The Journal of infection
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The Journal of infection · Jul 2020
The role of community-wide wearing of face mask for control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic due to SARS-CoV-2.
Face mask usage by the healthy population in the community to reduce risk of transmission of respiratory viruses remains controversial. We assessed the effect of community-wide mask usage to control coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). ⋯ Community-wide mask wearing may contribute to the control of COVID-19 by reducing the amount of emission of infected saliva and respiratory droplets from individuals with subclinical or mild COVID-19.
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The Journal of infection · Jul 2020
Arbidol monotherapy is superior to lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19.
Lopinavir/ritonavir and arbidol have been previously used to treat acute respiratory syndrome- coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication in clinical practice; nevertheless, their effectiveness remains controversial. In this study, we evaluated the antiviral effects and safety of lopinavir/ritonavir and arbidol in patients with the 2019-nCoV disease (COVID-19). Fifty patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were divided into two groups: including lopinavir/ritonavir group (34 cases) and arbidol group (16 cases). ⋯ Patients in the arbidol group had a shorter duration of positive RNA test compared to those in the lopinavir/ritonavir group (P<0.01). Moreover, no apparent side effects were found in both groups. In conclusion, our data indicate that arbidol monotherapy may be superior to lopinavir/ritonavir in treating COVID-19.
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The Journal of infection · Jul 2020
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as an independent risk factor for mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Several studies have described the clinical characteristics of patients with novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infected pneumonia (COVID-19), indicating severe patients tended to have higher neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Whether baseline NLR could be an independent predictor of in-hospital death in Chinese COVID-19 patients remains to be investigated. ⋯ NLR is an independent risk factor of the in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 patients especially for male. Assessment of NLR may help identify high risk individuals with COVID-19.