pandemic, microbiology, disease & medicine

Different variants of the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic are swapping chunks of genetic material, but it’s not yet clear what implications that may have for public health.

Symptoms documented in cases of long COVID are wide ranging and variable.

A year and a half into the pandemic, the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection are garnering more research attention as millions of long COVID patients emerge.

The Scientist checks in on scientists who switched gears to combat the pandemic.

Researchers find traces of SARS-CoV-2 in the stool and blood of kids with the post–COVID-19 inflammatory disorder, and signs of increased intestinal permeability.

In addition to continued scruitiny of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, research on similar pathogens could aid in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and future disease outbreaks.

Two viruses from dogs and pigs were isolated from human patients, but neither was proven to cause severe disease or to transmit to other people.

Vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson jab paused at several sites earlier this week after an unusual number of people experienced adverse reactions, but the CDC says there’s no cause for concern.

A review of hundreds of cases finds that only a minority of patients noted being sick with a coronavirus infection prior to developing the severe inflammatory condition.

Stanford University researchers determined the code from spare drops in discarded vials of the COVID-19 vaccine and published it on GitHub.

Researchers have collected hundreds of COVID-19–related diabetes case reports since August of last year, in hopes of teasing apart the complex links between the two diseases.

Rollouts of the shot have ground to a halt following reports of blood clots, but health authorities say that these fears are unfounded and vaccination programs should continue.

Mix-and-match shots could simplify vaccine rollout and stimulate more-robust immune responses. Ongoing clinical trials will soon give answers.

Instead, the full report will be available in mid-March.

Sam Wilson discusses a user-friendly set of resources that he and his collaborators developed to aid labs pivoting to study COVID-19.

The P.1 variant, which has also been detected in five US states, could be responsible for cases of reinfection, according to a preprint.

A treatment of two monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 is ninefold less effective in the lab against the B.1.351 variant than against the dominant version of the virus.

Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot immunization could reach people’s arms as early as March 2.

B.1.525 shares a mutation with the B.1.351 variant first detected in South Africa that seems to allow the virus to dodge the immune system.