Extraordinary Patient Offers Surprising Clues To Origins Of Coronavirus Variants
3 years, 11 months ago

Extraordinary Patient Offers Surprising Clues To Origins Of Coronavirus Variants

NPR  

Extraordinary Patient Offers Surprising Clues To Origins Of Coronavirus Variants Back in the spring of last year, a 45-year-old man went to the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston because of a coronavirus infection. "He was readmitted to the hospital several times over the subsequent five months for recurrence of his COVID-19 infection and severe pneumonia," says infectious disease doctor Jonathan Li at Harvard Medical School, who helped treat the man. So extraordinary in fact that this man's case is offering scientists surprising clues about where the new coronavirus variants emerged and why they're causing explosive outbreaks on three continents. Sponsor Message To be clear here, the man wasn't what doctors call a "long hauler," or a person who clears a coronavirus infection and then continues to have health problems for months.

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History of this topic

WHO discusses new Covid variant possibly evolved in untreated AIDS patient. What we know so far
3 years, 1 month ago

WHO discusses new Covid variant possibly evolved in untreated AIDS patient. What we know so far

Hindustan Times  

World Health Organization officials on Thursday met to discuss a new coronavirus variant carrying an “unusual constellation of mutations”. The coronavirus variant B.1.1529 has been identified circulating in South Africa and Botswana, triggering fresh concerns of another Covid-19 wave in the region. South Africa was the first country to detect the Beta variant, which was later labelled as a ‘variant …

UK Investigates New Coronavirus Variant After 16 Cases Emerge: All You Need to Know
3 years, 5 months ago

UK Investigates New Coronavirus Variant After 16 Cases Emerge: All You Need to Know

News 18  

After being discovered in a handful of other countries, including the United States, a new coronavirus variant known as B.1.621 is being investigated in the United Kingdom after 16 cases emerged, according to Public Health England. B.1.621 was categorised as a “variant under investigation” on Wednesday, prompting an inquiry, according to Public Health England. PHE said it is conducting “laboratory …

Infected with Both Alpha and Beta Variants of Covid, 90-year-old Belgium Woman Dies
3 years, 5 months ago

Infected with Both Alpha and Beta Variants of Covid, 90-year-old Belgium Woman Dies

News 18  

A 90-year-old woman who died after falling ill with Covid-19 was infected with both the Alpha and Beta variants of the coronavirus at the same time, researchers in Belgium said Sunday, adding that the rare phenomenon may be underestimated. When medical staff tested for the presence of any variants of concern they found that she was carrying both the Alpha …

April 13, 2021 coronavirus news
3 years, 8 months ago

April 13, 2021 coronavirus news

CNN  

Two new studies suggest that the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is more transmissible, but the variant does not appear to affect disease severity. One of the new studies, published on Monday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, found no evidence in a sample of hospitalized patients that the B.1.1.7 variant is associated with severe …

April 12, 2021 coronavirus news
3 years, 8 months ago

April 12, 2021 coronavirus news

CNN  

Two new studies suggest that the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is more transmissible, but the variant does not appear to affect disease severity in someone who gets Covid-19. One of the new studies, published on Monday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, found no evidence in a sample of hospitalized patients that the B.1.1.7 …

The coronavirus variants experts are most concerned about
3 years, 9 months ago

The coronavirus variants experts are most concerned about

CBS News  

How do coronavirus variants form and will the current vaccines work against them? Dr. Jon LaPook speaks with Kristian Andersen Since the original virus was first identified in December 2019, thousands of variants have been documented. Dr. Jon LaPook: Why are the variants of concern that we're seeing in places like the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil of such …

Why easing COVID-19 restrictions too soon could be a boon for coronavirus variants
3 years, 9 months ago

Why easing COVID-19 restrictions too soon could be a boon for coronavirus variants

LA Times  

Pam Nestande shops at Hemline Austin on Wednesday, the day Texas lifted its COVID-19 mask mandate. So while we’re vaccinating people, we want to make sure there’s less and less virus circulating that doesn’t put our vaccine efficacy at risk.” March and April “are critical periods here,” Walensky added. “This finding underscores the need to limit subsequent waves of infection …

Worried About Coronavirus Variants? Here's What You Need To Know
3 years, 10 months ago

Worried About Coronavirus Variants? Here's What You Need To Know

NPR  

Worried About Coronavirus Variants? Here's What You Need To Know Enlarge this image toggle caption Juan Gaertner/Science Source Juan Gaertner/Science Source Concern about new coronavirus variants has grown quickly in recent months. "It's infected millions of humans around the world now, and it's probably just getting into a more intimate relationship with our species," says Jeremy Kamil of Louisiana State …

New coronavirus variant in New York spurs caution, concern
3 years, 10 months ago

