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            Period. 29 September - 5 October 2020          

                
       
    


    
    
    

    
          
    

  • A study in Infectious Disease Society tracked the possibility of COVID-19 reinfection using data from over 1,200 patients that were discharged from hospitals in the U.S. from mid-January to mid-March. Over a 28-day period, almost 15% (n=189) of discharged patients retested positive, most notably including younger patients and with symptoms that were observed to be more moderate relative to the first positive tests. While these results are encouraging in terms of COVID-19 reinfection, the CDC notes that the study did not include viral genotyping to determine whether the COVID-19 reinfection was due to a relapse or new infection.
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  • A number of research papers last week also point to our expanded understanding of how the Coronavirus attacks cells. One notable study in Nature revealed unique morphological characteristics of the ‘spike’ binding proteins of SARS-CoV-2, including binding to ACE2 receptors which are commonly located on cells and tissues on organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and the liver. The results from Benton et al suggest that during this binding process, the spike protein changes is able to reshape “at least 10 times,” occurring after the initial binding process and becomes more open to allow its binding sites to be easily accessible.
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This development is part of the digest;