February 15, 2023
Africa: Antibiotics Are Being Inappropriately Prescribed for Covid, Increasing the Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance - Research
Antibiotics are drugs designed to treat infections caused by bacteria (for example, skin infections). They don't work on infections caused by other microbes such as viruses… Read more »
February 13, 2023
Africa: Advantages and Challenges of Anti-Covid Nasal Vaccination - The Promises of a French Approach
Contrary to the widely shared popular belief, the primary purpose of current vaccines against Covid-19 is solely to protect against serious forms of the disease in order to prevent… Read more »
February 08, 2023
Africa: Haven't Had Covid or a Vaccine Dose in the Past Six Months? Consider Getting a Booster
Australians aged 18 and over will be eligible for a COVID booster from February 20 if they have not had a vaccine dose or infection in the past six months. Read more »
February 02, 2023
Africa: The 'Kraken' Subvariant Xbb.1.5 Sounds Scary. But Behind the Headlines Are Clues to Where Covid's Heading
The XBB.1.5 subvariant, known informally as "Kraken", is the latest in a menagerie of Omicron subvariants to dominate the headlines, following increasing detection in the United… Read more »
February 01, 2023
Africa: Covid Still a Global Emergency, WHO Says, but We're At a Transition Point. What Does This Mean?
As we enter the fourth year of living with COVID, we are all asking the predictable question: when will the pandemic be over? Read more »
January 31, 2023
Africa: Long Covid - a Range of Diets Are Said to Help Manage Symptoms - Here's What the Evidence Tells Us
Most people who contract COVID recover within a few weeks. But for some people, symptoms can develop later, or persist for a long time after the initial infection. A recent review… Read more »
January 30, 2023
Africa: Children Lost One-Third of a Year's Learning to Covid, New Study Shows - but We Need to Think About the Problem Differently
Children's learning progress has slowed substantially during the pandemic, roughly equating to a loss of around 35% of the typical learning in a school year, according to a new… Read more »
January 26, 2023
Africa: Covid Booster Vaccines - How a Third Dose May Help Vulnerable People 'Level Up' Their Immunity
COVID vaccines call our immune systems to action, generating antibodies which fight against any contact we have with the virus. Antibodies help to reduce the effects of an… Read more »
South Africa: Vaccine Hesitancy - Covid Experience Highlights Conspiracies, Mistrust and Role of Media
In recent weeks, China has reported a spike in new cases of COVID and related deaths. Some countries have imposed travel restrictions as a result. But most - including South Africa… Read more »
January 25, 2023
Africa: Even Bivalent Updated Covid-19 Boosters Struggle to Prevent Omicron Subvariant Transmission - an Immunologist Discusses Why New Approaches Are Necessary
By almost any measure, the vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been a global success. Read more »
January 24, 2023
Africa: We Tested the Wastewater From Planes to Detect Covid Among Travellers - Here's What We Found
Small traces of many pathogens, such as viruses we may be infected with, are excreted when we go to the toilet. Ultimately, these agents find their way to municipal wastewater… Read more »
January 16, 2023
Africa: FAQ On Covid-19 Subvariant Xbb.1.5
Despite intensive public health efforts to grind the COVID-19 pandemic to a halt, the recent emergence of the highly transmissible, extensively drug-resistant and profoundly immune… Read more »
January 11, 2023
Africa: Bivalent Covid Vaccines Have Now Been in Use for a Few Months - Here's How They're Stacking Up Against Omicron
Vaccines have played a major role in mitigating the harms of the COVID pandemic since their rollout began just over two years ago. They're estimated to have saved tens of millions… Read more »
January 09, 2023
Africa: Long Covid - Here's What It's Like Trying to Access Healthcare for the Condition
It's estimated that 2.1 million people are currently living with long COVID in the UK. Symptoms can include breathlessness, fatigue, chest pains, loss of taste and smell, and… Read more »
January 06, 2023
Africa: Where Is the Next Covid Variant, Pi? a Virologist Explains Why Omicron Is Continuing to Dominate
The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has now been around for more than a year. Before omicron became dominant, there had been a quick succession of… Read more »
January 05, 2023
Africa: Long Covid Stemmed From Mild Cases of Covid-19 in Most People, According to a New Multicountry Study
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. Read more »
Africa: How Covid Can Disturb Your Sleep and Dreams - and What Could Help
By the end of 2022, more than 650 million COVID infections had been reported to the World Health Organization. With the true number likely much higher, and the tally increasing by… Read more »
January 03, 2023
Africa: Supporting a Child With Long Covid - Tips From Parents of Children Living With the Condition
Long COVID is the patient-preferred term used to describe symptoms lasting more than four weeks after a COVID-19 infection. Children and young people can also suffer from long… Read more »
December 29, 2022
Africa: Covid and Your Gut - How a Healthy Microbiome Can Reduce the Severity of Infection - and Vice Versa
A vast combination of microorganisms live in our gut, including bacteria, fungi and viruses. Collectively, we refer to this as the the microbiome. Read more »
December 28, 2022
Africa: Covid-19 in 2023 and Beyond - Why Virus Trends Are More Difficult to Predict Three Years On
In 2020, we knew very little about the novel virus that was to become known as COVID-19. Now, as we enter 2023, a search of Google Scholar produces around five million results… Read more »
December 22, 2022
Africa: Addicted to Chilli? It Might Help Us Regain Our Sense of Taste After Covid
The news of a hot chilli sauce shortages in the United States earlier this year - due to high temperatures and drought in agricultural regions - prompted warnings to stock up on… Read more »
Africa: Covid or the Common Cold? What to Do If You Have Symptoms This Christmas
There's a lot to be jolly about this Christmas. COVID has been significantly, although not completely, "defanged", thanks to vaccines and treatments. Christmas dos, nativity plays… Read more »
December 21, 2022
Africa: Covid Hit Companies Hard. Why Some Kept Their Sustainability Commitments, and Others Didn't
Covid-19 has had profound implications for the "role of business in society". One of them is the pandemic's effect on companies' sustainability strategies. These are efforts to… Read more »
December 14, 2022
Africa: Mpox, Aids and Covid-19 Show the Challenges of Public Health Messaging
During infectious disease outbreaks, clinicians and public health officials are tasked with providing accurate guidance for the public on how to stay safe and protect themselves… Read more »
Africa: Nasal Vaccines Promise to Stop the Covid-19 Virus Before It Gets to the Lungs - an Immunologist Explains How They Work
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines have played a large role in preventing deaths and severe infections from COVID-19. But researchers are still in the process of… Read more »