Lifeboat Foundation

The debate is focused on a subset of gain-of-function studies that manipulate deadly viruses to increase their transmissibility or virulence. “This is what happens to viruses in the wild”, explains Carrie Wolinetz, head of the NIH Office of Science Policy. “Gain-of-function experiments allow us to understand how pandemic viruses evolve, so that we can make predictions, develop countermeasures, and do disease surveillance”. Although none of the widely publicised mishaps of 2014 involved such work, the NIH decided to suspend funding for gain-of-function studies involving influenza, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV.

The US moratorium on gain-of-function experiments has been rescinded, but scientists are split over the benefits—and risks—of such studies. Talha Burki reports.

On Dec 19, 2017, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that they would resume funding gain-of-function experiments involving influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. A moratorium had been in place since October, 2014. At the time, the NIH had stated that the moratorium “will be effective until a robust and broad deliberative process is completed that results in the adoption of a new US Government gain-of-function research policy”. This process has now concluded. It was spearheaded by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) and led to the development of a new framework for assessing funding decisions for research involving pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential. The release of the framework by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), of which NIH is part, signalled the end of the funding pause.

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Key ingreduent of Madagascar “Miracle Cure” Artemisia Annua to be tested for COVID-19.

The Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam (Germany) will collaborate with ArtemiLife Inc., a US based company and medical researchers in Denmark and Germany to test Artemisia annua plant extract and artemisinin derivatives in laboratory cell studies against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Currently, there are no effective treatments against COVID-19. Medications commonly used against malaria or Ebola, as well as antiviral drugs, are being considered for repurposing. Herbal treatments used in Traditional Chinese Medicine were explored to treat coronavirus infections during the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV outbreaks. Initial studies in China showed the alcoholic extract of sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) was the second most potent herbal medicine used on the 2005 SARS-CoV.

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O,.o circa 2018.

The world discovered phages before antibiotics, but these lowly sewer viruses are getting renewed attention in the…

O,.o I used vitamin c and a probiotic it seemed to work well. I also had a flu shot for the year. Besides eating well and staying healthy not much is needed. It is sorta like the flu as much as I can see. I am no doctor but that worked for me.

Korean scientists claim that a lactic acid bacteria from sea buckthorn berries, could potentially inhibit the proliferation of SARS-CoV-2 by repressing purine activation.

Lactobacillus species in the gut microbiota have been found to block pro-inflammatory cytokines to inhibit harmful bacteria like Helicobacter pylori. While studying similar mechanisms against bladder inflammation (cystitis) causing E. coli, a team led by Professor Hana Yoon of Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Seoul, found abundant amounts of Lactobacillus gasseri present in the fermented extracts of sea buckthorn berries.

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Researchers are working on a medical device that uses UV-A as a potential treatment for COVID-19 patients. But a study is in early stages.

The coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, swept the world fast and furiously — and we’re barely starting to experience the first wave of the pandemic. However, to biologists and virologists, the sudden appearance of the coronavirus wasn’t surprising. It is simply a natural consequence of humans disturbing ecosystems in equilibrium and wildlife trade, something that we’ve done at an increasing rate with each passing decade.

Pandemics such as COVID-19 might become increasingly frequent as humans continue unabated on their course to expand their range at the expense of wildlife.

High rates of deforestation in Asia over the last four decades have prompted many scientists to sound the alarm, warning the world of the risk of dangerous microorganisms migrating to humans.

An expert warns there is “nothing more valuable” in the world today than a way to prevent the disease.

AstraZeneca will make and distribute Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine if it proves effective.

A Chinese pharmaceutical company carrying out human trials for a coronavirus vaccine says it’s ready to start producing its product on a mass scale.