What the Pandemic Is Teaching Us About the Immune System
Novel insights from the pandemic may be propelling the field of immunology into a new golden age.
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Novel insights from the pandemic may be propelling the field of immunology into a new golden age.
Novel insights from the pandemic may be propelling the field of immunology into a new golden age.
The global COVID-19 vaccination campaign saved an estimated 20 million lives. However, while current COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against developing severe disease, they do little to prevent infection and transmission.
<p>Findings published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06951-3">Nature</a> </em>by physician-scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and colleagues suggest that it may be possible to improve protection against COVID-19 by delivering the vaccine directly to the respiratory tract— the primary site of entry in SARS-CoV-2 infection.</p>
<p>A new study by investigators from <a href="https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/">Mass General Brigham</a> found that one in five individuals taking Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir therapy, commonly known as Paxlovid, to treat severe symptoms of COVID-19, experienced a positive test result and shedding of live and potentially contagious virus following an initial recovery and negative test—a phenomenon known as virologic rebound. By contrast, people not taking Paxlovid only experienced rebound about 2 percent of the time. Results are published in <a href="...