Member-only story
Five Important New Findings
A roundup of Covid-19 research we’re following
Published in
2 min readMay 1, 2020
- Targeting Covid-19: Research published in Nature on Thursday reveals two classes of drugs that could be used to target SARS-CoV-2. Drugs can target specific proteins in a human cell, so the research looked at which proteins the virus specifically interacted with. Out of 69 different drugs, the most promising were inhibitors of mRNA translation and predicted regulators of receptors called Sigma1 and Sigma2.
- Llamas to the rescue?: Antibodies from a llama named “Winter” were used to effectively neutralize SARS-CoV-2, according to research slated for publication in Cell on May 5. Researchers linked two antibodies from the llama to create a new antibody that binds tightly to a key protein in the virus. Their next step is to test the potential treatment in hamsters and nonhuman primates.
- Celebrity endorsements: Google searches for the drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine spiked after high-profile figures like President Donald Trump and Elon Musk endorsed them to treat Covid-19 in mid to late March, according to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Wednesday. Demand for these drugs “remained high even after a death attributable to chloroquine-containing products was reported,” the letter reads. The science on using these drugs to treat Covid-19 remains unclear.
- Bronx vs. Manhattan: Rates of hospitalization and death due to Covid-19 were highest in the Bronx, the New York City borough with the highest percentage of people of color, people living in poverty, and lowest education levels, according to a research letter published Wednesday in the Journal of American Medical Association. By contrast, Manhattan, the most affluent and white borough in NYC, had the lowest rates of hospitalization and death due to the virus.
- Surgeons reusing N95 masks: Doctors at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new method for cleaning and disinfecting N95 masks, which are in very short supply, for up to 20 cycles of reuse. Their research was accepted for publication in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons on April 22.
