A report released this week by the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force warns that 21 states are now in the “red zone” and need to take aggressive steps to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Billions of dollars are being invested in the development of vaccines against the coronavirus. Until one arrives, many scientists have turned to tried-and-true vaccines to see whether they may confer broad protection, and may reduce the risk of coronavirus infection, as well.
Old standbys like the Bacille Calmette-Guerin tuberculosis vaccine and the polio vaccine appear to help train the immune system to respond to a broad variety of infections, including from bacteria, viruses and parasites, experts say.
As an epidemiologist or “disease detective,” a question I am frequently asked regarding SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19 disease) is: “How does someone become infected?”
Costa Rica is set to begin clinical trials on antibody-rich plasma that has been extracted from horses with the purpose of treating COVID-19 patients.
Two versions of the plasma were shown to inhibit the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in tests performed at the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases in the United States.
