New report takes sides in debate over COVID-19’s origins BY JON COHEN The acrimonious debate over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic flared up again this week with a report from an expert panel concluding that SARS-CoV-2 likely spread naturally in a zoonotic jump...
New private venture tackles the riddle of Long Covid—and aims to test treatments quickly
Initiative focuses first on hypothesis that coronavirus lingers in patients BY JENNIFER COUZIN-FRANKEL Grateful to see Long Covid research. I wonder what resources will be devoted to integrative therapies such as those endorsed by the Institute for Functional...
Anthony Fauci, loved and hated, plots his next move: ‘I’m not going to sit in my house’
In a candid exit interview, the NIAID head reflects on the seven presidents he served, controversial decisions, and feuding with Rand Paul BY JON COHEN In 1984, when Anthony Fauci took over as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),...
Blood abnormalities found in people with Long Covid
Study implicates lack of key hormone, battle-weary immune cells, and reawakened viruses BY JENNIFER COUZIN-FRANKEL An ambitious study of people with Long Covid, the mysterious, disabling symptoms that can trail a SARS-CoV-2 infection, has turned up a host of...
Draft bill would ban CDC, NIH from funding lab research in China
House of Representatives measure catalyzed in part by suspicion that pandemic virus escaped from Wuhan laboratory BY JOCELYN KAISER The Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. A bill moving through Congress would bar U.S. biomedical science agencies from funding...
COVID-19 takes serious toll on heart health—a full year after recovery
Giant study shows striking rise in long-term heart and vessel disease BY MEREDITH WADMAN From very early in the pandemic, it was clear that SARS-CoV-2 can damage the heart and blood vessels while people are acutely ill. Patients developed clots, heart inflammation,...
CBD inhibits SARS-CoVid-2 replication
By LONG CHI NGUYEN, et al. Published in ScienceAdvances ~ January 20, 2022 with Commentary by Michael Lerner While we have posted several science news reports on the effects of CBD on SARS-CoVid-2 replication, it is worth reading, and pondering the science article...
In rare cases, coronavirus vaccines may cause Long Covid–like symptoms
Brain fog, headaches, blood pressure swings are being probed by NIH and other researchers BY JENNIFER COUZIN-FRANKEL, GRETCHEN VOGEL In late 2020, Brianne Dressen began to spend hours in online communities for people with Long Covid, a chronic, disabling syndrome that...
A prominent virologist warns COVID-19 pill could unleash dangerous mutants. Others see little cause for alarm
Merck & Co.’s newly approved oral drug works by generating mutations, raising hypothetical fears BY ROBERT F. SERVICE The first oral antiviral for treating COVID-19, Merck & Co.’s molnupiravir, received approval from the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products...