Coronavirus: What are the latest scientific advances? | World News

Coronavirus has accelerated scientific development to a wartime pace. Here are some of the important advances this week:

Antibody testing is approaching for everyone

Inexpensive and reliable antibody tests that reveal whether someone has previously received Covid-19 are considered important to managing the next phase of a pandemic. Population-level screening can measure the overall level of immunity and allow people to gradually return to work. Various teams around the world are already using lab-based antibody tests, which are difficult to scale because the tests need to be performed weeks after infection. In parallel, companies have been working on home test kits that work like pregnancy tests. This week, the UK government announced it believes such a test is reliable enough Purchased 3.5m test kit, First to be made available to healthcare professionals, and then intended to be publicly available through boulevard chemists or Amazon delivery. An unnamed prototype is being validated this week at Oxford, and the proposal still depends on test performance. “Worse tests are worse than no tests,” said Chris Whitti, chief medical officer in England, Wednesday. In Spain, the government 9,000 Chinese coronavirus test kits forced to withdraw After use, the exact detection rate was found to be only 30%.

Covid-19 may affect your smell and taste

There have been weekly reports of cases where Covid-19 can cause people to lose their sense of smell. This week, this idea British Otolaryngology suggests Based on reports from South Korea, China, and Italy, so-called anosmia may be a useful symptom for screening for viruses, which is more than the usual number of complaints reported in UK clinics. On Monday, World Health Organization officials also said they were investigating possible links. “ We reach out to many countries and look at cases that have already been reported and this is a common feature, ” said Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the Emerging Diseases and Zoonotic Diseases Unit at WHO. I’m checking if it is. ” “There is no answer yet.”

The good news is that even if the coronavirus kills some of your olfactory cells, the nasal lining contains stem cells that substitute. “Italian colleagues report a promising recovery rate, and many patients report olfactory recovery within 7-14 days,” advises the British Association. “This seems to be a UK patient experience.”

The virus seems to be very stable

In general, coronaviruses do not tend to mutate rapidly, and this week scientists have further convinced that this applies to Covid-19. The Johns Hopkins team analyzed 1,000 samples, Washington PostOnly 4-10 genetic differences were found between strains circulating in the United States and the original virus isolated from Wuhan patients. Italian analysis, Came to a similar conclusion this week. This suggests that if an effective vaccine is found, it should continue to function for some time. However, there are open questions about how stable a human immune response to Covid-19 is and whether once infected individuals will be protected from reinfection in the future.

Exit strategy

This week, models that wanted to return to normal life soon weakened with models suggesting that lockdown measures need to be maintained for several months to achieve their intended effect. Paper published in Lancet If control of Wuhan was eased in early March, when the number of cases dropped dramatically, the city had already indicated that it was rising for a new outbreak in June. China’s decision to maintain lockdown until early April was estimated to reduce the average number of new infections by 24% by the end of 2020. The current restrictions in the UK will be reviewed on April 13.

Men seem to be susceptible to Covid-19

Evidence is increasing Men are more likely to die of disease Than women. This was first observed in China, with mortality rates of about 2.8% for men and 1.7% for women. This pattern is reflected as countries publish data. This week Spain reported that about twice as many men died as women. This difference was initially attributed to the higher rates of male smoking in China. About half of men smoke, compared to only 2% of women. However, the same trend has been reproduced in countries where the proportion of male and female smokers is equal, so scientists are beginning to explore other possibilities, including the possibility that the female immune system may be able to overcome the virus. You. Chinese serologic studies track the immune response throughout the course of the infection and immediately discuss why men are more vulnerable and whether behavior, lifestyle factors, or biology are key factors. Start providing some answers.