logo
episode-header-image
May 2020
1h 15m

Covid -19 new hope from blood tests

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Research from New York examining the blood of people who have recovered from Covid – 19 shows the majority have produced antibodies against the disease, The researchers hope to soon be able to establish whether this confers long term immunity as with more common viral infections.

And Research in Berlin and London has identified biomarkers, minute signs of the disease which may help clinicians identify who is likely to develop severe symptoms and what kind of treatment they might need.

Mutations have been much in the headlines, these are a natural processes of evolution and not just in viruses, but the term is misunderstood, two studies focusing on different aspects shed some light on what mutation in SARS-CoV-2 really means.

Also What is the smallest particle of matter? How does radiation affect our bodies? And, how is particle physics useful in our everyday lives?

We take on particle physics questions from listeners all over the world. Marnie Chesterton and Anand Jagatia get help from particle physicists from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and medical physicist Heather Williams.

(Image: People wear face masks as they cross a street in Times Square in New York City. Credit: Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

Up next
Sep 18
A distorted view
With the United Nations encouraging wider use of the Equal Earth map, a projection designed to better represent the true size of Earth's landmasses, the Unexpected Elements team have been thinking about distortion and the surprising new ways we can see the world and beyond. We di ... Show More
49m 31s
Sep 11
The phizz-whizzing science of Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl Day is celebrated each year on 13 September. Dahl gave us much-loved children’s books like Matilda, The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which have captivated kids for generations.Dahl is also a controversial figure, and made anti-semitic remarks that his fam ... Show More
49m 31s
Sep 4
The show must go on
The 80th birthday celebrations of the late, great Queen frontman Freddie Mercury have us marvelling at mercury at an elemental level: as a killer, a cure and more.First, we hear about how to make a telescope mirror out of a spinning bowl of liquid mercury. Then we hear about kill ... Show More
49m 31s
Recommended Episodes
May 2023
Long COVID Scientists Try To Unravel Blood Clot Mystery
The COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, but millions across the globe continue to deal with Long COVID. Researchers are still pursuing basic questions about Long COVID — its causes, how to test for it and how it progresses. Today, we look at a group of researchers studyin ... Show More
13m 22s
Jul 2020
What We Know About Immunity
In the race to study immunity to the virus, scientists first focused on antibodies -- proteins that stick to and disable foreign invaders. That’s because creating antibodies is the basis for most successful vaccines, so scientists are interested in learning who develops coronavir ... Show More
10m 59s
Jul 2020
Hopeful News About Antibodies
Throughout the pandemic there’s been a big question: Will recovering from the virus or being treated by an effective vaccine provide lasting immunity? CNN Contributor Erin Bromage shares why new studies from the last few weeks make him more hopeful than ever that the answer could ... Show More
9m 57s
Apr 2020
Dispatch 3: Shared Immunity
<p>More than a million people have caught Covid-19, and tens of thousands have died. But thousands more have survived and recovered. A week or so ago (aka, what feels like ten years in corona time) producer Molly Webster learned that many of those survivors possess a kind of supe ... Show More
38m 19s
Mar 2022
Will antibody infusions continue to treat COVID-19
A study yet to be peer-reviewed has assessed the evidence on treating COVID-19 with antibody infusions—particularly monoclonal antibodies. It has found that in the early days of the pandemic doses were too high—but things are different with Omicron and its variants, because the a ... Show More
5m 44s
Jun 2020
Should You Take an Antibody Test?
It’s now relatively easy to get tested to see if you carry the antibodies for Covid-19. Urgent Care centers and many doctor’s offices are offering the tests widely. But the science is still out on whether or not people who have had Covid-19 become immune to it. Not to mention the ... Show More
13m 8s
Mar 2020
Covid -19, are you carrying the virus?
In Italy the entire population of a small town was tested for Covid 19. Of those infected, one in three people with no symptoms had the virus. And from China researchers found many people carried the virus – even before authorities there began tracking its spread. The findings su ... Show More
32m 51s
Jul 2020
Virus Treatment Is Changing
In the almost 200 days since coronavirus cases were first reported in central China, health workers and researchers have raced to learn more about the brand new pathogen. As many as 1,000 Covid-19-related research papers are being released daily. Jason Gale reports that the resea ... Show More
12m 38s
Nov 2022
Coronavirus - new variants
The virus which causes Covid 19 is continuing to evolve, but into several different closely related strains rather than more new variants such as Delta and Omicron. Ravi Gupta, Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Cambridge university gives us his assessment of the current pictu ... Show More
34m 7s