coronavirus tagged posts

Coronavirus Patients, Doctors seem to be temporarily Losing their sense of Taste and Smell — here’s why

Healthcare workers wait for people to arrive at a COVID-19 mobile testing site in Florida. New reports from the UK show that both doctors and patients with exposure to the coronavirus are temporarily losing their sense of smell and taste. (Photo: Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

As COVID-19 continues to spread, now topping 370,000 cases worldwide, mentions of a previously unknown symptom of COVID-19 — loss of smell — are gaining traction. “Haven’t been able to smell anything for the last 4 days,” tweeted Rudy Gobert, a player of the Utah Jazz who was the first NBA player to test positive for the coronavirus 11 days ago. “Anyone experiencing the same thing?

According to a paper published Friday by Claire Hopkins, PhD, a professor of rhinology at King’s College Londo...

Read More

3D Printers saving the lives of Coronavirus victims

The original valve (left) and its 3-D printed twin. Credit: Cristian Fracassi

Medical valves manufactured with portable 3D printers are saving the lives of coronavirus victims at a hospital located in what is considered Italy’s Ground Zero for the deadly viral infection.

When the founder of Issanova, a startup 3D printing firm with a staff of 14 learned that a local hospital was running short of critical breathing devices used to help hospital patients suffering from the deadly virus, he sprang into action. He consulted with a fellow engineering expert and the two raced to the desperate hospital located in the small town of Chiari. There, they examined the medical device, called a Venturi valve.

That was on Friday the 13th...

Read More

Coronavirus Spreads Quickly and Sometimes before people have Symptoms, study finds

CoronavirusCDC
Novel coronavirus. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Infectious disease researchers at The University of Texas at Austin studying the novel coronavirus were able to identify how quickly the virus can spread, a factor that may help public health officials in their efforts at containment. They found that time between cases in a chain of transmission is less than a week and that more than 10% of patients are infected by somebody who has the virus but does not yet have symptoms.

In the paper in press with the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, a team of scientists from the United States, France, China and Hong Kong were able to calculate what’s called the serial interval of the virus...

Read More

Repurposed Drugs may help scientists Fight the New Coronavirus


M protease (model shown) is a key enzyme for the new corona­virus’ survival and may be an Achilles’ heel. Drugs (blue) might be able to nestle into the enzyme and stop viral replication. DAVID S. GOODSELL/RCSB PROTEIN DATA BANK

Work on similar viruses is giving researchers clues to develop drugs against the disease. As the new coronavirus makes its way around the world, doctors and researchers are searching for drugs to treat the ill and stop the spread of the disease, which has already killed more than 3,800 people since its introduction in Wuhan, China, in December.

The culprit virus is in the same family as the coronaviruses that caused two other outbreaks, severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome...

Read More