SARS-CoV-2 – Bianca Nogrady

Welcome to the ‘Pandemicene’: is Australia ready for the next pandemic?

December 28, 2022No Comments

From The Guardian, 5 November 2022: When studying disease outbreaks, think like a microbe. That’s the lesson that was drummed into Prof Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, when she was undergoing her scientific training, and she’s never forgotten it. “In moving through a community, where are your opportunities as a microbe?” she … Continue reading Welcome to the ‘Pandemicene’: is Australia ready for the next pandemic?

Delta: a deep dive

September 17, 2021No Comments

From The Medical Republic, 2 August 2021: At the start of this year, the covid situation in India was looking relatively good. As the pandemic raged in other parts of the world, India was reporting around 10,000 new cases each day1 – nothing like the hundreds of thousands being diagnosed in the United States. A … Continue reading Delta: a deep dive

Gut microbiome may help or hinder defenses against SARS-CoV-2

September 17, 2021September 17, 2021No Comments

From The Scientist, 31 August 2021: hen SARS-CoV-2 first began rampaging around the world, it was thought to primarily affect the respiratory system. It soon became clear that the virus had more far-reaching effects, including on the gastrointestinal system and its bacterial symbionts. This came as no surprise to Siew Ng, a gastroenterologist in the … Continue reading Gut microbiome may help or hinder defenses against SARS-CoV-2

So we have vaccines. What happens now?

April 13, 2021No Comments

From The Medical Republic, 8 April 2020: “I’m one of those public health people who love silver bullets.” As editor-in-chief of BMJ Global Health, and a health systems expert at the University of Sydney, Dr Seye Abimbola is well acquainted with the damage that SARS-CoV-2 has wrought around the world. So he’s understandably excited about … Continue reading So we have vaccines. What happens now?

Why aren’t kids getting vaccinated?

February 9, 2021No Comments

From MIT Technology Review, 8 February 2021: While much of the world is engaged in a frantic scramble to get vaccinated against covid-19, there’s one group noticeably absent from the queues of people at vaccine clinics: children. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is still approved for use only in those aged 16 years or older, and the … Continue reading Why aren’t kids getting vaccinated?

How kids’ immune systems can evade COVID

December 11, 2020No Comments

From Nature News, 10 December 2020 Young children account for only a small percentage of COVID-19 infections — a trend that has puzzled scientists. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests why: kids’ immune systems seem better equipped to eliminate SARS-CoV-2 than are adults’. “Children are very much adapted to respond — and very well … Continue reading How kids’ immune systems can evade COVID

How many people have died from COVID-19?

November 30, 2020No Comments

From The Medical Republic, 30 November 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic has so far claimed more than 1.3 million lives, and those are just the deaths we know about. Like the proverbial iceberg, the true scale of pandemic-related mortality is still hidden below the surface. It’s the elderly woman who died of a heart attack because … Continue reading How many people have died from COVID-19?

What the data say about asymptomatic COVID infections

November 23, 2020No Comments

From Nature News, 18 November 2020: How many people don’t experience any symptoms after becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2? And what is their role in spreading COVID-19? These have been key questions since the beginning of the pandemic. Now, evidence suggests that about one in five infected people will experience no symptoms, and they will transmit … Continue reading What the data say about asymptomatic COVID infections

A terrible, terrible failure’: Richard Horton on the COVID-19 response

October 9, 2020No Comments

From The Medical Republic, 28 September 2020: Richard Horton is angry. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the editor-in-chief of international medical journal The Lancet began receiving messages from frontline healthcare workers. Increasingly terrified and desperate staff with inadequate or no PPE were being sent in to deal with what was clearly a deadly … Continue reading A terrible, terrible failure’: Richard Horton on the COVID-19 response