Category: Feature Stories

Approximately one in five people with corona disease do not develop immune protection against SARS-CoV-2, according to a study by scientists at MedUni Vienna. Protection requires the ability to form antibodies.The protection that prevents docking and invasion of the body’s cells only occurs if antibodies can be formed against the folded receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein. However, some people are unable to do so, likely due to current vaccines. Corona sufferers and antibodiesThis docking site does not change significantly even in viral mutants, a MedUni statement stressed…

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A new Delta variant is spreading in the United States. There are already cases in Europe as well. Now the first researchers are already urging caution. The coronavirus continues to mutate: after Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, as well as some lesser-known variants, another mutant has now appeared in the form of AY.3. This is a subspecies of the delta variant, which is currently also dominant in Switzerland and is significantly more infectious than earlier Sars-CoV-2 forms. The spread of AY.3 is mainly observed in the Midwest and in the…

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“We won’t get around a lockdown,” says virologistDorothee von Laer. Vaccination for under-12s could provide a remedy. Innsbruck virologist Dorothee von Laer believes a new Corona lockdown is inevitable in the fall. The expert says so in an interview in the current issue of the news magazine “profil”. “If the wave does not flatten out soon, we will not get around a lockdown,” says von Laer. The reasons: low Corona vaccination rates, declining protection among the elderly and the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus. There is one big…

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The risk of hospitalization is about twice as high with the delta variant as with the alpha variant of the coronavirus, according to a study of 40,000 corona cases in England. The study was primarily devoted to the risk for the unvaccinated.The risk of hospitalization is probably about twice as high for infection with the delta variant of the coronavirus as for the alpha variant, according to a study. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Public Health England evaluated more than 40,000 corona cases in England from the end…

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“Covid-22 could become even worse than what we are experiencing now,” says Swiss scientist Sai Reddy, with regard to new Corona variants. Vaccinations would therefore have to be adapted in the future as well.Warning against superspreader eventsA scientist working in Switzerland warns of a new Corona super-variant. This could form as a combination of existing variants, Sai Reddy, assistant professor at the Department of Biosystem Science and Engineering at ETH in Basel, said in an interview. “It is very likely that a new variant will emerge where we can no…

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Of the 18 Covid patients requiring intensive care in Vienna hospitals at the beginning of this week (cutoff date: August 23), 16 had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.The 18 covid patients include seven men and 11 women. One had received a partial vaccination, and another was fully immunized but immunosuppressed. The city of Vienna made the announcement Thursday afternoon in response to an APA query. Vienna Covid intensive care patients: Average age 54.7 yearsImmunosuppression is present, for example, in people whose immune system has been weakened by appropriately necessary…

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BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines lose protective efficacy over time. A large-scale English study has now shown the extent to which the protective efficacy of AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech corona vaccines diminishes after several months. At the same time, the researchers call for rapid plans for booster vaccinations.Protection against coronavirus infection diminishes somewhat just a few months after full vaccination, according to one study. As a reference point, the British researchers took the protective effect determined in their study one month after the second dose of vaccine, which, according to them, was…

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More than 5 billion Corona vaccinations have now been administered around the world. That’s according to a count by the AFP news agency, which evaluated all the information available from official agencies in different countries for this purpose up to Tuesday afternoon.With 1.96 billion vaccine doses administered, China is still in the lead in a country comparison. It is followed by India (589 million) and the United States (363 million). Inequality in Corona vaccination campaignOverall, the global vaccination campaign is still driven by strong inequality. High-income countries have vaccinated an…

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A new mutation is currently keeping researchers busy. It is a subtype of the delta variant that dominates in Austria. Corona has had a firm grip on the world for over a year and a half. Currently, a renewed increase in the number of new infections can be observed in many places. The fourth wave of Corona has now also arrived in this country. The reason for the increase in numbers is the much more infectious delta variant of the Corona virus, which has been dominant in Austria and also…

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