Analysts have warned that a vaccine for the Covid-19 virus could be a year away, in spite of the first vaccine going for phase 1 testing.
Analysts at GlobalData reported on a poll of 164,000 pharmaceutical workers showing just 28% believe a vaccine could be available within three months. 33% believe it will take longer than a year.
GlobalData said this was also the view of the experts it consulted. This was in spite of multiple candidates being identified by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Allie Nawrat, from GlobalData, said: "Experts are clear that it will take at least a year for a vaccine to be developed against Covid-19; this situation is not helped by the likelihood that the virus has already mutated into two strains."
Meanwhile the latest study from Wuhan, China, warns that digestive symptoms, including diarrhoea, can be an early sign of viral infection.
Nearly half the patients in a study, reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, reported serious loss of appetite some time before hospital admission.
The researchers write: "The index of suspicion may need to be raised earlier in at-risk patients presenting with digestive symptoms rather than waiting for respiratory symptoms to emerge."
Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients with digestive symptoms in Hubei, China: a descriptive, cross-sectional, multicenter study. American Journal of Gastroenterology 18 March 2020
journals.lww.com/ajg/Documents/COVID_Digestive_Symptoms_AJG_Preproof.pdf
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