Feb 14, 2020 - Health

New testing for coronavirus emerges from MERS, Ebola anti-virals

Marisa Fernandez

MERs is in the same family as the novel coronavirus which began to infect patients in Wuhan, China. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Scientists and doctors are exploring whether existing treatments for HIV, Ebola and malaria could combat the coronavirus, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Driving the news: The antiviral remdesivir protected monkeys from MERS, another coronavirus, both before and after exposure, the National Institute of Health announced Thursday.

The medication, made by Gilead, has been used in experiments to fight Ebola, and has also been used to keep SARS from replicating in animals.

  • Two other drugs for Ebola and malaria are being used on Chinese patients — one to disrupt covis-19's genetic material and the other to keep the coronavirus from penetrating cells, respectively.
  • Doctors are also looking at HIV medication that could block an enzyme the virus needs to mature, per LAT.

Why it matters: An anti-viral or immunotherapy that's already been proven safe could be a faster solution to slowing down infections. But their effectiveness against the coronavirus still has to be tested.

Go deeper: Vaccine candidate for coronavirus on track for human trials

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Marisa Fernandez

Clinical trial for HIV vaccine ends in failure

The experimental vaccine against the AIDS virus for the 2016 clinical trial. Photo: Mujahid Safodien/AFP via Getty Images

A vaccine aimed at preventing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has failed and will end its clinical trial in South Africa early, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Why it matters: About 34 million people are living with HIV/AIDS globally, according to 2018 data from the World Health Organization. South Africa has one of the highest HIV rates in the world, with young women especially at risk.

Go deeperArrowFeb 3, 2020 - Health
Axios

Coronavirus updates: Market ends worst week since financial crisis

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

The stock market ended its worst week since the financial crisis, prompting the Fed to release a statement. Meanwhile, the WHO warned that countries are losing their chance to contain the novel coronavirus and raised its global risk assessment to "very high" Friday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,860 people and infected more than 84,000 others in over 60 countries and territories outside the epicenter in mainland China. The number of new cases reported outside China now exceed those inside the country.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 13 hours ago - Health
Marisa Fernandez

Vaccine candidate for coronavirus on track for human trials in April

A scientist is at work in the VirPath university laboratory as they try to find an effective treatment against 2019-nCoV. Photo: Jeff Pachoud/AFP via Getty Images

The National Institutes of Health and biotech company Moderna, one of several companies working to develop treatment for the novel coronavirus, are on track for human clinical trials for a vaccine in two and half months, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, said in a press briefing Friday.

Why it matters: If the trials prove effective, the vaccine could help protect people from future outbreaks. The researchers were able to successfully take the virus's genetic code and express proteins for animal trials. “I’m happy to tell you there are no glitches so far," Fauci said.

Go deeper: Billionaires and multinationals donate to fight coronavirus

Keep ReadingArrowFeb 7, 2020 - Health