New data suggest people aren’t getting reinfected with the coronavirus.

New data suggest people aren’t getting reinfected with the coronavirus. People who test positive again for the coronavirus, despite having already recovered from COVID-19, aren’t being reinfected, a new study finds. Reports of patients discharged from hospitals in South Korea testing positive after their apparent recovery had raised concerns that people could get infected by the virus in the short term more than once or that the infection could come back. But diagnostic tests for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rely on detecting the virus’s genetic material (SN: 4/17/20). A positive result does not indicate whether a person is shedding viruses capable of infecting cells — which would signal an active infection. Now, a May 19 report from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that samples from “reinfected” patients don’t have infectious viruses. The finding hints that the diagnostic tests are picking up on the genetic material from noninfectious or dead viruses. That lack of infectious virus particles means these people aren’t currently infected and can’t transmit the coronavirus to others, the researchers say. “It’s good news,” says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University. “It appears people are not being reinfected, and this virus is not reactivating.”

Blood transfusions in high risk malaria zones could be made safer with new blood treatment technology.

Blood transfusions in high risk malaria zones could be made safer with new blood treatment technology.Patients, especially children, who undergo blood transfusions in sub-Saharan Africa are at high risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria. A new trial suggests that treating donated blood with a new technology that combines UV radiation and vitamin B is safe and could minimize the risk of malaria infection following blood transfusions. In many countries in sub-Saharan Africa where malaria is endemic, a high proportion of the population carry the parasite but do not show any clinical symptoms. This is a serious concern when it comes to donated blood transfusions as it puts the recipients at high risk of infection if no blood treatment procedure is provided.

Pathogen Detection Tool Could Change Infectious Diseases Diagnoses.

Scientists at the University of Utah, ARUP Laboratories, and IDbyDNA, Inc., have developed ultra-fast, meta-genomics analysis software called Taxonomer that dramatically improves the accuracy and speed of pathogen detection. In a paper published today in Genome Biology, the collaborators demonstrated the ability of Taxonomer to analyze the sequences of all nucleic acids in a clinical specimen (DNA and RNA) and to detect pathogens, as well as profile the patient's gene expression, in a matter of minutes. Infectious diseases are one of the biggest killers in the world. Almost 5 million children under age 5 die each year from infectious diseases worldwide, yet many infections are treatable if the pathogen culprit can be quickly and accurately identified. "In the realm of infectious diseases, this type of technology could be as significant as sequencing the human genome," says co-author Mark Yandell, PhD, professor of human genetics at the University of Utah (U of U), H.A. & Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair holder, co-director of the USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery, and co-founder of IDbyDNA. "Very few people have inherited genetic disease. But at some point, everyone gets sick from infections." It is difficult for infectious pathogens to hide when their genetic material is laid bare. Taxonomer opens up an entirely new approach for infectious disease diagnosis, driven by sophisticated genomic analysis and computational technologies. After a patient's sample is sequenced, the data are uploaded via the internet to Taxonomer. In less than one minute, the tool displays a thumbnail inventory of all pathogens in the sample, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi. The interactive, real-time user interface of Taxonomer is powered by the IOBIO system developed by the laboratory of Gabor Marth, DSc, professor of human genetics at the U of U and co-Director of the USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery. Schlaberg explains that Taxonomer can identify an infection without the physician having to decide what to test for, something a PCR-based test cannot do. In other words, a doctor doesn't have to suspect the cause of a patient's infection, but can instead simply ask, "What does my patient have?" and Taxonomer will identify the pathogens. In the new study, Taxonomer was put to the test with real-world cases using data published by others and samples provided by ARUP Laboratories and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Taxonomer determined that some patients who exhibited Ebola-like symptoms in the recent African outbreak did not have Ebola but severe bacterial infections that likely caused their symptoms. "This technology can be applied whenever we don't know the cause of the disease, including the detection of sudden outbreaks of disease. It is very clear we urgently need more accurate diagnostics to greatly enhance the ability of public health response and clinical care," says Seema Jain, MD, medical epidemiologist at the CDC. Another unique feature of Taxonomer is its ability to delve into human gene expression profiling, which provides information on how or if the patient's body is reacting to an infection. "As a clinician, this gives you a better idea, when we identify a pathogen whether it is really the cause of the disease," says Carrie L. Byington, MD, professor of pediatrics of the U of U and co-director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science. The tool will also show if the patient is responding to a bacterial or viral infection when we don't find a pathogen or when we find multiple potential causes.She states that she sees the exceptional value of this tool for treating children, who experience more life-threatening infections early in life. "Seeing how a host [patient] reacts is extremely valuable; I believe this is a paradigm shift in how we diagnose people. culled from R&D Magazine.