Undoubtedly, there are a number of researches which are being carried out by the different countries all around the world, in order to fight against the pandemic COVID-19. The researchers are continuously working day and night so that they can discover a vaccination or a drug, so that this could help us to curb the further spread of the pandemic and could save millions of lives. After Hydroxychloroquine, now there is another drug called, Remdesivir, in news as it is hoped that this drug can be a great help in this direction. Below there are five stories which bring to you the latest coronavirus studies and their results.
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Remdesivir, Standard of Care
Initially, the study which was conducted taking Remdesivir as an experimental drug revealed that this drug helped in reducing the time of the infected patients which they spent in the hospitals from previous 15 days to 11 days. Not only the number of days were reduced by the use of this drug but also it was found that it was also helpful in reducing the death rate of the patients from previous 11.6% to 8%. The top infectious diseases expert in the U.S., Dr Anthony Fauci, says remdesivir will now become the standard of care. While it’s not an “overwhelming cure,” he explains, the drug will reduce the burden on the health system.
Wastewater, a vigilant
Here comes another study which was conducted by the researchers of Switzerland, according to this study, the waste water can turn out to be helpful in diagnosing or rather in detecting the coronavirus cases in any area. And this process can be a great help to the authorities as this would give results earlier than those diagnostic tests which are conducted over each individual. The Swiss scientists from the universities of Zurich and Lausanne stated that though the initial results of this study were very promising, but still we need to make some improvements in them. In the meantime, Australia too took the decision of testing the waste water on the large scale.
Old drug being reused for virus fight
There are a number of drugs which are being proposed by the doctors and researchers of different countries, but still the testing of these drugs revealed that either they are not well suitable to all, for fighting against coronavirus or they are just looked up as the temporary solution. Hydroxychloroquine, anti-malarial drug is one which held the maximum attention of all till few days back and was even published in the journal Nature. Even, U. S. President Donald Trump too spoke in support of this drug and told it to be helpful in fighting against the COVID-19. But, later on when more studies were conducted then it was found that, this medicine had number of side effects and also, this cannot be used for treating all the COVID-19 patients. Scientists in the U.S. and France have found that as many as ten chemical compounds present in approved drugs or being studied for a number of conditions can block the new coronavirus from using human proteins to multiply.
Neutralizing spikes
All the images of the coronavirus which we see, they are like that of a ball with a number of spikes all over it. As per the studies are made, they unveil that these spikes they work like a key and thus, are responsible for the infection, as they assist the pathogen and make them enter into the body of an individual. Thus, currently the vaccines which are being tested they are more focused on targeting these spikes by neutralizing them, hence this would prevent the virus from entering into the body of an individual. These spikes are supposed to be neutralized by training our immune system, and this training would be given by the vaccines which are now at the human-trial stage.
Misinformation on vaccines
Now, when we are already trying to face and fight against this pandemic, we also need to stand against all the misinformation and the fake news which is being spread all around the world related to the COVID-19. Vaccine opponents are having a moment. Their unsubstantiated claims in recent weeks include the idea that Bill Gates wants to use one to inject microchips into people, or cull 15% of the world’s population. Such misinformation can potential hurt confidence in what could be our best chance to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
During remarks recognizing World Immunization Week, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized vaccine skeptics for spreading misinformation at a time when many families are delaying or skipping routine childhood immunizations because they’re afraid of COVID-19 exposure in doctors’ offices.”Myths and misinformation about vaccines are adding fuel to the fire,” he said.
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