Two new studies using mice and hamsters are continuing in the effort to understand and deal with Covid-19.

Researchers at (see video), USA and the University of British Columbia, Canada, have found a new way to prevent a SARS-CoV-2 infection, by designing a nasal spray.

Virus infections start when viral particles bind to host surface cellular receptors and so the team used specific mice models that carry the same SARS-CoV-2 receptors as humans and showed that the spray can be protective against several variants.

“This is the first of its kind. One advantage is that it works early in the infection, even after someone has already acquired the virus.”, said senior author Hector Aguilar-Carreno – see the study in Nature.

Research on a nasal spray to fight Covid, using ferrets, llamas and mice has been covered previously by the EARA News Digest.

Meanwhile, another research group, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City has revealed, using hamsters as models, how SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to chronic pain.

“Our findings could potentially lead to new therapies for patients suffering from acute and long Covid, as well as other pain conditions,” said Randal Alex Serafini, MD/Ph.D. candidate, who presented this work at the 2022 Experimental Biology meeting.