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New COVID test will take your breath away
Sticking a swab up your nose might be a thing of the past shortly: American scientists have created a fast-working breath test that identifies traces of the virus that causes COVID-19. The team from...
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An ominously nicknamed new COVID-causing variant is spreading quickly across...
An ominously nicknamed new COVID-causing variant is spreading quickly across the globe. EG.5.1 is another subvariant of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 virus. It has been nicknamed ‘Eris’ after the Greek...
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Vale epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws
Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, a giant of Australian epidemiology, has died aged 70. While McLaws rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, her work in infection control began decades before...
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Long COVID brain fog linked to immune response
Australian researchers have identified a biological pathway that appears to be activated in people with long COVID who suffer from ‘brain fog’ giving heart to people who fear their issues are being...
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Latest: What are the origins of COVID-19?
As the debate continues about the origins of COVID-19 and the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we asked Professor Dominic Dwyer, a Medical Virologist at Westmead Hospital and the University of Sydney, to answer some...
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Severity of COVID-19 in children depends on age and dominant variant
Admissions of children with COVID-19 to intensive care decreased over successive waves of the virus, according to a global study of disease severity in children across 9 countries, including...
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China: End of zero COVID policy saw excess deaths explode
China saw 1.87 million more deaths than usual in the 2 months following the end of its zero COVID policy, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. After the initial outbreak, China’s dynamic...
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Scientists find high killer T cell response in critical COVID-19 cases
Researchers have found an unusual immune response in unvaccinated, critically ill COVID-19 patients that could inform future vaccines. A study by teams from the University of Sydney and UNSW,...
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New flu virus strain found in Cambodian pigs poses pandemic risk
Previously unknown strains of influenza A virus have been found circulating unnoticed in Cambodian pig populations according to research led by scientists at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore....
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Controversy over claims about long COVID research
Scientists writing in an influential medical journal are questioning the state of long COVID research, saying it has created “widespread misunderstanding”. The opinions have drawn criticism from...
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Cause of increased heart risk from COVID infection revealed
Researchers from New York University have uncovered an explanation for why infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes: it triggers an immune...
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Combined flu and COVID mRNA vaccine headed for next step
Moderna’s combined flu and COVID vaccine is headed for the final stage of clinical trials. The company announced promising results from its Phase 1/2 trial of mRNA-1083, an mRNA vaccine designed to...
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No mandates, but authorities still ask people to think about COVID safety
As an “eighth wave” of COVID-19 emerges, it’s very much business as usual for most Australians. The disease is now very much part of life – the World Health Organization ended its public health...
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WHO updates its guidance on treatments for COVID-19
The World Health Organization has updated its Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline with the most up-to-date recommendations for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. The fourteenth version,...
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Updated COVID-19 vaccinations could be coming soon to Australia
As Australia enters an “eighth wave” of COVID-19, 2 updated vaccines could soon be available to the public. In early October the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved two updated COVID-19...
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No difference in social skills for pandemic-exposed kinder kids
A study of preschool children in Ontario, Canada finds those exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic had better vocabulary and visual memory skills and no difference in their social and emotional skills at...
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Data reveals the eye-watering cost of Australia’s COVID-19 health response
Australia spent nearly $48 billion on the health response to COVID-19 between 2020 and 2022, new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals. Australia ranked 7th lowest for...
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Communicating COVID-19
It was overwhelming, say immunologist Dr Chris Puli’uvea and virologist Dr Natalie Netzler. The New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) had called to say the pair had won New Zealand’s most...
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Under-vaccination has led to 7,000 more severe COVID cases: UK study
More than 7,000 hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 might have been averted if the UK’s population was fully up to date on vaccines, according to new research published in the Lancet. The...
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COVID is less severe, but elderly still at high risk
The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency of international concern or, in Australia, a disease incident of national significance. It’s 4 years since the first cases of the disease...
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Massive study finds links between COVID-19 vaccination and very rare medical...
