All Posts: infectious disease
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Researchers Find Humans Have Given Wild Animals Their Diseases Nearly 100 Times
WASHINGTON (March 23, 2022) — An international research team led by scientists at Georgetown University has found that humans might give viruses back to animals more often than previously understood. In a study published March 22 in Ecology Letters (“Assessing the risk of human-to-wildlife pathogen transmission for conservation and public health”), the authors describe nearly […]
Category: News Release
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Commonly Used Antibiotic Shows Promise for Combating Zika Infections
Category: News Release
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Misconceptions About Weather and Seasonality Impact COVID-19 Response
WASHINGTON (August 27, 2020) — Misconceptions about the way climate and weather impact exposure and transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, create false confidence and have adversely shaped risk perceptions, say a team of Georgetown University researchers. “Future scientific work on this politically-fraught topic needs a more careful approach,” write the scientists in […]
Category: News Release
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COVID-19 Symptom Tracker Ensures Privacy During Isolation
WASHINGTON (August 13, 2020) — An online COVID-19 symptom tracking tool developed by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center ensures a person’s confidentiality while being able to actively monitor their symptoms. The tool is not proprietary and can be used by entities that are not able to develop their own tracking systems. Identifying and monitoring […]
Category: News Release
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Dearth of Medical Resources in Africa for COVID-19 Reminiscent of Early HIV/AIDS Pandemic
WASHINGTON (May 7, 2020) — “We have seen this before.” Global health scholars have issued a clarion call about the needless loss of life expected because of a foreseeable prospect of “slow and inadequate access to supplies” to control COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa. They say what is unfolding now is similar to when lifesaving diagnostics […]
Category: News Release
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Georgetown University Medical Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Collaborate on COVID-19 Antibody Study
WASHINGTON (May 7, 2020) — Georgetown University Medical Center, in collaboration with MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, is conducting a study to test for antibodies in two groups of people with increased vulnerability to COVID-19: hospital workers and those with cancer. The FDA has approved (under an emergency use authorization) only a few tests produced commercially […]
Category: News Release
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From Immunity Passports to Vaccination Certificates for COVID-19: Scientific, Equitable and Legal Challenges
WASHINGTON (May 4, 2020) — As governments from countries including the U.S., Germany, Italy and the U.K. explore the possibility of issuing so-called “immunity passports,” a leading global health and legal scholar warns that such action poses significant practical, equitable and legal issues. In contrast, if and when a vaccine is developed, vaccination certificates will […]
Category: News Release
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Do Authoritarian Regimes Have an Advantage in an Outbreak Response?
WASHINGTON (February 13, 2020) — In an effort to control the COVID-19 outbreak (previously known as 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease), China rapidly shut down a market in Wuhan suspected as the outbreak source and imposed unprecedented quarantines and cordon sanitaire on the city, which halted the movement of over 50 million people across Hubei Province. […]
Category: News Release
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“No Time to Lose”; Georgetown Global Health Experts React to PHEIC Declaration
WASHINGTON (January 30, 2020) — This afternoon, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on the recommendation of the Emergency Committee, declared the 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Georgetown University global health security expert Rebecca Katz, PhD, MPH, and global health law […]
Category: News Release
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“Global Action Plan” Urgently Needed to Bring the 2019-nCoV Under Control, Say Georgetown Global Health Experts
WASHINGTON (January 30, 2020) — The World Health Organization should facilitate a multidisciplinary committee to develop a “global action plan” to help bring the 2019-nCoV outbreak under control, say three Georgetown University global health security and law experts. Writing in JAMA, published online today, the Georgetown trio, who have worked on and studied global health […]
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