CIENCIASMEDICASNEWS: Coronapod: “Test, test, test!”

lunes, 23 de marzo de 2020

In the first of Nature’s new coronavirus podcast series, Coronapod, we explore why testing and contact tracing — which are key to controlling the coronavirus outbreak — are not being done around the world. (Coronapod | 21 min listen)
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a global trial of existing drugs that offer the most promise against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Remdesivir was unsuccessful as a drug candidate for Ebola, but targets an enzyme in a way that might hinder SARS-CoV-2. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are decades-old antimalarials that show some thin promise against the new virus. And a combination of three drugs — ritonavir, lopinavir and interferon beta — has shown an effect in animals against a different coronavirus, MERS. The trial, called SOLIDARITY, will not be double-blind, but it will be easy to enroll in and carry out. (Science | 11 min read)
Iceland has tested a huge number of people per capita for COVID-19 compared with other nations: as of today, more than 10,000 out of its population of 364,000. And, unlike in many other places, that includes many people who show no symptoms. The effort would be difficult to reproduce for more populous nations, but the resulting data reveals much about the disease — including “that about half of those who tested positive are non-symptomatic”, says Thorolfur Guðnason, Iceland’s chief epidemiologist. (BuzzFeed News | 8 min read)