The influenza virus, which causes the flu, is a major public health issue, infecting millions of people and estimated to cost $10 billion in direct medical costs in the United States each year. Like most viruses, influenza mutates rapidly as it spreads, making it difficult to vaccinate against every possible strain. Every year there is a massive effort to determine which strains will likely be the most prevalent, in order to make a vaccine that offers the best protection for that season.

During the earliest months of 2020, COVID-19 seemed like an innocuous event that was too geographically distant to affect the Illinois community. In fact, by March 10th there were only 19 confirmed cases. Nevertheless, Nigel Goldenfeld (BCXT leader/GNDP), former Swanlund Endowed Chair and professor of physics, and Sergei Maslov (BCXT/CABBI), a professor of bioengineering and Bliss Faculty Scholar, were worried. The news from China and Italy was concerning and in four days a significant portion of students, faculty, and staff were going to leave for spring break.

A team led by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tracked the rise and fall of SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva and nasal cavities of people newly infected with the virus. The study was the first to follow acute COVID-19 infections over time through repeated sampling and to compare results from different testing methodologies.

The findings are reported in the journal Nature Microbiology.

The chance of detecting the virus that causes COVID-19 increases with more frequent testing, no matter the type of test, according to a new study. The tests can achieve 98% sensitivity if deployed at least every three days.

A collaborative effort at the University of Illinois to support COVID-19 testing is winding down, but not before it produced enough materials to support some 200,000 coronavirus tests across the state.

Antiviral drug resistance has long been a problem in modern society. As viruses evolve, they develop resistance to antiviral drugs, which become less effective at treating diseases such as influenza.

Now, a group of researchers is approaching this problem with a new idea: what if antiviral drugs could evolve along with viruses to stop this resistance?