Hopeful steps toward a rapid saliva-based test for COVID-19 antibodies
A research collaboration born in the lab of Johns Hopkins microbiologist Christopher Heaney aims to scale up rapid testing to track spread of the virus By Danny Jacobs / Published March 12, 2021
When COVID-19 cases started ticking up across the U.S. a year ago, Christopher Heaney and his research team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health went into high gear, supporting several research studies with their lab s saliva collection and antibody testing expertise. These included investigations testing for antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using a simple saliva test that is less invasive than standard blood tests. Back in their lab, Heaney and his team processed the tests, and researchers have used the results to track the spread of the virus, including among people who never exhibited symptoms.
E-Mail
DNA sequencing of bacteria found in pigs and humans in rural eastern North Carolina, an area with concentrated industrial-scale pig-farming, suggests that multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains are spreading between pigs, farmworkers, their families and community residents, and represents an emerging public health threat, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
S. aureus is commonly found in soil and water, as well as on the skin and in the upper respiratory tract in pigs, other animals, and people. It can cause medical problems from minor skin infections to serious surgical wound infections, pneumonia, and the often-lethal blood-infection condition known as sepsis. The findings provide evidence that multidrug-resistant S. aureus strains are capable of spreading and possibly causing illness in and around factory farm communities in the U.S. a scenario the authors say researchers should continue to investiga