Researchers have found a link between COVID-19 vaccinations and very rare neurological, heart and blood related medical conditions. An international study was conducted on 99 million COVID-19 vaccine...
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Does having 100+ COVID jabs harm your immunity? Apparently not.
A German man who claimed to have received more than 200 COVID-19 vaccinations has shown no signs of immunity fatigue. In research published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, scientists from German...
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50 remarkable and inspirational women in Australian science
International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. In honour of IWD 2024, Cosmos is showcasing the achievements of 50 of...
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COVID-19 pandemic has cut life expectancy globally
COVID-19 reversed earlier trends toward longer life expectancies. During the pandemic, life expectancies globally dropped by 1.6 years according to a new study published today in the Lancet medical...
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Is it time to lose the term Long COVID?
By Lyndal Byford, the Australian Science Media Centre It might be time to stop using terms like ‘long COVID’ with new research suggesting that the condition may be no different to other post-viral...
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Encouraging COVID mortality data, but probably not ‘zero death’ yet
Infectious disease experts are welcoming data that shows a persistent fall in COVID-19 deaths. As reported by Cosmos yesterday, government data from the start of March indicates that for the first...
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Deaths, deceptive data and the detail of COVID reporting
If, fate forbid, you died from COVID today, how long would it take for your statistic to register on the government’s ‘COVID-19 reporting’ page? Probably longer than you think. But the lack of clarity...
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Australia in ‘best position’ as authorities monitor new COVID-19 strains
Health authorities continue to monitor a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, which has infected at least 9 people in South Africa since first being identified last year. The...
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COVID virus mutated in Dutch man, raising importance of proper...
Dutch medical scientists are warning about the risk of viruses mutating over long periods in infected immunocompromised people. Forthcoming research from the group relates to a previously reported...
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Shortness of breath, fatigue characterises Long COVID
A study of Swedish Long COVID patients has revealed the symptoms most commonly associated with the afflication include dyspnoea and fatigue. The research led Umeå University and published in the BMG...
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Age influences Long COVID symptoms in kids
A study of nearly 6,000 children and young adults in the US has found Long COVID symptoms vary among different age groups, potentially giving new tools to doctors to help diagnose and manage the...
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Vaccine primes immune response to multiple coronaviruses in mouse study
Preventing the rise of the next coronavirus pandemic or epidemic could depend on creative developments in vaccine technology. And now a trans-Atlantic research group has developed a vaccine it says...
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Expert reaction: AstraZeneca withdraws its COVID-19 vaccine
AstraZeneca developed the first vaccine for COVID-19, beating the competition, but this week they’ve announced they’re withdrawing the jab worldwide following a drop in demand. More than 3 billion...
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Longevity for heart failure patients improves with COVID jabs
A big Korean analysis of people with heart failure has revealed substantial positive impacts of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The study was drawn from the Korean National Health Insurance...
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Advanced breast cancer increases linked to screening in COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 brought an unprecedented shift in the approach to breast cancer screening and treatment in Australia. A retrospective clinical analysis of data from patients at Sydney Adventist Hospital...
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Sperm study recommends quarantine after COVID-19
Brazilian researchers have discovered the COVID-19 virus in sperm up to 3 months after infection, which they say should make people think carefully about the time babies might be conceived. Details of...
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Wuhan market increasingly likely origin point for COVID-19
Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, in November 2021. Credit: Getty Images / Stringer An international team of researchers has found more evidence that COVID-19 came from animals in a Wuhan food...
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Is the Australian CDC getting the start it needs?
Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler (left), and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly in February 2023. Kelly, who is head of the interim CDC, has recently announced his retirement. Credit:...
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Prolonged inflammation may play a role in long COVID heart symptoms
An estimated 65 million people live with long COVID, many of whom experience cardiovascular issues such as chest pain and heart palpitations. A small new Australian study suggests chronic inflammation...
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Pandemic brings surprising changes to our urban habits
People forced to hunker down in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic have retained many of those habits – which might change the face of our cities and urban spaces. In 2023, people in the US...
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