image:  A section of Goodsell et al.’s magnificent “Integrative illustration for coronavirus outreach” highlighting the packaging of the viral genetic material (in pink) by the scaffold “nucleocapsid protein” (in light purple). The cell’s immune system attaches a tag (not pictured) to this protein, disabling its ability to form aggregates and thus preventing the virus from

A new coronavirus virus variant, XEC, is rapidly spreading across the United States. XEC has become the second most prevalent strain in the country, according to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), representing more than 1 in 10 cases. But what are the symptoms of XEC and how does

The vaccine candidate MVA-MERS-S. Credit: UKE The MERS coronavirus—MERS stands for “Middle East respiratory syndrome”—causes severe respiratory diseases with a high mortality rate. To date, there is neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment. The safety, immunogenicity and optimal dosing regimen of the MVA-MERS-S vaccine candidate developed at the DZIF have now been investigated in

Cases of pertussis fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, but cases of the “100-day” cough are now increasing. ADVERTISEMENT There has been a resurgence of whooping cough in multiple countries in 2024, with the US reporting more than 18,500 cases since the beginning of the year. The number of US cases of the highly contagious infection,

Some 4.5 billion people worldwide are currently without adequate access to essential healthcare services, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This comes as more than 100,000 cases of mpox and at least 200 deaths have been confirmed globally, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, with the WHO declaring it a

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email A new strain of Covid emerging in the UK is spreading as cases increase at a high rate, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said. Called XEC, the strain is a

Baby movement classes were a lifesaver for Hong Kong mum Jen Cooper. Literally. A teacher with 10 years’ experience in the UK and mainland China, Cooper was living in rural Scotland in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns when she gave birth to her daughter. “Everything was shut. There were no cafes, there was no

The risk of an incident diagnosis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in children and adolescents was higher within 6 months of a COVID-19 diagnosis compared with patients diagnosed with other non-COVID-19 respiratory infections (ORIs), according to the results of a recent study.1 SARS-CoV-2 infection causes COVID-19, which can increase type 2 diabetes incidence. | Image

Time Intervals for Outcome Analysis. Credit: JAMA Network Open (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.39444 Pediatric patients aged 10 to 19 years old diagnosed with COVID-19 have a higher risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes within six months compared to those diagnosed with other respiratory infections, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The

Genomic recombination landscape across human coronaviruses Recent lineage diversification of HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 viruses. Between 2009 and 2018, we obtained more than 3042 nasal swab samples from two cohorts in Singapore and Tanzania. In total, we generated 31 complete genomes from the four HCoVs (Table 1), including HCoV-229E (n = 8), HCoV-OC43 (n = 11), HCoV-NL63 (n = 8), and HCoV-HKU1

Cancer detection in the U.S. significantly disrupted during first year of COVID-19 pandemic, partial recovery seen in second year. Study: Recovery From COVID-19–Related Disruptions in Cancer Detection. Image Credit: Inside Creative House/Shutterstock.com In a recent study published in the JAMA Network Open, a group of researchers assessed the disruption and recovery in cancer detection during the first

To date, there is no accepted explanation for the low current prevalence of smokers in COVID-19 patients. This work attempts to shed some light on whether cross-immunity can be involved in the underrepresentation of smokers among COVID-19 patients. To do so, it evaluates if smokers are more susceptible to infection by the four ccCoV (229E,