ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (November 23, 2020) – At least one out of every 100 St. Louis County adult residents had an active COVID-19 infection earlier this fall, while about five out of every 100 adults had contracted the disease at some earlier point, according to test results of a representative sample of county residents. […]
$5 million grant to fund saliva tests for students, teachers, staff in schools operated by Special School District of St. Louis County
Antidepressant drug repurposed for patients with coronavirus infection
New findings from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest the eye’s cornea can resist infection from the novel coronavirus. Although the herpes simplex virus can infect the cornea and spread to other parts of the body in patients with compromised immune systems, and Zika virus has been found in tears […]
One of the most vexing aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the novel coronavirus’s ability to turn the body’s immune system against the body. After the virus has been cleared from the body, the immune system sometimes continues to hurtle an arsenal of immune proteins at the already vanquished virus, creating a dangerous inflammatory response […]
By itself, beginning medical school is a major milestone. But the entering class of 2024 also experienced several significant firsts upon their arrival earlier this month at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The 105 aspiring physicians are beginning medical school in the midst of a global pandemic.
As summer gives way to fall, a time when a “second wave” has been predicted, our state finds itself in a battle, with a pattern of small advances followed by setbacks, against the pandemic. After flattening the curve in the St. Louis metropolitan region with shelter-in-place and masking policies, we saw increases in cases in […]
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are investigating whether a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat rare diseases of an overactive immune system could help critically ill patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The drug blocks a specific protein of the immune system that doctors suspect contributes to […]
An experimental vaccine is effective at preventing pneumonia in mice infected with the COVID-19 virus, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The vaccine, which is made from a mild virus genetically modified to carry a key gene from the COVID-19 virus, is described in the journal Cell Host […]
Washington University in St. Louis, the St. Louis County Department of Public Health and other collaborators are conducting a survey of St. Louis County residents and offering COVID-19 testing to gauge the prevalence of and risk factors for the illness. Working with the county, Washington University’s Institute for Public Health is teaming up with other local public health and […]
Dozens of faculty, students and staff at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have committed countless hours over the past three years to planning a new curriculum that will launch in September with the arrival of incoming medical students. Although faculty, students and staff didn’t know it, they also were preparing for the […]
The virus that causes COVID-19 probably originated in wild bats that live in caves around Wuhan, China, and may have been passed to a second animal species before infecting people, according to the World Health Organization. Many of the most devastating epidemics of recent decades – including Ebola, avian influenza and HIV/AIDS – were triggered […]
As U.S. scientists ramp up a national effort to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine candidates at clinical trial sites across the country, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Saint Louis University Center for Vaccine Development have been tapped to join the historic effort to find a COVID-19 vaccine that can prevent […]
Airborne and potentially deadly, the virus that causes COVID-19 can only be studied safely under high-level biosafety conditions. Scientists handling the infectious virus must wear full-body biohazard suits with pressurized respirators, and work inside laboratories with multiple containment levels and specialized ventilation systems. While necessary to protect laboratory workers, these safety precautions slow down efforts […]
The virus that causes COVID-19 probably originated in wild bats that live in caves around Wuhan, China, and may have been passed to a second animal species before infecting people, according to the World Health Organization.
Six months into the pandemic, people diagnosed with mild cases of COVID-19 still are told to isolate themselves and wait out the infection at home. Doctors monitor such patients so they can intervene if their condition deteriorates, but no antiviral drugs have been shown to hasten recovery or forestall severe illness in people who are […]
Medical critical care director Patrick Aguilar, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, talks about planning for the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Brazil leading the world in newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases, Latin America has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, outbreaks continue to escalate in parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Public health authorities worldwide desperately need to expand testing so they can track the spread of the infection, but molecular diagnostic […]
In the weeks before the St. Louis region saw its first patients with COVID-19, physician-scientists at Washington University School of Medicine began planning and preparing how best to collect blood and other biological samples from such patients so specimens could be quickly disseminated to researchers seeking strategies to treat, prevent and contain the novel coronavirus.
The global effort to quickly develop drugs and vaccines for COVID-19 has been hampered by limited numbers of laboratory mice that are susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have developed a mouse model of COVID-19 that replicates the […]
As the St. Louis region grapples with reopening businesses and lifting stay-at-home orders, more than 100 students at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been volunteering to help local health departments perform case investigations and contact tracing, which are essential public health strategies to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
People with COVID-19 who are seen by Washington University physicians or BJC Medical Group providers, but not sick enough to be hospitalized, can be enrolled in an in-home health monitoring program. With daily check-ins for each patient via smartphone app or phone call, the program helps medical professionals identify signs of worsening illness early so […]
Lead by Washington University, researchers in the field of critical care outcomes have collaborated to set up an open-access website that provides an outcome risk assessment calculator for severe COVID-19 patients getting various treatments. Read more and download flyer
Emergency medicine physician Komo Gursahani, MD, suits up in gloves, disposable gown, N95 mask and face shield before she sees patients, many of whom arrive in the emergency room seriously ill with COVID-19. Gursahani is one of many Washington University physicians on the front lines of the battle against the novel coronavirus. (Photo: Erin Jones/Barnes-Jewish […]
Infectious diseases physicians at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an expanded access program to give blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors to critically ill patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Led by principal investigator Rachel Presti, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine, a team of researchers began enrolling potential donors […]
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are launching a clinical trial in patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 but who are not sick enough to be hospitalized. The trial is investigating whether the antidepressant medication fluvoxamine, which is currently used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), can be repurposed […]
The Heart Team Summit Team is pleased to invite you to a second one hour complimentary webinar on Thursday April 16, 2020 at 4:00 PM (CDT) featuring Cardiology and Pulmonary Critical Care faculty from Ascension St. Vincent, Northwestern Medicine and Barnes Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine. View here for more information.
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is launching a clinical trial for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The trial will investigate the effectiveness of different combinations of the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin in treating ill patients infected with the novel coronavirus. Express Scripts, a Cigna company, […]
Just six weeks into her job as medical director of the Washington University Complete Care Clinic, Jennifer Schmidt, MD, had to completely redesign how the clinic operates to account for COVID-19. The viral infection had been in the news before she started her job Feb. 1, but like most Americans, Schmidt hadn’t felt the need to change […]
With no drugs or vaccines yet approved for COVID-19 and the number of U.S. cases increasing by the thousands every day, doctors are looking to revive a century-old therapy for infectious diseases: transfusing antibodies from the blood of recovered patients into people who are seriously ill. During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, doctors were […]
Dr. Hilary Babcock, an infectious disease specialist at Washington University School of Medicine and BJC’s director of infection prevention, shares some important information about coronavirus.
So many questions are surfacing regarding the Coronavirus so we called in Dr. Hilary Babcock from Barnes-Jewish Hospital to answer them once and for all.