New coronavirus variant in New York spurs caution, concern

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Another mutated version of the coronavirus has popped up in New York City, and experts reacted to the the news with a mixture of caution and concern. However, he added, “Noticing them early, flagging them, raising concern is useful.” That’s because some genetic tweaks can be worrisome, especially if they help the virus sp New York City …

New York’s new coronavirus variant is worrying researchers
3 years, 10 months ago

New York’s new coronavirus variant is worrying researchers

CNN  

CNN — Two separate teams of researchers saidthis week they have found a worrying new coronavirus variant in New York City and elsewhere in the Northeast that carries mutations that help it evade the body’s natural immune response – as well as the effects of monoclonal antibody treatments. It appears in people affected in diverse neighborhoods of New York City, …

Batch of homegrown coronavirus mutations seen in US
3 years, 10 months ago

Batch of homegrown coronavirus mutations seen in US

CNN  

CNN — Researchers said Sunday they have identified a batch of similar troubling mutations in coronavirus samples circulating in the United States. “In late January of 2021, our two independent SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance programs, based at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, each noticed …

Decoding how coronavirus mutates
3 years, 11 months ago

Decoding how coronavirus mutates

The Hindu  

Scientists have identified a pattern of mutations in the novel coronavirus which enable it to evade the immune system’s antibodies, findings that shed light on how the virus may possibly escape existing vaccines and therapeutics. The study, published in the journal Science, assessed nearly 1,50,000 gene sequences of the spike protein collected from many parts of the world, and found …

Dangerous new coronavirus strains may incubate in COVID-19’s sickest
3 years, 11 months ago

Dangerous new coronavirus strains may incubate in COVID-19’s sickest

LA Times  

A nurse brings medication to a COVID-19 patient in an hospital intensive care unit. Among the sickest of COVID-19 patients, this population of “long haulers” appears to play a key role in incubating new variants of the coronavirus, some of which could change the trajectory of the pandemic. Indeed, situations in which patients can’t clear a viral infection are “the …

How Scientists Trace New Coronavirus Variants
3 years, 11 months ago

How Scientists Trace New Coronavirus Variants

NPR  

How Scientists Trace New Coronavirus Variants NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with biologists Pardis Sabeti and Sharon Peacock about how genomic sequencing was used in the U.K. to trace a new coronavirus variant and what the U.S. can learn from it. Pardis Sabeti is a computational biologist at the Broad Institute in Massachusetts, and Sharon Peacock is the director of the …

Why Viruses Mutate: Breaking Down The New Coronavirus Variant
4 years ago

Why Viruses Mutate: Breaking Down The New Coronavirus Variant

NPR  

Why Viruses Mutate: Breaking Down The New Coronavirus Variant With new variant in the coronavirus cropping up in several states, we take a look at how viruses mutate and how those mutations can make the coronavirus more contagious. Now health officials have detected the new variant of the virus first seen in the U.K. in California, Colorado and Florida. He …

New covid-19 strains: What scientists know about coronavirus variants
4 years ago

New covid-19 strains: What scientists know about coronavirus variants

Live Mint  

Scientists around the world are scrambling to learn more about previously unknown variants of the coronavirus that seem to spread from person to person more readily than other versions of the Covid-19-causing pathogen. Some doctors worry that the new variants of the coronavirus could supercharge the spread of Covid-19, putting additional stress on hospitals and nursing homes when cases are …

Colorado coronavirus new variant: Officials suspect they’ve found a second case of UK variant
4 years ago

Colorado coronavirus new variant: Officials suspect they’ve found a second case of UK variant

CNN  

CNN — Health officials in a Colorado county believe they’ve found a second local case of a coronavirus variant from the United Kingdom – one that experts have said may be especially contagious. Both the confirmed case and the suspected instance involve National Guard members who had been working at the Good Samaritan Society assisted living facility in Simla, about …

Coronavirus | ‘High’ risk new virus variants will lead to more deaths: EU agency
4 years ago

Coronavirus | ‘High’ risk new virus variants will lead to more deaths: EU agency

The Hindu  

The EU health agency ECDC said Tuesday that the risk was “high” that newly discovered virus variants causing Covid-19 could further strain healthcare and cause more deaths due to “increased transmissibility.” The Stockholm-based European Centre Disease Prevention and Control said in a report that “although there is no information that infections with these strains are more severe,” the fact that …

Colorado identifies first known case of UK coronavirus variant in US
4 years ago

Colorado identifies first known case of UK coronavirus variant in US

CNN  

CNN — A Colorado man has the variant of the coronavirus from the United Kingdom that health officials say is more transmissable than other strains of the virus, Gov. “An unknown travel history mean that this person picked it up the community,” Dr. Atul Gawande, a member of the Biden-Harris transition Covid advisory board and a surgeon at Brigham and …

Scientist's key help with vaccine
4 years ago

Scientist's key help with vaccine

China Daily  

Research that journals rejected ended up helping to solve coronavirus puzzle When Wang Nianshuang first found a way to stabilize the shape-shifting spike protein of a coronavirus in 2016 the then postdoctoral researcher and his collaborators had a hard time finding a journal willing to publish the results. "Nianshuang has made an incredible impact on the race to develop COVID-19 …

New coronavirus variant: How much do we know about this virus?
4 years ago

New coronavirus variant: How much do we know about this virus?

