Cone snail venom could potentially treat severe forms of malaria
Plasmodium falciparum may be deadly even after treatment with current parasite-killing drugs. This is due to persistent cyto-adhesion of infected erythrocytes even though existing parasites within the red blood cells are dead.
As vaccines for malaria have proved less than moderately effective, and to treat these severe cases of
P. falciparum malaria, new avenues are urgently needed. Latest estimates indicate that more than 500 million cases of malaria and more than 400,000 deaths are reported worldwide each year
. Anti-adhesion drugs may hold the key to significantly improving survival rates.
Using venom from the
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Vaccine Q&A: Can you stop COVID testing after you get vaccine?
Sun Sentinel 1/18/2021 Lois K. Solomon, South Florida Sun Sentinel
We’re collecting and answering your questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. Submit your question using this form or email Lois Solomon at lsolomon@sunsentinel.com.
Q. “My girlfriend works at Memorial Regional Hospital and received the two prescribed doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer from her hospital. The process is voluntary. Only about half the staff apparently received the vaccine while others declined. This week, a nurse and three patients tested positive for COVID-19. All of the staff on the floor, included those who received the two rounds of the vaccine, had to be tested for COVID. My question is: Why would immunized staff have to be tested every time there is an outbreak? Does the vaccine not work as it is supposed to? Is it a waste of my time to get the vaccine if I can still catch and spread COVID?”
FAU researchers develop simplified, rapid SARS-CoV-2 detection protocol
To properly monitor and help curb the spread of COVID-19, several millions of diagnostic tests are required daily in just the United States alone. There is still a widespread lack of COVID-19 testing in the U.S. and many of the clinical diagnostics protocols require extensive human labor and materials that could face supply shortages and present biosafety concerns.
The current gold standard for COVID-19 diagnostic testing in the U.S., developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is quantitative PCR-based (qPCR) molecular tests that detect the presence of the viral nucleic acid. Although highly accurate, these CDC-approved tests require specialized reagents, equipment, and personnel training. In addition, multiple diagnostic kits that have been rapidly developed and introduced into the market have accuracy, cost and distribution limitations. Moreover, the test systems currently utilize