Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Trop Med Infect Dis · Jul 2020
Case ReportsTreatment of Severe COVID-19 with Tocilizumab Mitigates Cytokine Storm and Averts Mechanical Ventilation During Acute Respiratory Distress: A Case Report and Literature Review.
COVID-19, caused by the novel severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019 and has resulted in the current pandemic. The disease continues to pose a major therapeutic challenge. Patient mortality is ultimately caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ Conclusion: The early, proactive identification of serum acute phase reactants should be implemented in the treatment of COVID-19 in order to screen for a primary contributor to mortality-the cytokine storm. This screening, when followed by aggressive early treatment for cytokine storm, may have optimal therapeutic benefits and obviate the need for mechanical ventilation, thereby decreasing mortality. Additionally, we review current evidence regarding cytokine release syndrome in COVID-19 and the use of IL-6 receptor inhibition as a therapeutic strategy, and examine other reported cases in the literature describing IL-6 antagonist treatment for patients with COVID-19.
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Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has been recognized as the entry receptor of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2). Structural and sequence variants in ACE2 gene may affect its expression in different tissues and determine a differential response to SARS-Cov-2 infection and the COVID-19-related phenotype. The present study investigated the genetic variability of ACE2 in terms of single nucleotide variants (SNVs), copy number variations (CNVs), and expression quantitative loci (eQTLs) in a cohort of 268 individuals representative of the general Italian population. ⋯ The eQTLs analysis located in and targeting ACE2 revealed a high distribution of eQTL variants in different brain tissues, suggesting a possible link between ACE2 genetic variability and the neurological complications in patients with COVID-19. Further research is needed to clarify the possible relationship between ACE2 expression and the susceptibility to neurological complications in patients with COVID-19. In fact, patients at higher risk of neurological involvement may need different monitoring and treatment strategies in order to prevent severe, permanent brain injury.
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Ocul. Immunol. Inflamm. · Jul 2020
Ocular Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 in Northeast of Iran.
To evaluate ocular findings in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Northeast of Iran. ⋯ Ocular manifestation was observed in more than half of our COVID-19 patients. Hence, it seems important to involve ophthalmologist in the diagnosis and management of these patients.
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After the outbreak of the disease COVID-19, it has reached pandemic proportions within a very short time. It is mainly transmitted human-to-human through direct contact with secretions from an infected person or through inhalation of droplets containing SARS-CoV-2. It is controversial whether the virus may be transmitted via tears. ⋯ Considering the reported cases on healthcare workers indicating nosocomial transmission and the anatomical and physiological aspects it is perceived that ophthalmic healthcare professionals are at higher risk of contracting the virus by virtue of their job. In this narrative review we discuss current evidence around detection of SARS-CoV-2 in human tears and forms of transmissions reported to date. We also provide a comprehensive approach that may be implemented in an ophthalmic care facility to protect healthcare personnel, as well as patients, from contracting the virus.
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Ocul. Immunol. Inflamm. · Jul 2020
Evaluation of Conjunctival Swab PCR Results in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection.
The study objective was to identify severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in conjunctival swabs from patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. ⋯ The rate of positivity from conjunctival swab rRT-PCR was 7.5% in patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.