk of developing COVID-19 by over 80%, reports MedicalBrief. Antibody drugs may give...
Lancet removes hyped preprint on efficacy of vitamin D for COVID-19
A widely promoted preprint, claiming that vitamin D led to an “80% reduction in need for ICU and a 60% reduction in deaths” has...
'Sobering' findings on natural protection against COVID-19 reinfection
A massive Danish study found only 80% natural protection from SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in general, declining to 47% in the elderly, reports MedicalBrief. A commentary...
Ivermectin fails as COVID-19 treatment in limited Colombian trial
COVID-19 patients treated with the controversially repurposed drug Ivermectin in a randomised Colombian trial did no better than a placebo group, reports MedicalBrief. However,...
Single shot of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines reduce hospital treatment for elderly
A single shot of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID jab reduces the chance of needing hospital treatment by more than 80%, an...
Repurposed tocilizumab did not significantly improve severe COVID-19 pneumonia
A study has found that a repurposed drug used to treat arthritis did not significantly improve the outcomes of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia....
Convalescent plasma: Optimal timeframe and donor profile
The optimal timeframe for donating convalescent plasma for use in COVID-19 immunotherapy, which was given emergency-use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration...
Still no definitive answer on Vitamin D3 to treat COVID-19
Among patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 there was no difference in length of hospital stay in those given a single 200,000-IU dose of...
20% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients with diabetes died within 28 days — CORONADO
Updated results from a study of hospitalised COVID-19 patients with diabetes shows 1 in 5 died within 28 days of hospitalisation, French researchers at...
Abnormal sodium levels predict COVID-19 death or respiratory failure
Hospitalised patients with COVID-19 and abnormal sodium levels in the blood have an increased risk of experiencing respiratory failure or dying, according to a...
Pfizer single dose cuts asymptomatic infection and transmission potential — Cambridge
New data from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge suggests that a single dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine can reduce by 75% the number of...
Now a 'worrisome New York variant — Columbia University
A new SARS-CoV-2 lineage that shares worrisome similarities with other recent variants of concern is on the rise in New York City, according to...
Pregnant women pass COVID antibodies to their babies — Weill Cornell
Antibodies that guard against COVID-19 can transfer from mothers to babies while in the womb, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine...