Coronavirus News Explained

 How Does COVID-19 Affect Pregnancies?     From January-September 2020, the coronavirus has infected millions of Americans including over 20,000 pregnant women according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How does COVID-19 affect these pregnant women and their babies? Can the coronavirus be passed on from an infected mother to her child? A study published on September 25, 2020 in the Journal of Prenatal Medicin e took the data of 388 COVID-19 pregnancies in 22 different countries and analyzed the effects of the virus on the pregnant mothers and their children.       Below is a list of definitions of various fetal outcomes. These terms are brought up in the original study and this post.  Gestation: time between conception and birth Stillbirth: death of a fetus after 22 weeks of gestation which occurs before or during delivery Neonatal death: death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life Perinatal death: Stillbirth or...

Children and Adults: COVID-19 Immune Response     The coronavirus has spread rapidly around the globe and has infected millions of childrens and adults around the world. Unlike other viral infections such as the flu, multiple studies have found that COVID-19 has more serious effects on adults than on children. Adults and children react differently to the virus, the main difference being that children are at a lower risk of infection compared to adults (see Who's at Risk ). Additionally, children are more likely to be asymptomatic or have less severe symptoms (see Are Schools Ready to Reopen ) yet are found to carry a higher viral load than adults (see Children Carry More Coronavirus than Adults ). A new study published on September 21 in  Science Translational Medicine  looks into the reason why children and adults react differently to the coronavirus through studying the COVID-19 immune responses of each group.  The Study     The authors of the...

COVID-19 Affects the Brain     COVID-19 is mostly known for the damage it can cause to the lungs and respiratory systems. However, there is evidence that COVID-19 not only affects the lungs but also many organs throughout the entire body. (See COVID-19 Effects on the Entire Body ). More recently, COVID-19 has shown to cause damage to the brain and many neurological symptoms including stroke, brain hemorrhage, and memory loss. A collection of published studies and data from this past summer looks closely at how and why COVID-19 affects the brain.  Evidence of COVID-19 Affecting the Brain     Back in April, a report  from the journal Critical Care, discovered that many ICU patients with COVID-19 had increased risk of delirium, or confusion. Additionally, a  study  published in The Lancet Psychiatry this past June analyzed the clinical data of 125 COVID-19 patients from the United Kingdom. The results found that out of 125 patients from the Un...

Possible Link Between Vitamin D & COVID-19 Risk          COVID-19 has taken the lives of over 890,000 people worldwide. Some populations have higher rates of COVID-19 infection while other populations have significantly lower rates. (See Who's at Risk ) African Americans, older adults, nursing home residents, health care workers, and people living in Northern cities all have increased risk of COVID-19 infections. Interestingly, these communities at risk of higher COVID-19 infections were also more likely to be vitamin D deficient. Meanwhile, other populations such as pregnant women and those living in Japan have shown lower rates of COVID-19 infection and lower rates of vitamin D deficiency. According to Dr. David Meltzer, chief of hospital medicine at the University of Chicago, "Vitamin D is important to the function of the immune system and vitamin D supplements have previously shown to lower the risk of viral respiratory tract infections." While concrete ...

  Coronavirus Bubbles     As the country reopens, many people have begun to meet friends from outside their household. While it's important to wear a mask and maintain social distance, some are just aching to hug a friend, be near loved ones, and return to normalcy. As important as physical health is, mental health is also something people should look out for during the pandemic. Quarantine has caused lots of stress and anxiety for many adults and children, and the added factor of not being able to talk to or see friends in person has also taken a toll on mental health. According to a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, "53% of adults in the United States reported that their mental health has been negatively impacted due to worry and stress over the coronavirus". Many adolescents and young adults are struggling to balance mental health with physical health/safety. Experts have determined there is a way to balance the two and meet friends as you would pre-...

FDA Authorizes Plasma for COVID-19 Treatment                     COVID-19, which has been spreading across the globe since March, has affected the lives of Americans for over six months. Many people, including the President, are eager to eliminate the virus after a dreadful 6 months of rising cases and quarantine. To their dismay, hopes of eliminating the virus by Easter and then by August, seemed to turn into an unreachable dream for Americans. With cases rising and no sure vaccine or treatment for the virus, a future without COVID-19 seemed further and further away. Yet, this Sunday on August 23, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first treatment for COVID-19: convalescent plasma. While the plasma has only been authorized for emergency use, many people see this authorization as progress towards eliminating the virus. However, others believe that the plasma is not as effective, and that the FDA was pres...

