NEIDL in the News
TWiV 891: LLOV in the time of Ebola; Interview with Elke Muhlberger & Adam Hume
Original article from This Week in Virology (TWIV) by Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker. April 21, 2022 Elke, Adam, and Gabor join TWiV to discuss their work on Lloviu virus, a filovirus, including recovery of infectious virus from a DNA copy of the genome and from Schreiber’s... More
Inside the Insectary: How BU Scientists Study Diseases from Mosquitoes—without Getting Bitten
Original article from The Brink by Devin Hahn & Andrew Thurston. April 4, 2022 It’s an unwanted ritual of summer: vainly splatting at mosquitoes as they nibble your exposed legs and arms, then enduring days of irritated itching from inflamed bites. For most Americans, it’s just an annoyance, but for many... More
Checking in on the state of the pandemic, 2 years after Mass. emergency declaration
Original article from WBUR by Rupa Shenoy & Hafsa Quraishi. March 10, 2022 Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of when Gov. Charlie Baker declared Massachusetts under a state of emergency due to COVID-19. At the time, there were 92 known or presumptive cases in the state. Baker eliminated non-essential travel by state... More
Revealing the hidden value of vaccines (video)
Original article from Nature by Sabin Vaccine Institute. February 16, 2022 As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year and the Omicron variant looms, the consequences of inequitable global vaccine distribution and delivery weigh heavily. “It’s a disturbing reflection on the state of the world when the availability of potentially life-saving... More
‘Good, not great’: Some long Covid patients see their symptoms improve, but full recovery is elusive
Original article from STAT by Elizabeth Cooney. February 8, 2022 How long does long Covid last? And what does it mean to achieve full recovery? If you ask Joni White, she’ll tell you she just wants to feel like herself again — or something close to it. And she’s almost there. Retired from... More
Research That Matters – NEIDL: Right Place, Right Time
Original article from BU Annual Report. January 31, 2022 Microbiologist Robert Davey’s ongoing novel coronavirus research was boosted with $400,000 through Harvard from the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, part of $1.6 million in funding that BU researchers received. When news broke that an unknown and dangerous virus had reached US shores... More
What causes long Covid? Scientists are zeroing in on the answer.
Original article from Vox By Yasmin Tayag. January 31, 2022 “We are really working day and night” to figure out long Covid, one researcher said. Even as the number of new Covid-19 cases in the US is dropping, hundreds of thousands of Americans are still testing positive every day. More than 28... More
Here’s what to do after being exposed to omicron
Original article from Boston.com By Gwen Egan. January 24, 2022 Dr. David Hamer, a professor of global health and medicine, explains why rapid tests are effective at indicating when someone is infectious. In the wake of the omicron wave, the steps to take after being exposed to COVID-19 seem increasingly complicated. If... More
Biden is prioritizing rapid testing to counter omicron. Other countries are far ahead
Original article from The Washington Post By Claire Parker. December 23, 2021 Scaled-up coronavirus testing, at a level some countries have already achieved, can’t come soon enough for pandemic-weary Americans seeking to celebrate the holidays safely with loved ones, amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant. As many governments impose fresh... More
Merck’s Covid Pill Is Authorized for High-Risk Adults
Original article from The New York Times By Rebecca Robbins & Carl Zimmer. December 23, 2021 The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized a second antiviral pill for Covid but said it should not be preferred over other treatments. The F.D.A. cleared the pill, developed by Merck and known as molnupiravir, More
On college campuses, Omicron is fueling more stress for students as it causes another round of closures
Original article from The Boston Globe By Laura Krantz. December 22, 2021 The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is compounding pressure on college students and administrators, prompting some to announce at least a temporary return to remote learning in January at the same time that many students are feeling more stressed... More
Mass. experts urge mask use to slow COVID-19 surge, prevent hospital overcrowding
Original article from 7 News Boston By Jonathan Hall. December 16, 2021 Vaccines continue to be the “best defense” against COVID-19, but with the omicron variant threatening to drive cases, if not necessarily severe disease, to new heights, hospital and medical experts said Thursday that additional steps like mask-wearing may be... More
Massachusetts should reinstate mask mandate, Boston University professor says in COVID oversight hearing
Original article from Mass Live By Alison Kuznitz. December 16, 2021 Massachusetts should temporarily reintroduce a statewide mask mandate, a Boston University infectious diseases specialist testified on Thursday to state lawmakers as she outlined the alarming transmissibility of the new Omicron coronavirus variant. Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, an associate professor at the Boston... More
Colleges consider more restrictions as Omicron outbreaks increase, but concerns about student mental health give pause
Original article from The Boston Globe By Laura Krantz. December 15, 2021 A few months ago, college leaders had hoped the spring semester would herald relaxed COVID protocols on campus, but with the arrival of the Omicron variant in the United States, those plans are on hold and more restrictions are... More
BU Scientists Are Prepared to Detect Omicron—and Other Variants
Original article from The Brink By Kat J. McAlpine. December 8, 2021 BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has been monitoring COVID-19 variants from BU and Boston Medical Center tests since February When will the coronavirus variant known as Omicron arrive at BU? Although it’s hard to predict, it seems like... More
Wastewater Helps Cities Detect Community Spread of COVID Variants Like Omicron
Original article from Newsweek By Thomas Kika. December 7, 2021 Major cities in the U.S. are turning to a unique tactic to detect and track the community spread of COVID-19 variants like Omicron: Wastewater. On Monday, officials in Houston, Texas, confirmed the city's first case of Omicron in a fully vaccinated patient... More
Southern Africa is not a hotbed of variants — it’s just very good at sequencing and spotting them
Original article from Business Insider By Hilary Brueck. November 30, 2021 Last week, scientists in South Africa put the world on notice. Omicron is here. The announcement, on Wednesday, that virus-chasers in that country had found a new variant with dozens of fresh mutations, sent alarm bells through the halls of the... More
The Omicron Variant Is a Mystery. Here’s How Science Will Solve It
Original article from WIRED By WIRED Staff. December 1, 2021 So far, panic about the new Covid variant has outpaced actual information. Here’s what scientists around the world are trying to uncover. Starting last Friday, the race was on—between a virus and information about it. And for a while, the information moved... More
Omicron Variant: “A Little Too Much Hype, Saying This Is the Next Scary Thing”
Original article from The Brink By Kat J. McAlpine. November 30, 2021 Infectious disease experts on whether Omicron’s arrival should influence our outlook and behavior, and how BU will prepare for, and detect, it The new coronavirus variant—first detected in South Africa, and named Omicron by the World Health Organization—has stirred up... More
With COVID-19 Booster Shots Recommended for All US Adults, Infectious Disease Experts Weigh In
Original article from The Brink By Kat J. McAlpine. November 24, 2021 The cold weather is forcing people to spend more time indoors, holiday travel is ramping up, and a significant surge of COVID-19 infections is hitting the American Midwest and Northeast regions particularly hard. So it’s perhaps no surprise that... More