Travel medicine and infectious disease
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Travel Med Infect Dis · May 2020
ReviewTherapeutic use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 and other viral infections: A narrative review.
The rapidly spreading Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), represents an unprecedented serious challenge to the global public health community. The extremely rapid international spread of the disease with significant morbidity and mortality made finding possible therapeutic interventions a global priority. While approved specific antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 are still lacking, a large number of existing drugs are being explored as a possible treatment for COVID-19 infected patients. ⋯ Both CQ and HCQ demonstrated promising in vitro results, however, such data have not yet been translated into meaningful in vivo studies. While few clinical trials have suggested some beneficial effects of CQ and HCQ in COVID-19 patients, most of the reported data are still preliminary. Given the current uncertainty, it is worth being mindful of the potential risks and strictly rationalise the use of these drugs in COVID-19 patients until further high quality randomized clinical trials are available to clarify their role in the treatment or prevention of COVID-19.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · May 2020
ReviewRemdesivir for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 causing COVID-19: An evaluation of the evidence.
The novel coronavirus infection that initially found at the end of 2019 has attracted great attention. So far, the number of infectious cases has increased globally to more than 100 thousand and the outbreak has been defined as a pandemic situation, but there are still no "specific drug" available. Relevant reports have pointed out the novel coronavirus has 80% homology with SARS. ⋯ China has also taken immediate action to put remdesivir into clinical trials with the purpose of applying it into clinical therapeutics for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). We started from the structure, immunogenicity, and pathogenesis of coronavirus infections of the novel coronavirus. Further, we analyzed the pharmacological actions and previous trials of remdesivir to identify the feasibility of conducting experiments on COVID-19.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · May 2020
A cross-sectional comparison of epidemiological and clinical features of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan and outside Wuhan, China.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread outside the initial epicenter of Wuhan. We compared cases in Guangzhou and Wuhan to illustrate potential changes in pathogenicity and epidemiological characteristics as the epidemic has progressed. ⋯ This study indicates possible diminishing virulence of the virus in the process of transmission. Yet persistent positive RNA in feces after negative nasopharyngeal swabs suggests a possible prolonged transmission period that challenges current quarantine practices.