If antibody levels drop dramatically after an infection, what does that mean for immunity? An expert explains how B and T cells contribute to immunity and why antibodies don’t tell the full story.
Reports describe a Hong Kong man who was reinfected with the coronavirus after returning from Europe. Does that mean he wasn’t immune after the first infection?
Once a coronavirus vaccine is approved, billions of doses need to be manufactured. Current vaccine production is nowhere near ready, for a variety of reasons, but planning now could help.
Challenge trials – purposefully exposing volunteers to the coronavirus – could speed up the development of a vaccine. But there are serious ethical concerns with this approach.
In the blood of COVID-19 survivors are antibodies that can defeat SARS-CoV-2. Researchers are testing whether these antibodies can be collected and injected into others to save them from the virus.
As grim as things are with the pandemic raging in the US and the mounting death toll, there are many reasons to be optimistic there will be a vaccine by early next year.
Zoë McLaren, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Testing large numbers of people regularly would reduce the spread of the coronavirus in the US. Laboratory testing is slow and expensive, but rapid screening tests could be the answer.
Miniaturized laboratory equipment is making it easier to identify airborne pathogens in the field, but there’s still work ahead to be able to instantly determine if a room is safe or contaminated.
Your immune system changes when you are pregnant, and this may help protect you and your child from COVID-19 – but we need more research to understand this better.
As Russia fast tracks a coronavirus vaccine, scientists worry about skipped safety checks – and the potential fallout for trust in vaccines if something ends up going wrong.
Good ventilation can reduce the risk of catching coronavirus. An environmental engineer explains how to know if enough outside air is getting into a room and what to do if ventilation is bad.
We’re working with professional trainers in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales to train dogs to sniff out COVID-19. They could be highly valuable in managing the spread of infection.
A systems engineering expert applies the same method NASA’s Project Apollo engineers used to offer a systematic approach to deciding on school reopening at a local level.
When it comes to PPE, we could be better protecting our frontline health-care workers. We need to update current guidelines to reflect the latest evidence around how COVID-19 spreads.
The governments of several African countries have been reporting counts of confirmed cases, recoveries and deaths related to COVID-19, without a breakdown by age and sex.
Test positivity rates measure the success of a testing program. Even though the US performs a huge number of tests, high test positivity rates across the country show that that it still isn’t enough.
COVID-19 tests rely on a process developed at a biotech company co-founded by a Canadian. Canada’s current testing expertise needs to be channelled to prepare for the next wave, and the next pandemic.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand