Coronavirus (COVID-19) Collection
Differential clinical characteristics and performance of home antigen tests between parents and children after household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during the Omicron variant pandemic
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) BA.2 pandemic struck in 2022. Children seemed to have a lower rate of infection than adults at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the clinical scenario changed, especially after the Omicron variant outbreak [1]. The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 may vary according to different viral variants, settings, and individuals, and understanding the transmission rate and factors associated with transmission may help further control COVID-19. To this end, the difference in clinical symptoms and overall household transmission rate between children and adults needs further investigation.Validation of the NeuMoDx™ SARS-CoV-2 assay with COPAN eNAT® and E&O Viral PCR Sample Solution collection media types in comparison with other validated SARS-CoV-2 RNA assays
Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA are the gold standard for diagnosis because of their high sensitivity and specificity (Park et al., 2020). Assay validation during the pandemic was challenging because of the need for rapid implementation of novel tests (Vandenberg et al., 2021).Rapid and qualitative identification of SARS-CoV-2 mutations associated with variants of concern using a multiplex RT-PCR assay coupled with melting analysis
COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO); more than 520 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed (WHO, https://covid19.who.int/ , accessed on May 19, 2022) and new genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged, spreading worldwide rapidly and becoming a global threat. During the last year, WHO classified five variants as variant of concern (VOC) due to their greater transmissibility or virulence: Alpha (UK, B.1.1.7), Beta (South Africa, B.1.351), Gamma (Brazil, P.1), Delta (India, B.1.617.2), and more recently, Omicron (Multiple countries, B.1.1.529) (WHO, https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/ , accessed on May 19, 2022).When to test for COVID-19 using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction: a systematic review
By the end of 2019, a new enveloped RNA betacoronavirus was identified as responsible for episodes of a novel type of pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), it quickly spread to regions beyond China and later caused a global pandemic (Phan et al., 2020). In February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease caused by this pathogen COVID-19. COVID-19 has a varied clinical spectrum (World Health Organization, 2020b). Affected patients may be asymptomatic or develop various symptoms and complications, ranging from cough, myalgia, and headache to secondary infections, shock, and respiratory failure.Analysis of the COVID-19 testing parameters and progression of the pandemic at the district level: findings from the ICMR Hundred Million Test (HMT) database during the first wave in India
Laboratory parameters, along with other demographic information, can help us better understand the spread of the pandemic in a country. This information can be crucial to formulating and implementing public health policies in future waves of the pandemic.SARS-CoV-2 saliva testing using RT-PCR: a systematic review
There remain challenges in using SARS-CoV-2 RNA diagnostic assays in the respiratory tract in a pandemic. More so certain countries such as Hong Kong have already included saliva as part of their mass-testing protocol. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review on the alternate use of saliva as a SARS-CoV-2 RNA testing specimen in the context of mass screening with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.Comparison of the clinical sensitivity and specificity of two commercial RNA SARS-CoV-2 assays
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have developed several diagnostic assays for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard for diagnosis of active SARS-CoV-2 infections because of its high sensitivity and specificity (Park et al., 2020). Automation in molecular diagnostics enables scaling of testing capacity, which is critical for enabling a large number of tests (Eigner et al., 2019).Analysis of the factors predicting clinical response to tocilizumab therapy in patients with severe COVID-19
The deleterious impact of the hyperactive immune response triggered by SARS-CoV-2 has been reported since the start of the pandemic (Giamarellos-Bourboulis et al., 2020, Vabret et al., 2020). Therapeutic immunomodulation emerged as a potentially life-saving option for patients with severe COVID-19 (Luis et al., 2021). Available drugs inhibiting the pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6) rapidly became of particular interest because elevated IL-6 levels seemed to mediate systemic inflammatory responses associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiorgan failure (McGonagle et al., 2020).Patients with COVID-19 pneumonia with 25(OH)D levels lower than 12 ng/ml are at increased risk of death
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) uses the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to enter macrophages and monocytes, resulting in macrophage activation (Merad, Martin, 2020). In some patients, this leads to a hyperinflammatory syndrome, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and end-organ damage (Webb et al., 2020). It has been hypothesized that vitamin D sufficiency may modulate this excessive inflammatory response in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Grant et al., 2020).Diagnostic performance, user acceptability, and safety of unsupervised SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen-detecting tests performed at home
Rapid antigen detection tests (RADTs) that can be used to self-test for SARS-CoV-2 infections are available in several countries. However, few studies have examined the self-test application of RADTs. Self-tests require the individual to collect a specimen, conduct a RADT protocol, and interpret the result without assistance (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, 2021).Influence of chronic use of corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitors on COVID-19 clinical outcomes: analysis of a nationwide registry
Since the beginning of 2020, the world has faced the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As of November 11, 2021, more than 250 million people had contracted COVID-19 worldwide, and more than 5 million had died (Dong et al., 2020).Performance of colorimetric reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification as a diagnostic tool for SARS-CoV-2 infection during the fourth wave of COVID-19 in Thailand
COVID-19 is an acute infection of the respiratory tract caused by a recently emerged coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which was first detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and continues to cause major public health concerns. The virus spread worldwide and has been declared a pandemic because there were more than 194 million confirmed cases and more than 4 million deaths in 222 countries as of July 2021 (World Health Organization, 2021). Currently, there are different platforms of COVID-19 vaccines available which have been distributed globally.Bacteraemic pneumococcal pneumonia and SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia: differences and similarities
Streptococcus pneumoniae remains the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia (Van der Poll and Opal, 2009; Johansson et al., 2010). Among pneumonia pathogens, it is the leading cause of hospitalization and death in adults (Roson et al., 2001; Shariatzadeh et al., 2005). Approximately 15–25% of cases of pneumococcal pneumonia are bacteraemic (Said et al., 2013), and bacteraemic pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (B-PCAP) has traditionally been considered an invasive form of infection related to higher inflammatory status, worse in-hospital course and shorter long-term survival (Capelastegui et al., 2014; Ishiguro et al., 2016; Ruiz et al., 2019).Performance and cost-effectiveness of a pooled testing strategy for SARS-CoV-2 using real-time polymerase chain reaction in Uganda
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to be an important global health problem with a significant impact on individual and global public health (Fauci et al., 2020). In the face of a rapidly spreading disease with a shortage of vaccines and/or effective treatment, rapid mass testing has been suggested as one of the measures to map, contain and mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic (Denny et al., 2020).Infection fatality ratio and case fatality ratio of COVID-19
The infection fatality ratio (IFR) and case fatality ratio (CFR) define the risk of death per infection and per case, respectively. The difference between IFR and CFR depends on the definition of the case. If infection is defined as case, then CFR equals IFR. It is very important to determine the IFR because it influences the control policy and individual risk perception. It would be straightforward to determine the IFR in a closed, small population, such as the Diamond Princess Cruise, where the CFR was 1.3% without age standardization (Russell et al. 2020) and 0.5% after age standardization (Faust and Del Rio 2020).Comparison of Allplex™ SARS-CoV-2 Assay, Easy SARS-CoV-2 WE and Lumipulse quantitative SARS-CoV-2 antigen test performance using automated systems for the diagnosis of COVID-19
As COVID-19 continues to strain public health systems and vaccination programmes race against new variants that might be more transmissible or capable of evading immune responses, the urgent need for simple, accessible, and frequent testing remains [Tan SH et al 2021]. Despite the fact that molecular assays are considered the gold standard for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, antigen detection assays currently deserve great attention, since they are intrinsically less laborious, require a shorter time to receive results and have the potential to satisfy the pressing demand for early SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosis, thus allowing timely adoption of prevention measures against infection spread [Porte L et al 2020; Lambert-Niclot S et al 2020; Kobayashi R et al 2021].SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen testing in the healthcare sector: A clinical prediction model for identifying false negative results
