COVID-19 tagged posts

COVID-19: Stopgap Measure to Treat Respiratory Distress

Researchers from MIT and the University of Colorado at Denver propose using a protein called tissue plasminogen activator, whose structure is shown here, to treat Covid-19 patients in acute respiratory distress.
Image: Wikimedia, MedicineFTWq; edited by MIT News

Researchers at MIT and the University of Colorado at Denver have proposed a stopgap measure that they believe could help Covid-19 patients who are in acute respiratory distress. By repurposing a drug that is now used to treat blood clots, they believe they could help people in cases where a ventilator is not helping, or if a ventilator is not available.

Three hospitals in Massachusetts and Colorado are developing plans to test this approach in severely ill Covid-19 patients...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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