A team of international experts has published a roadmap for creating a digital twin of the immune system. Patterned after digital twins used in industry to test innovations on a model, the digital twin would create a virtual immune system tailored to individuals. Physicians could use this model to develop precision treatments based on a person's genetics and personal history. It could answer questions why some people react differently to COVID-19 infection, for example, or design precise immunosuppressant therapy for transplant patients, or allow pharmaceutical companies to more quickly bring drugs to market.

A new study published in The Lancet estimates that RSV-attributable acute lower respiratory infection was responsible for more than 100,000 deaths in children under five across the globe in 2019. The study is the first to examine RSV disease burden in narrow age brackets, reporting that there were over 45,000 deaths in infants under six months old in 2019, with one in five of the total global cases of RSV occurring in this age group.

From extreme weather to another wave of COVID-19, forecasts give decision-makers valuable time to prepare. When it comes to COVID, though, long-term forecasting is a challenge, because it involves human behavior.

Three studies, published in Science Immunology and led by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, provide intriguing answers about how long COVID-19 immunity lasts and the nature of immune recall after infection, vaccination or both.

A team from the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues analyzed genomic data from global populations, including thousands of ethnically diverse Africans, to identify genetic variants that may be associated with clinical COVID-19 outcomes.

By uniting research from 8 cohorts across the U.S., a group of researchers has accelerated collection of data integral in answering questions about immune responses needed for long lasting protection from SARS-CoV-2. The description of the cohorts, the assays used and the definitions for events were reported recently in the journal mSphere, an open access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

About The Study: Anti-SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody levels at six months after receiving two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were inversely correlated with body weight in this study that included 50 people.

Recent disruptions in a pharmaceutical supply chain have impacted the global availability of GE Healthcare Omnipaque™ iohexol iodinated contrast media (ICM) for radiologic examinations. A new Special Report provides consensus recommendations for dealing with the shortage of ICM in the near term and discusses long-term issues and potential solutions to supply chain problems.

In February 2020, a group of musicians from around the world living in China recorded their cover of a song by Michael Jackson on video to express their support to the families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and to those working in the frontline. The video went viral. Now, in a study conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine and by the Institut de Neurociències (INc-UAB) at the UAB, researchers analyze why the video and song had such a profound effect.

Vaccines may help lessen long covid symptoms in some individuals, say researchers, but more data is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn