Articles: coronavirus.
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The current study aims at assessing the effectiveness of the guidelines set up by our clinic for the protection of patients and staff which enabled us to proceed with urgent and oncological surgery after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. ⋯ Our ENT guidelines regarding personal protection equipment and multiple simultaneous diagnostic procedures have proved to be an essential instrument for the management of patients with both known and unknown COVID-19 status.
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The recent emergence of a new coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‑2, SARS-CoV-2) that is transmitted efficiently among humans and can result in serious disease and/or death has become a global threat to public health and economy. In this article, we describe some of the most important characteristics of this new virus (including gaps in our understanding) and provide a perspective of ongoing activities for developing virus-specific countermeasures, such as vaccines and antiviral drugs.
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Ann Acad Med Singap · Nov 2020
The Impact of the Off-site Monitoring Clinic (Virtual Monitoring Clinic) on the Practice of Outpatient Rheumatology in a Tertiary Centre during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The ongoing pandemic in Singapore is part of a global pandemic caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To control the spread of COVID-19 and prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed, 'circuit breaker' measures were introduced between 7 April and 1 June 2020 in Singapore. ⋯ The virtual consultations address the need for safe-distancing by limiting face-to-face appointments and unnecessary exposure of patients to the hospital where feasible. This approach ensures that the patients are monitored appropriately for drug toxicities and side-effects, maintained on good disease control, and provided with patient education.
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The most serious COVID-19 deriving from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 causes a cytokine release storm and it is associated with worse outcomes. In COVID-19 patients, interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels are significantly elevated. Blocking IL-6 preliminarily resulted in the improvement of this hyperinflammatory state. It is unknown which patients could require higher doses of tocilizumab to get out of the cytokine storm. ⋯ Repeated measurement of the serum level of IL-6 early after tocilizumab may distinguish nonsurvivors from survivors and support the choice of deeper targeting IL-6 in COVID-19 pneumonia.