Intellect PlusPandemics & epidemics
26 cards. Each one is a 40-second story with a five-minute read behind it.
How twelve historical plagues reshaped the trajectory of human civilizationFrom ancient Athens to the modern era, disease has acted as a silent architect of history. This overview tracks twelve major outbreaks that collapsed empires and altered the cours…
How history's deadliest pathogens reshaped human civilizationFrom the Black Death to COVID-19, pandemics have acted as violent architects of our world. This video explores the science and scale of humanity's darkest outbreaks, examining how…
Why humanity remains vulnerable to recurring global health threatsFrom the Black Death to modern viral outbreaks, infectious diseases have repeatedly ravaged human society. Despite our scientific progress, these pathogens continue to pose existe…
How the film Contagion mirrors global health crisesThis video breaks down how the movie Contagion depicts the rapid spread of an airborne virus. It explores the tension between public health efforts and the resulting societal unre…- The high price of waiting for absolute certainty in public healthHuman history is littered with pandemics sparked by specific, preventable errors—from contaminated blood supplies to ignored early warnings. But perhaps the most systemic mistake …
Tracing the global path of human history's deadliest diseasesThis video provides a visual retrospective of how major epidemics and pandemics have shaped human civilization. It maps out the progression of these health crises from the end of …
One year of a global shift: Tracking the first 12 months of COVID-19This retrospective covers the rapid evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic from its initial detection to the global vaccine rollout. It provides essential context on how a single vi…
Visualizing the invisible mechanics of disease spreadHow do we predict where a virus will strike next? This video introduces simulations that model how diseases move through populations, helping us understand the difference between …- Persistent neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms are common features of long-term COVID-19A meta-analysis of 19 studies involving 11,324 patients found that many people experience lasting neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms at least three months after a COVID-19…
Could deliberately infecting volunteers save lives during a pandemic?Traditional vaccine development takes years, but a radical proposal suggests speeding up the timeline by exposing volunteers to the virus. This video explores the ethics and mecha…
Lopinavir-ritonavir treatment shows no significant benefit for severe Covid-19 patientsA randomized controlled trial of 199 hospitalized adults with severe Covid-19 found that the drug combination lopinavir-ritonavir did not improve recovery times compared to standa…
Vaccine protection against the Delta variant appeared to decline months after vaccinationResearchers analyzing Israeli national health records compared Covid-19 infection rates among people fully vaccinated with BNT162b2 at different points earlier in 2021. Across thr…
Combining baricitinib and remdesivir may speed recovery for hospitalized Covid-19 patientsA randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 1,033 hospitalized adults found that combining the Janus kinase inhibitor baricitinib with remdesivir helped patients recover faster than…
Combination antibody treatment reduces viral load in mild to moderate COVID-19A randomized trial of 613 adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 found that a combination of two neutralizing antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, significantly reduced the amo…
Early plasma treatment may slow Covid-19 progression in older adultsA study of 160 older adults with mild Covid-19 symptoms found that receiving high-titer convalescent plasma early in the illness reduced the risk of developing severe respiratory …
Tocilizumab reduces risk of severe progression in hospitalized Covid-19 pneumonia patientsResearchers who conducted a randomized trial of 389 hospitalized patients with Covid-19 pneumonia found that the anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab reduced the likelihood of patie…
Omicron variant escapes much of the antibody protection from vaccines and prior infectionWhen researchers tested blood samples from vaccinated people and from those previously infected with earlier variants such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma or Delta, they found that most sam…- Interleukin-6 receptor antagonists improve outcomes for critically ill Covid-19 patientsResearchers conducting a randomized platform trial found that the drugs tocilizumab and sarilumab improved survival and organ support-free days in critically ill Covid-19 patients…
Vaccine efficacy against the B.1.351 variant appeared low in early clinical observationsResearchers studying the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine found that its protection against the B.1.351 variant of SARS-CoV-2 was notably low. Analyzing participants in a clinical trial, t…
In a small uncontrolled study, severe COVID-19 patients improved after tocilizumabResearchers retrospectively analysed 20 patients with severe or critical COVID-19 who received the antibody drug tocilizumab alongside standard care at two Chinese hospitals in Fe…
Oral antiviral molnupiravir reduces hospitalization and death risk for high-risk Covid-19 patientsA phase 3, double-blind, randomized trial of 1,433 unvaccinated adults with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 found that the oral antiviral molnupiravir significantly lowered the risk of …
For COVID-19 screening, testing often and fast beats using the most sensitive testResearchers who modeled how SARS-CoV-2 levels rise and fall after infection simulated repeated population screening programs. They found that testing people more often and returni…
Early antibody treatment significantly reduces hospitalization and death in high-risk Covid-19 patientsA phase 3 clinical trial found that the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab significantly lowered the risk of severe disease progression in high-risk patients with symptomatic Covid-19…- mRNA-1273 vaccine demonstrated 94.1% efficacy in preventing Covid-19 illnessA phase 3 randomized trial of 30,420 volunteers found that the mRNA-1273 vaccine was 94.1% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19. The study, which followed participants at …
Tocilizumab shows no significant benefit for patients with severe Covid-19 pneumoniaA phase 3 randomized trial of 438 hospitalized patients found that the monoclonal antibody tocilizumab did not significantly improve clinical outcomes or reduce death rates compar…- Lab tests show Delta variant partly evades vaccine- and infection-induced antibodiesIn laboratory experiments, researchers found the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was about six times less effectively neutralised by antibodies from previously infected people, and ab…