Kyoto, Japan -- Six years before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Ebola outbreak in West Africa had people fearing the possibility of a global outbreak. This was the first time many had ever heard of the virus, but since it was first identified in 1976, there have actually been more than 20 serious Ebola incidents. Thankfully, none of them had the global reach of the coronavirus.

Ebola has not been eradicated, however. This deadly virus, which causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and has a fatality rate of about 50%, is still at large and could thus still cause a major outbreak, unless further research finds an effective solution.

A major challenge lies in the virus' structure and regulatory mechanisms, which have remained largely unclear. In particular, scientists have long struggled to fully understand its nucleocapsid, the protein shell that plays an important role in genome replication and transcription.

Ashraf Ibrahim, PhD, an investigator at The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for more than 33 years, and Assistant Research Scientist, Yiyou Gu, PhD, at TLI for more than eight years, have been conducting research using monoclonal antibodies to address mucormycosis, a fungal infection caused by Mucorales, has high mortality rates in people with weakened immune systems and those suffering from severe trauma like burns, blast injuries or victims of natural disasters. The disease caused serious infection among COVID-19 patients treated with high doses of corticosteroids with mortality rates close to 60 percent. In the United States, there are approximately 4,000 cases per year with a rate of 200,000 in Southeast Asia where the disease is endemic to India. While vaccines and immunotherapies are available for viruses and bacteria, effective antifungal immunotherapies for mucormycosis, specifically, are lacking.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for effective antiviral therapies that go beyond prevention. In a recent study, researchers from Japan used computational methods to screen natural compounds for their ability to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. They identified 11 promising candidates, including caffeine, which exhibited strong binding affinity and stability. Their findings highlight the potential of natural products as antiviral drugs and pave the way for the development of therapeutics and further experimental validation.

People who later experienced persistent shortness of breath or fatigue after a SARS-CoV-2 infection were already taking significantly fewer steps per day and had a higher resting heart rate before contracting the virus, according to a study by the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) published in npj Digital Medicine. This may indicate lower fitness levels or pre-existing conditions as potential risk factors.