Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Unraveling The Mystery: Scientists Discover How The Virus Blocks Immune Cells From Recognizing Danger
A deep dive into how the new coronavirus infects cells has found that it orchestrates a hostile takeover of their genes unlike any other known viruses do, producing what one leading scientist calls “unique” and “aberrant” changes. Recent studies show that in seizing control of genes in the human cells it invades, the virus changes how segments of DNA are read, doing so in a way that might explain why the elderly are more likely to die of Covid-19 and why antiviral drugs might not only save sick patients’ lives but also prevent severe disease if taken before infection. (Begley, 5/21)
Host factors rather than viral genetic differences appear to influence disease outcomes among COVID-19 patients, according to a new study from China. Researchers in Shanghai examined clinical, molecular, and immunological data from more than 300 people with confirmed COVID-19. While infection with SARS-CoV-2 can lead to severe respiratory disease and death, it also can result in more mild pneumonia in some patients. (5/20)
Of 1,150 COVID-19 adult patients hospitalized in New York City from Mar 2 to Apr 1, 257 (22%) were critically ill, and 101 (39%) of them died, according to the largest known US prospective study of coronavirus patients. In the prospective cohort study, published yesterday in The Lancet, researchers from Columbia University and two affiliated NewYork-Presbyterian Hospitals in Manhattan reviewed electronic medical records and lab and radiographic findings of COVID-19 patients in respiratory failure. (Van Beusekom, 5/20)
Kaiser Health News: Scientist Has ‘Invisible Enemy’ In Sights With Microscopic Portraits Of Coronavirus
From her laboratory in the far western reaches of Montana, Elizabeth Fischer is trying to help people see what they’re up against in COVID-19. Over the past three decades, Fischer, 58, and her team at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, part of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have captured and created some of the more dramatic images of the world’s most dangerous pathogens. (Hawryluk, 5/21)