India Today  

Viruses are living beings and like others, they tend to find ways for greater chances of survival. There are four things that are noteworthy about the new variant of coronavirus: This variant spreads faster and is replacing the previous strain at a rapid pace That mutation has taken place in the spike or binding protein of the SARS-CoV-2 that causes …

UK coronavirus variant: What we know and what we don’t
4 years ago

UK coronavirus variant: What we know and what we don’t

CNN  

London CNN — The United Kingdom has identified a new, more contagious coronavirus variant linked to a recent surge in cases in England. Peter Horby, chair of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said Wednesday that scientists were “confident” the new variant is “spreading faster than other virus variants.” Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UK …

Coronavirus mutations not leading to increase in spread of infection, says study
4 years, 1 month ago

Coronavirus mutations not leading to increase in spread of infection, says study

India Today  

None of the documented mutations of the novel coronavirus seem to be increasing its spread, a new study suggests. One of the co-lead researchers of the study, Lucy van Dorp told Reuters, "Fortunately, we found that none of these mutations are making COVID-19 sp However, a professor at the University College London's Genetics Institute, Lucy van Dorp added that scientists …

Mutation in Novel Coronavirus May Have Made it More Contagious: Study
4 years, 2 months ago

Mutation in Novel Coronavirus May Have Made it More Contagious: Study

News 18  

Houston: The novel coronavirus is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious, according to a study involving more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients in the US. "The virus is mutating due to a combination of neutral drift — which just means random genetic changes that don't help or hurt the virus — and pressure from our …

More Contagious Novel Coronavirus Strain Now Dominates, Reveals US Study
4 years, 3 months ago

More Contagious Novel Coronavirus Strain Now Dominates, Reveals US Study

News 18  

The first study to analyze the structure of the novel coronavirus from two waves of infection in a major city found that a more contagious strain dominates recent samples, researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital said on Wednesday. The Houston researchers said patients infected with the variant strain had significantly higher amounts of the virus on initial diagnosis. But they found …

Nevada man had Covid-19 twice
4 years, 4 months ago

Nevada man had Covid-19 twice

CNN  

CNN — A 25-year-old Nevada man appears to be the first documented case of Covid-19 reinfection in the United States. Genetic tests indicate the patient was infected with two different varieties of the virus, a team at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine and the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory reported. Earlier this week, Hong Kong researchers said …

Scientists say Hong Kong man got coronavirus a second time
4 years, 4 months ago

Scientists say Hong Kong man got coronavirus a second time

Associated Press  

University of Hong Kong scientists claim to have the first evidence of someone being reinfected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Genetic tests revealed that a 33-year-old man returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain in mid-August had a different strain of the coronavirus than the one he’d previously been infected with in March, said Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang …

Profile of a killer: Unraveling the deadly new coronavirus
4 years, 5 months ago

Profile of a killer: Unraveling the deadly new coronavirus

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — What is this enemy? “I am actually shocked,” said Griffin, a specialist in infectious diseases at New York’s Columbia University Medical Center. Autopsies reveal “what the virus is actually doing” inside patient’s bodies, said Dr. Desiree Marshall, a pathologist at the University of Washington who recently examined the heart of a Seattle man who died from disease. …

Over 6 months into Covid-19 crisis, 5 mysteries that still shroud coronavirus
4 years, 6 months ago

Over 6 months into Covid-19 crisis, 5 mysteries that still shroud coronavirus

Hindustan Times  

More than half of the year has already passed and the coronavirus pandemic does not seem to be slowing down with the global tally crossing 11 million recently. The virus which first broke out in China’s Wuhan last year is yet to see a potential vaccine and treatment options and has many mysteries associated with it that need to be …

Covid-19 pandemic: New, more infectious strain of coronavirus now dominates global cases
4 years, 6 months ago

Covid-19 pandemic: New, more infectious strain of coronavirus now dominates global cases

Hindustan Times  

Scientists have shown that a variation in the genome of the novel coronavirus has improved its ability to infect human cells, and has helped it become the dominant strain circulating around the world. “The D614G variant first came to our attention in early April, as we had observed a strikingly repetitive pattern,” said study lead author Bette Korber from the …

WHO Creates 'Confusion' About Asymptomatic Spread. Here's What We Know
4 years, 7 months ago

