Journal of medical virology
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During the early stages of the pandemic, some coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients were misdiagnosed as having influenza, which aroused the concern that some deaths attributed to influenza were actually COVID-19-related. However, little is known about whether coinfection with influenza contributes to severity of COVID-19 pneumonia, and the optimal therapeutic strategy for these patients. We retrospectively studied 128 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. ⋯ Among influenza coinfected patients, those treated with lopinavir/ritonavir exhibited faster pneumonia resolution within 2 weeks after symptom onset (37% vs 1%; P = .001). There was no difference in lung involvement between influenza coinfected and noninfected groups. Lopinavir/ritonavir eliminated the difference of lung involvement between influenza coinfected and noninfected groups, indicating that lopinavir/ritonavir is associated with pneumonia resolution in COVID-19.
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Since the discovery of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a disease caused by the new coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the pathology showed different faces. There is an increasing number of cases described as (meningo)encephalitis although evidence often lacks. Anosmia, another atypical form of COVID-19, has been considered as testimony of the potential of neuroinvasiveness of SARS-CoV-2, though this hypothesis remains highly speculative. ⋯ An inappropriate immune response can lead to the production of auto-antibodies directed toward CNS components. In the case of proven SARS-CoV-2 brain invasion, the main hypothesis found in the literature focus on a neural pathway, especially the direct route via the nasal cavity, although the virus is likely to reach the CNS using other routes. Our ability to come up with hypotheses about the mechanisms by which the virus might interact with the CNS may help to keep in mind that all neurological symptoms observed during COVID-19 do not always rely on CNS viral invasion.
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Review Meta Analysis
Meta-analysis of chest CT features of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.
The objective of this paper is to perform a meta-analysis regarding the chest computed tomography (CT) manifestations of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia patients. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched from 1 December 2019 to 1 May 2020 using the keywords of "COVID-19 virus," "the 2019 novel coronavirus," "novel coronavirus," and "COVID-19." Studies that evaluated the CT manifestations of common and severe COVID-19 pneumonia were included. ⋯ Other CT features including ground-glass opacities (P = .404), air bronchogram (P = .070), nodule (P = .093), bronchial wall thickening (P = .15), subpleural band (P = .983), vascular enlargement (P = .207), and peripheral distribution (P = .668) did not have a significant association with the severity of the disease. No publication bias among the selected studies was suggested (Harbord's tests, P > .05 for all.) We obtained reliable estimates of the chest CT manifestations of COVID-19 pneumonia patients, which might provide an important clue for the diagnosis and classification of COVID-19 pneumonia.