In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors noticed something odd. Many patients fighting the virus also had fungal infections. These fungi, mainly from the Candida family, were found in the lungs and airways of COVID-19 patients more often than in those who didn't have the virus. Researchers looked at samples from over 2, 300 patients. They found that nearl...
Vaccines are like training camps for your immune system. They help your body get ready to fight off viruses. But there is more to it than just building general defenses. Scientists are still figuring out how vaccines affect the body's first line of defense, which is in your nose and throat. The COVID-19 vaccines are designed to create a strong immune response. But t...
The human body is a bustling city of tiny organisms. Some of these tiny organisms are bacteria that live in the upper respiratory tract. These bacteria can influence how the body reacts to infections like COVID-19. A recent study shed light on this complex relationship. Researchers looked at 123 people confirmed to have COVID-19. They found that many of these indivi...
Tuberculosis (TB) and COVID-19 are both nasty lung infections. They can cause a lot of damage to the lungs. Scientists wanted to see what happens when someone has both infections at the same time. They used a special type of lung cell, called A549 cells, to study this. First, they infected the cells with TB bacteria. After a day, they added the COVID-19 virus. They ...
The COVID-19 pandemic is still a major issue in 2025. The virus, SARS-CoV-2, changes rapidly. This makes it hard for vaccines and medicines to work well. Different versions of the virus cause different levels of sickness. Scientists are not sure why this happens. A new study looks at how different versions of the virus's spike protein affect how sick people get. The...
The world of vaccines and immunity is full of surprises. One big surprise came from a study that looked at how past infections and vaccines work together. The study focused on people who had already had COVID-19 and then got vaccinated. The findings were not what many expected. The study found that people who had already had COVID-19 and then got vaccinated d...
The ability to spot tiny changes in DNA, known as single nucleotide variations, is crucial. These changes can signal serious illnesses, help identify pathogens, or predict how well a treatment will work. Think about the COVID-19 virus. It has many variants, like D614G and N501Y, which can make the virus more infectious. To tackle this, researchers have been exploring...
Doctors often rely on tests to figure out what's wrong with a patient. But how often do they guess right just by using their brains and what they see? Not many people have looked into this. So, a group decided to check how well doctors in a hospital's internal medicine department do at this. They wanted to see if doctors are better at diagnosing some illnesses th...
The refusal or delay in getting vaccines has become a significant public health issue. This problem has only grown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The antivaccine movement has gained more followers and spread false ideas and mistrust. This has made it clear that better communication between healthcare workers and the public is needed. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown h...
The fight against COVID-19 has led scientists to explore various vaccine strategies. One promising approach involves using virus-like particles (VLPs). These are tiny, non-infectious structures that mimic viruses. They are safe and trigger a strong immune response. Researchers have now developed a new type of VLP using a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) backbone. ...