WHO Creates 'Confusion' About Asymptomatic Spread. Here's What We Know

NPR  

WHO Creates 'Confusion' About Asymptomatic Spread. "From the data we have it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic actually transmits onward to a secondary individual," said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for WHO's health emergencies program. Sponsor Message Here's what we currently know and do not know about asymptomatic transmission: 1) How many people who get infected with …

Mutant coronavirus has emerged and it's more dangerous, says study
4 years, 8 months ago

Mutant coronavirus has emerged and it's more dangerous, says study

India TV News  

As the deadly novel coronavirus has caused havoc across the globe, scientists have discovered a new strain of COVID-19 that has become dominant worldwide and appears to be more contagious than the one that spread initially. According to a new study led by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated quickly to the …

Genetic mutation study finds new coronavirus spread swiftly in late 2019
4 years, 8 months ago

Genetic mutation study finds new coronavirus spread swiftly in late 2019

India Today  

A genetic analysis of samples from more than 7,500 people infected with Covid-19 suggests the new coronavirus spread quickly around the world late last year and is adapting to its human hosts, scientists said on Wednesday. A study by scientists at University College London's Genetics Institute found almost 200 recurrent genetic mutations of the new coronavirus - SARS-CoV-2 - which …

Coronavirus spread around the world fast, new genetics analysis shows
4 years, 8 months ago

Coronavirus spread around the world fast, new genetics analysis shows

CNN  

CNN — A new genetic analysis of the virus that causes Covid-19 taken from more than 7,600 patients around the world shows it has been circulating in people since late last year, and must have spread extremely quickly after the first infection. “The virus is changing, but this in itself does not mean it’s getting worse,” genetics researcher Francois Balloux …

April 22, 2020 coronavirus news
4 years, 8 months ago

April 22, 2020 coronavirus news

CNN  

The novel coronavirus lingers for as long as three weeks in the bodies of patients with severe disease, Chinese researchers reported Tuesday. The virus can be found deep in the lungs and in the stool of patients, and the sicker they are, the longer it stays, the team at a hospital in China’s Zhejiang province reported. The findings support other …

Coronavirus researchers claim virus has split into two strains, but many experts disagree
4 years, 10 months ago

Coronavirus researchers claim virus has split into two strains, but many experts disagree

ABC  

A controversial research paper claims the new coronavirus has split into two distinct strains and that it is possible to be infected with both, but some experts are unconvinced. A joint study by researchers from multiple Chinese universities, which has been accepted by Chinese journal National Science Review, looked at 103 genomes of SARS-CoV-2 and found the virus had evolved …

Here’s why Chinese scientists say there’s a second, more dangerous coronavirus strain
4 years, 10 months ago

Here’s why Chinese scientists say there’s a second, more dangerous coronavirus strain

LA Times  

The global outbreak that has sickened nearly 100,000 people across six continents may actually be fueled by two variants of the same coronavirus: one older and less aggressive and a newer version whose mutations may have made it more contagious and more deadly, according to a controversial new study. Chinese scientists who compared the genetic sequences of 103 viral samples …

Coronavirus: Doctors baffled by children's 'immunity' to the illness
4 years, 10 months ago

Coronavirus: Doctors baffled by children's 'immunity' to the illness

Daily Mail  

NEW SOUTH WALES: 61 January 25 Three men aged 43, 53, and 35 who had recently travelled to China contracted the disease. March 1 A man in his 40s is confirmed as the fifth coronavirus case in the state and a woman in her 50s as the sixth. March 8 A woman who arrived in the state from Indonesia has …

Man becomes second U.S. death from coronavirus
4 years, 10 months ago

Man becomes second U.S. death from coronavirus

Daily Mail  

A second person in the U.S. has died from coronavirus at the same Seattle area hospital where the first person died, officials have confirmed. Health officials in Washington state said Sunday night that a man in his 70s had died - and he had previously been a resident at a nursing facility near Seattle where dozens of people were sick …

California sees third case of ‘community spread’ coronavirus as first U.S. death is reported near Seattle
4 years, 10 months ago

California sees third case of ‘community spread’ coronavirus as first U.S. death is reported near Seattle

LA Times  

A Solano County resident with the country’s first confirmed case of “community acquired” COVID-19 has been held in isolation at UC Davis Medical Center for the last week. Public health officials in California on Saturday announced another coronavirus patient, a woman described as “a household contact” of a Santa Clara County woman whose diagnosis was made public Friday. The King …

Coronavirus cases double in UK in 24 hours
4 years, 11 months ago

Coronavirus cases double in UK in 24 hours

The Telegraph  

Government sources said that the two doctors involved had treated around a dozen patients between them before falling ill. As soon as the test results were confirmed, the County Oak Medical Centre closed its doors "because of an urgent operational health and safety reason". Meanwhile, St Mary’s Independent School in Bitterne Park, Southampton, shut its doors after students who had …

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