Duke-led team finds why women may be better equipped to Fight COVID
When it comes to COVID-19, women seem to be the stronger sex, suffering severe disease at about half the rate as men, but the reason for this has been elusive.
Now a chance experiment by an ophthalmology researcher at Duke Health has led to an insight: Women have more of a certain type of immune cell that fights infections in mucosal tissue, and these immune cells amass in the lungs, poised to attack the COVID virus.
Duke enrolls first-in-nation children for Pfizer-BioNTech U.S. clinical study trial in children under 12
Twin 9-year-old girls at Duke Health became the first in the United States to participate in Pfizer and BioNTech Phase 1 study to evaluate safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in preventing COVID-19 among healthy children below the age of 12.
The participants -- Alejandra and Marisol Gerardo -- received their first vaccinations on Wednesday, March 24.
A Year Like No Other - A Video of Thanks Highlighting the School of Medicine's Response to COVID-19
Duke starts sequencing COVID genes, finds two known variants
As a next step in Duke University’s exhaustive, campus-wide testing program during the Covid pandemic, the university is employing a genome sequencing core facility in downtown Durham to identify the specific strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that have been found on the campus and in the Duke Health system.
One year in: optimism, advice for dealing with stress and anxiety from the pandemic
The mental health challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have overwhelmed many Americans. The stress and anxiety from sickness, lost employment and a pivot for children and parents to isolated, virtual schooling has had a devastating cumulative effect.
As the first anniversary of the pandemic approaches, three Duke experts reflected Wednesday on the impact it has had on various aspects of mental health during University Communications’ 50th virtual briefing for journalists since last March.
Community stakeholders form taskforce to address the devastating effects of the pandemic
The African American COVID Taskforce Plus (AACT+) includes members from more than 20 organizations
Early in 2020, Duke Family Medicine residents Dr. Roosevelt Campbell and Dr. Andrew Flynn began noticing a disturbing trend in their clinics. The COVID-19 pandemic, wreaking havoc in every part of American life, seemed to be disproportionately hitting communities of color. In May, Black Durham residents were 40% less likely to be tested for COVID-19, yet more than twice as likely to test positive when compared to white residents.
MURDOCK study's COVID-19 project contributes to NC research network that monitors Coronavirus in sewer systems
A Duke COVID-19 study tracking the pandemic in Cabarrus County is contributing data to a statewide research network monitoring the coronavirus in sewer systems to help inform the public health response in North Carolina.
Masks, distancing, hand-washing crucial for reopening schools
State leaders and education officials weighing whether to re-open schools are considering myriad factors, from infection rates to vaccine rollout to a reluctance on the part of both teachers and families.
Three Duke experts, including a pediatrics professor co-leading a National Institutes of Health-funded study on how to reopen schools safely, spoke to journalists Wednesday in a virtual media briefing. (Watch the briefing on YouTube)
Here are excerpts:
The ABCs of Keeping Kids Healthy
The diversity problem in science
With COVID-19 being a fixture of our lives for nearly a year now, science has been a staple in the news. Along with science, though, a long-overdue conversation about the state of race relations in America has taken center stage, which makes diversity in science a critical topic to delve into. COVID-19 has highlighted not only a national crisis in healthcare response, but also longstanding health disparities across racial and socioeconomic groups that have only been exacerbated by the pandemic.