Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD | Dec 4, 2023 | 6 min read
Haydeh Payami helped uncover the genetic basis of Parkinson’s disease. Now, she hopes to find new ways to treat the disease by studying the gut microbiome.
Evidence thus far shows that pregnant people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are at higher risk for severe disease and death, as well as complications in their pregnancies.
Researchers say they’re abandoning the project in its current form—one of several that aims to induce what’s known as mucosal immunity against SARS-CoV-2.
Only half of volunteers deliberately exposed to SARS-CoV-2 developed an infection. None developed serious symptoms, paving the way for further challenge trials.
The vaccine was 79 percent effective at blocking symptomatic infections, according to data from a Phase 3 trial in the US, Chile, and Peru. A US safety oversight board says the data might be incomplete.
The ACTIV-6 trial reports that people who took the drug for three days may have spent slightly less time feeling unwell with SARS-CoV-2, but fails to find differences in disease progression between the treatment and placebo groups.
Authors of a newly published study on the use of an antidepressant for COVID-19 claim the drug greatly reduces hospitalizations and mortality. But some experts question whether that’s really what the data show.