NEW YORK (Reuters) – The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
New coronavirus antibody test highly accurate
A new antibody test is highly accurate at determining whether people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to a study published on Friday in The Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine found the test, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, had a specificity rate of 99.9% and a sensitivity rate of 100%, suggesting little chance of incorrectly diagnosing a healthy person as having been infected and virtually no chance of a false negative readout. Abbott’s test has received emergency use authorization from the FDA and the company has already shipped more than 10 million of the tests to hospitals and labs. (Links: reut.rs/2xIdOdkbit.ly/2Lb24U3)
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Part of the reason for some false negative coronavirus tests – tests that do not detect the virus in someone who is actually infected – may be that the test sample was not collected properly by the person using the nasopharyngeal swab, Canadian researchers say. They reanalyzed specimens from patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 whose test results had been negative or unclear and found less human DNA than they expected to see. Correct use of nasopharyngeal swabs to obtain a high quality specimen “requires training and expertise as it involves insertion of the swab to … a depth of roughly 7 centimeters (2.76 inches), followed by rotation and withdrawal,” Zabrina Brumme of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia and colleagues say. Their study, posted on Friday on the preprint server medRxiv, has not yet been peer reviewed or published in a medical journal. ( bit.ly/2yGKG6J )
Coronavirus spread affected more by public health measures than by climate
Temperature and latitude do not appear to be associated with the spread of the novel coronavirus, and humidity levels have only a weak effect, according to data collected in March from 144 regions of the world. By contrast, public health measures like social distancing, school closures and sheltering at home do make a difference and were strongly associated with reduced epidemic growth, Dr. Peter Juni at the University of Toronto and colleagues found in a report published on Friday in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).