Not All Masks are Created Equal      Today, wearing face masks in outdoor settings is a necessity to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. A previous post on this blog went over the three main types of face masks (N-95, surgical and cloth) and identified how effective each mask was at blocking out particles. ( See Different Face Masks and their Efficacy ). Early this month, a new study performed by a Duke family and published in Science Advance s, evaluated face mask efficacy using a homemade tool. The results from this study not only confirms the information published in Different Face Masks and their Efficacy , but also brings new information to light. Methods     Martin Fischer, an associate research professor at Duke University, built a simple tool with his daughter Emma to identify visible evidence of airborne particles. The tool they created uses a lens, which expands a laser beam inside a darkened box. When someone speaks into the box, particles are...

Ethics of Wearing Face Masks     Face masks are now required for many situations including entering indoor spaces such as stores and shops or (outdoor) public spaces where one cannot maintain a distance of 6 ft from others. However, many people have refused to wear face masks, finding them to be an "inconvenience"and believing in the freedom to refuse wearing masks. Others just don't believe the coronavirus is real or don't believe that masks are efficacious in preventing the virus. There are many problems, both ethical and health related, to not wearing masks. This article aims to provide clarification on the ethics of wearing face masks and evidence for their efficacy. Scientific Evidence for COVID-19/Masks      COVID-19 is real . There have been countless scientific studies and research proving the coronavirus is real and contagious. Millions of healthcare workers, scientists, politicians, and organizations around the world have provided a detailed infor...

Children Carry More Coronavirus than Adults     The coronavirus has been affecting our lives for the past few months and many students are eager to return to school. As the upcoming school year approaches and public schools/daycares open up, it's important to understand the transmission potential of the coronavirus in children. Previous research (See Are Schools Ready to Reopen ) has shown that children are a not major contributor of COVID-19 and generally present mild to no symptoms compared to adults. However, a study published on July 30, 2020 in JAMA ( Journal of the American Medical Association ) Pediatrics suggests that children may be greater carriers of the coronavirus than we may expect. The Study and Results     In this study, one hundred and forty five individuals, aged younger than 1 month to 65 years with mild to moderate illness (within 1 week of initial symptoms), were tested for evidence of the virus' RNA. These were all patients of a hosp...

How COVID-19 Affects the Entire Body     Coronavirus has infected millions of people worldwide and caused numerous deaths this year. COVID-19 has been known to cause significant damage and affect the respiratory system, specifically the lungs. However, a study published earlier this month in Nature Medicine , reports that COVID-19 not only damages the lungs but also many other organs and organ systems throughout the body. The authors of this study, a team of scientists/doctors from Columbia University in New York, look closely at the effect of COVID-19 outside of the lungs. How does the virus spread throughout the body?     The coronavirus enters the host cells by binding to an entry receptor called ACE2. Without interaction with ACE2 (while in the presence of the protease TMPRSS2), the coronavirus cannot enter the host cells. Recent studies have shown that the higher efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 binding to ACE2 compared to SARS-CoV to ACE2, may be related t...

Dexamethasone: A Promising Drug for COVID-19          Scientists and researchers around the world have been working hard to develop an effective drug/vaccine against COVID-19. (See vaccines and clinical trials ) Several drugs have shown promising results including one named remdesivir . Another low-cost, common steroid, has shown encouraging results. A study published on July 17, 2020 in the New England Journal of Medicine , goes through the details and findings from this drug. The drug's name is Dexamethasone. Background      Dexamethasone isn't a newly developed drug. It was first synthesized in 1957 and has been used as an anti-inflammatory medication. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid; a drug that mimics cortisol, a natural hormone produced by the adrenal glands. When your body doesn't produce enough of this hormone, dexamethasone is often used to replace it. Dexamethasone relieves inflammation and is used to treat forms of arthriti...

COVID-19 Questions Scientists Are Still Looking to Answer           Since COVID-19 first appeared 6 months ago in Wuhan, China, the virus has spread around the world, turning into a pandemic that has killed over 500,000 people. As a result, scientists and doctors have been working tirelessly to better understand COVID-19 and how it works. As more insights are being discovered about COVID-19, more questions arise. An article published in Nature on July 3, 2020, highlights the top 5 pressing questions that researchers are still finding answers for. Why do people respond so differently?      While some people infected with COVID-19 show little to no symptoms, others may experience symptoms as severe as fatal pneumonia. There's a wide range of how people respond to COVID-19 and researchers are looking for human gene variants that may explain some of these differences. A small study discovered that one possible explanation lies in a region of th...