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New research shows that Covid-19 antibodies can neutralize the virus and last up to five months

There’s encouraging news about antibodies in a new paper published in the journal Science from researchers at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital. In their study of the antibody responses of patients with either mild or moderate Covid-19, antibody levels appeared to stay relatively stable for at least five months, and their presence was correlated with the inactivation of the virus.

Antibodies are molecules pumped out by the immune system in response to infection, and they have a role in preventing future infections, though exactly how they function within the context of Covid-19 isn’t clear yet. Scientists are urgently trying to figure out whether the presence of antibodies actually means a person is protected from future infection as well as how long antibodies last in the body. Knowing this is crucial, especially for vaccine development.

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Death Rates Have Dropped for Seriously Ill Covid Patients

The coronavirus struck the United States earlier this year with devastating force. In April, it killed more than 10,000 people in New York City. By early May, nearly 50,000 nursing home residents and their caregivers across the country had died.

But as the virus continued its rampage over the summer and fall, infecting nearly 8.5 million Americans, survival rates, even of seriously ill patients, appeared to be improving. At one New York hospital system where 30 percent of coronavirus patients died in March, the death rate had dropped to 3 percent by the end of June.

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New polio vaccine poised to get emergency WHO approval

A vaccine against a type of polio that is spreading in the Southern Hemisphere is expected to receive emergency approval before the end of the year. If it does, it will be the first time the World Health Organization has steered an unlicensed vaccine or drug through its emergency listing process.

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COVID's cognitive costs? Some patients' brains may age 10 years

LONDON (Reuters) - People recovering from COVID-19 may suffer significant brain function impacts, with the worst cases of the infection linked to mental decline equivalent to the brain ageing by 10 years, researchers warned on Tuesday.

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No news on Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is good news — and bad news

Pfizer revealed Tuesday that researchers have not yet conducted an analysis of the efficacy of the vaccine it is developing against Covid-19.

The announcement is both good news and bad news. 

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