Journal of medical virology
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The Italian outbreak of COVID-19 cases is a public health emergency and there is a worldwide tremendous interest in the evaluation of the Italian epidemic evolution. Indeed, from February 2020, Italy is facing an explosion of COVID-19 cases. In particular, the Italian observed case fatality rate (CFR) is much higher than the other countries. ⋯ However, through an analysis performed for all the Italian regions, here it is shown that the deaths are localized in specific regions and that the CFRs of different Italian regions are overlapping with the rates of European countries. Moreover, through correlation analyses between CFRs and different social habits, it is shown that no positive correlation is observed between social behaviors and CFRs. In conclusion, this analysis clearly rejects the possibility that social habits and intergenerational contacts can contribute to explaining such a profound effect on the number of deaths observed in Italy during the COVID-19 outbreak and more effort should be addressed to evaluate the real amount of positive cases.
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This article reviews the correlation between angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and severe risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the possible mechanisms. ACE2 is a crucial component of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). The classical RAS ACE-Ang II-AT1R regulatory axis and the ACE2-Ang 1-7-MasR counter-regulatory axis play an essential role in maintaining homeostasis in humans. ⋯ Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a clinical high-mortality disease, and ACE2 has a protective effect on this type of acute lung injury. Current research shows that the poor prognosis of patients with COVID-19 is related to factors such as sex (male), age (>60 years), underlying diseases (hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease), secondary ARDS, and other relevant factors. Because of these protective effects of ACE2 on chronic underlying diseases and ARDS, the development of spike protein-based vaccine and drugs enhancing ACE2 activity may become one of the most promising approaches for the treatment of COVID-19 in the future.
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Comparative Study
Assessment of the quality of systematic reviews on COVID-19: A comparative study of previous coronavirus outbreaks.
Several systematic reviews (SRs) have been conducted on the COVID-19 outbreak, which together with the SRs on previous coronavirus outbreaks, form important sources of evidence for clinical decision and policy making. Here, we investigated the methodological quality of SRs on COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Online searches were performed to obtain SRs on COVID-19, SARS, and MERS. ⋯ The methodological quality of most SRs on coronavirus outbreaks is unsatisfactory, and those on COVID-19 have higher risks of poor quality, despite the rapid actions taken to conduct SRs. The quality of SRs should be improved in the future. Readers must exercise caution in accepting and using the results of these SRs.
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A novel coronavirus pneumonia, first identified in Wuhan City and referred to as COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, has been quickly spreading to other cities and countries. To control the epidemic, the Chinese government mandated a quarantine of the Wuhan city on January 23, 2020. ⋯ Considering infected individuals as contagious during the latency period, the well-mixed SEIR model fitting results based on the assumed contact rate of latent individuals are within 6-18, which represented the possible impact of quarantine and isolation interventions on disease infections, whereas other parameter were suppose as unchanged under the current intervention. The present study shows that, by reducing the contact rate of latent individuals, interventions such as quarantine and isolation can effectively reduce the potential peak number of COVID-19 infections and delay the time of peak infection.