Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Jun 3, 2021 | 4 min read
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.
Many major biopharmaceutical companies are developing or acquiring drugs that target the NLRP3 inflammasome, a large intracellular complex that researchers say can spark inflammation and stoke diseases of lifestyle and aging.
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.
A meta-analysis of seven randomized controlled trials concludes that dexamethasone and other corticosteroids reduce 28-day mortality in seriously ill patients.
A handful of viruses have been associated with long-term, debilitating symptoms in a subset of those who become infected. Early signs hint that SARS-CoV-2 may do the same.
The cholesterol-lowering drugs quell inflammation and reverse endothelial tissue damage, hints that they might curb the body’s excessive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
By studying influenza in mice and cells, researchers identify a glucose metabolism pathway critical to the dysregulated immune response that kills many infectious disease patients, including those with COVID-19.
The symptoms suggest SARS-CoV-2 might infect neurons, raising questions about whether there could be effects on the brain that play a role in patients’ deaths, but the data are preliminary.
The results suggest the virus could severely alter brain development in infants infected after birth, but blocking a signaling protein early on might ease certain symptoms.