Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Front Cell Infect Microbiol · Jan 2020
Value of Viral Nucleic Acid in Sputum and Feces and Specific IgM/IgG in Serum for the Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019.
A new type of coronavirus-induced pneumonia eventually termed "coronavirus disease 2019" (COVID-19) was diagnosed in patients in Wuhan (Hubei Province, China) in December 2019, and soon spread worldwide. To improve the detection rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), we analyzed the results of viral nucleic acid and serum-specific antibody tests on clinical samples from 20 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in China. ⋯ We also recommend for the application of serological test to assist in confirming SARS-CoV-2 infection judged by viral nucleic acid test, especially when COVID-19-related symptoms have appeared and the viral nucleic acid test was negative. Our findings are critical for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection and for determining deadline of restriction measures to prevent transmission caused by convalescent patients with COVID-19.
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COVID-19, the causative agent of which is a new type of coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2, has caused the most severe pandemic in the last 100 years. The condition is mainly respiratory, and up to 5% of patients develop critical illness, a situation that has put enormous pressure on the health systems of affected countries. A high demand for care has mainly been observed in intensive care units and critical care resources, which is why the need to redistribute resources in critical medicine emerged, with an emphasis on distributive justice, which establishes the provision of care to the largest number of people and saving the largest number of lives. ⋯ Mechanical ventilator has been assumed to be an indivisible asset; however, simultaneous mechanical ventilation to more than one patient with COVID-19 is technically possible. Ventilator sharing is not without risks, but the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice prevail. According to distributive justice, being a divisible resource, mechanical ventilator can be shared; however, we should ask ourselves if this action is ethically correct.
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Frontiers in neurology · Jan 2020
Case ReportsCOVID-19 and Guillain-Barré Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of Literature.
During the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Northern Italy, we observed a 57-year-old man developing acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy, a variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), 12 days after severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Similarly to other bacterial and viral infections, dysregulation of the immune system due to post-infectious mechanisms, such as the molecular mimicry, could lead to an indirect damage of the peripheral nervous system related to SARS-CoV-2. ⋯ Therefore, we performed a review of the 29 articles so far published, describing 33 GBS cases and five MFS cases associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We recommend awareness of this rare, but treatable, neurological syndrome, which may also determine a sudden and otherwise unexplained respiratory deterioration in COVID-19 patients.
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Multicenter Study
Clinical Characteristics of Elderly Patients with COVID-19 in Hunan Province, China: A Multicenter, Retrospective Study.
The aim of this study was to analyze and summarize the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compare the differences of young-old patients (60-74 years old) and old-old patients (≥75 years old). ⋯ Elderly patients usually have chronic medical illness and are likely to have a severe or critically severe condition. They could show atypical symptoms without fever or cough and multiple organ dysfunction. Old-old patients tend to have more complications than young-old patients during hospitalization. Careful nursing, observation, and systemic treatment are very important in elderly patients.
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Reports of dermatological manifestations in patients with COVID-19 suggest a possible cutaneous tropism of SARS-CoV-2; however, the capacity of this virus to infect the skin is unknown. ⋯ Our results suggest that cutaneous manifestations in patients with COVID-19 cannot be directly attributed to the virus. It is possible that cutaneous blood vessels endothelial damage, as well as the effect of circulating inflammatory mediators produced in response to the virus, are the cause of skin involvement.