At almost 7 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, what reasons for (cautious) optimism does recent research offer us when it comes to controlling the spread and impact of the new corona virus?
Almost 7 months ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic.
Since then, scientists all over the world have been working ceaselessly to find effective ways to prevent and treat infections with SARS-CoV-2 and help people recover from COVID-19.
At Medical News Today, we present regular roundups of the most recent research advances that offer hope and reassurance that scientists continue to look for ways out of the pandemic.
In this installment, we look at the latest research around SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention, emerging evidence that could help inform new COVID-19 therapies, and what specialists are doing to advance knowledge about the mysterious “long COVID” and support people it affects.
Alpaca nanobodies to the rescue?
At the start of September, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published a study paper in the journal Nature Communications. In it, they suggest that a nanobody, or an antibody fragment, that alpacas naturally produce could help prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2.
Antibodies are a type of protein that recognize antigens. Antigens are structural sequences that are present on infectious agents.
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