Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Front Public Health · Jan 2020
Identification of RT-PCR-Negative Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients via Serological Testing.
Asymptomatic individuals with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been identified via nucleic acid testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); however, the epidemiologic characteristics and viral shedding pattern of asymptomatic patients remain largely unknown. In this study, serological testing was applied when identifying nine asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 who showed persistent negative RT-PCR test results for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid and no symptoms of COVID-19. ⋯ Three of the asymptomatic cases were local individuals who spontaneously recovered before their presumed index patients developed symptoms of COVID-19. This report presents the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection that were undetected on RT-PCR tests in previous epidemiologic investigations probably due to the transient viral shedding duration.
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new strain of virus in the Coronavirus family that has not been previously identified. Since SARS-CoV-2 is a new virus, everyone is at risk of catching the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). No one has immunity to the virus. ⋯ However, misconceptions of being protected against the virus or having low or no risk were also evident in the data. We found that false information circulated on social media not only instigated confusion, fear and panic, but also contributed to the construction of misconceptions, othering and stigmatizing responses to Covid-19. The study findings bring attention to the importance of developing communication materials adapted to specific communities to help reduce misconceptions, othering and stigmatization around Covid-19.
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Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2020
Contriving Multi-Epitope Subunit of Vaccine for COVID-19: Immunoinformatics Approaches.
COVID-19 has recently become the most serious threat to public health, and its prevalence has been increasing at an alarming rate. The incubation period for the virus is ~1-14 days and all age groups may be susceptible to a fatality rate of about 5.9%. COVID-19 is caused by a novel single-stranded, positive (+) sense RNA beta coronavirus. ⋯ Lastly, to confirm the expression of the designed vaccine, the mRNA of the vaccine was enhanced with the aid of the Java Codon Adaptation Tool, and the secondary structure was generated from Mfold. Then we performed in silico cloning. The final vaccine requires experimental validation to determine its safety and efficacy in controlling SARS-CoV-2 infections.
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There is much discussion of adopting COVID-19 immunity certificates to allow those proven to have antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 to resume normal life and help restart the economy. This article points out issues that must be considered before adopting any such program. ⋯ It does not ultimately take a position on whether some narrow COVID-19 immunity plans should be adopted, concluding that the answer depends on too many currently unknown conditions. But its seventh part makes recommendations to decision-makers who might consider implementing such programs.
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Frontiers in medicine · Jan 2020
Efficacy and Safety of Anti-malarial Drugs (Chloroquine and Hydroxy-Chloroquine) in Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Background: Anti-malarial drugs inhibit coronaviruses in-vitro. Few published studies have evaluated the safety and efficacy of these drugs in the treatment of COVID-19 infection. Materials and Methods: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials and observational studies. ⋯ The GRADE evidence generated for all the outcomes was of "very low-quality." Conclusions: As very low quality evidence suggests an increased risk of mortality and adverse event with HCQ plus Azithromycin combination (not HCQ alone), caution should be exercised while prescribing this combination for treatment of hospitalized adults with COVID-19 infection. Good quality, multi-centric RCTs (including both hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients) are required for any firm recommendation to be made during the ongoing pandemic. OSF Protocol Registration Link: https://osf.io/6zxsu.