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Abstract Although Zika virus (ZIKV) circulates in sub-Saharan Africa, no case of ZIKV-associated microcephaly has thus far been reported. Here, we report evidence of a possible association between a 2007 outbreak of febrile illness and an increase in microcephaly and possibly ZIKV infection in Gabon. Since its 1947 discovery in Uganda, Zika virus (ZIKV) was restricted to sporadic human infections in Africa and Asia until 2007, when a large outbreak occurred in Micronesia, followed by another in French Polynesia 6 years later. This second outbreak spread to Brazil and throughout Central and South America, resulting in hundreds of thousands of cases ( 1). ZIKV infection leads to an asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic nonspecific disease in 80% of cases, but the outbreak in the Americas and French Polynesia coincided with a steep increase in the birth of babies with congenital microcephaly ( ....
Rapid Antibody Testing For COVID-19 by Pooja Shete on January 11, 2021 at 12:43 PM An advanced nanomaterial-based biosensing platform has been found by the researchers that detects antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic within seconds. Additional to testing, this platform will help to quantify patient immunological response to the new vaccines with precision. The study conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and the UPMC is published in the journal Advanced Materials. The testing platform identified the presence of two virus antibodies- spike S1 protein and receptor binding domain (RBD), in a very small drop of blood. Antibody concentrations can also be detected in low concentrations and this detection happens through an electrochemical reaction within a handheld microfluidic device which sends results almost immediately to ....
Updated Dec 30, 2020 | 08:05 IST The reality is that an agglomeration of factors from anthropogenic encroachment to increased cross-border migration to global warming make future outbreaks caused by unknown pathogens a certainty. Representational image. | Photo Credit: AP Key Highlights An IPBES report notes that the COVID-19 pandemic is actually the sixth pandemic to have taken place in the last century since the Great Influenza Pandemic in 1918 Studies show that areas characterised by a rising degree of human pressure on wildlife and ecology had over 40 per cent of the world s most connected cities close to or in zones of likely zoonotic spillover ....