Since its onset (Zhu et al., 2020), the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged to a major burden for the population in general but especially brought great challenges for the healthcare sector (Miller et al., 2020). Recent statistics presented by the German federal government agency Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) show that cough, fever, nasal congestion, sore throat and loss of smell or taste are the most common symptoms caused by COVID-19 (RKI, 2021a).Modeling the early temporal dynamics of viral load in respiratory tract specimens of COVID-19 patients in Incheon, the Republic of Korea
From the beginning of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in January 2020 through 31 October 2020, a total of 22,756 patients were infected and 464 deaths were recorded in Korea. Sporadic community outbreaks with unknown sources of infection persisted. The proportion of infected young people aged 20–39 years reached 32.9%, and the vast majority (90.9%) of cases were mild (Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2020); this is consistent with the findings from an initial study in China, which reported that 81% of COVID-19 cases were mild (Wu and McGoogan, 2020).Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults: A rare sequela of SARS-CoV-2 infection
Most of our understanding of MIS-A is based on various case reports and case series shared by the CDC and published in the medical literature (Bastug et al., 2021; Morris et al., 2020). Here we describe a case of MIS-A in a patient admitted to the Creighton University Medical Center —Bergan Mercy campus in Omaha, Nebraska with clinical presentation and diagnostics suggestive of MIS-A.Performance of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test compared with real-time RT-PCR in asymptomatic individuals
Given the increase in cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections worldwide, there is a need for a reliable rapid diagnostic test in addition to existing gold standard real-time RT-PCR. Rapid antigen tests (RAT) for SARS-CoV-2 can be performed onsite in mass testing, are inexpensive compared to real-time RT-PCR, do not require specific and expensive equipment, and the results are available within 15 min (CDC, 2021), which could serve to evaluate chains of infection and their interruption. A recent meta-analysis revealed that the average sensitivity and specificity of RAT for SARS-CoV-2 were 56.2% and 99.5%, respectively (Dinnes et al., 2020).First case of postmortem study in a patient vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2
We report on an 86-year-old male resident of a retirement home who received vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Past medical history included systemic arterial hypertension, chronic venous insufficiency, dementia and prostate carcinoma. On January 9, 2021, the man received lipid nanoparticle-formulated, nucleoside-modified RNA vaccine BNT162b2 in a 30 μg dose. On that day and in the following 2 weeks, he presented with no clinical symptoms (Table 1). On day 18, he was admitted to hospital for worsening diarrhea.Admission levels of Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) are Associated with the Development of Severe Complications in Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has exerted enormous relentless pressures on the global healthcare systems. As of February 4, 2021, over 102 million people were infected with SARS-CoV-2, and more than 2.2 million have died since the start of the pandemic (WHO, 2020). The true number of cases may even exceed the number of diagnosed cases by more than 10-fold (Havers et al., 2020; Stringhini et al., 2020).A novel ORF1a-based SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assay to resolve inconclusive samples
The striking difference between the previous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1)/Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreaks and the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the increased contagious nature of the latter (Yang et al., 2020). This has resulted in over 100 million SARS-CoV-2 infections globally and approximately 2.2 million deaths to date (WHO, 2021). India bears the second largest burden of infected individuals, with 10 million infections and over 150,000 deaths to date (ICMR, 2021).Comparative evaluation of four SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests in hospitalized patients
A central component for controlling a pandemic, like the current one caused by the SARS-CoV-2 with no specific available therapy, is the rapid identification and containment of infected individuals (Weissleder et al., 2020). Easily accessible and relatively inexpensive antigen tests offer an easy-to-use diagnostic tool to quickly identify such patients. Antigen tests are useful in primary and emergency care settings because they do not require laboratory equipment. They have been shown to aid in the specific diagnosis of respiratory infections such as influenza, specifically during the cold season when many respiratory viruses with similar clinical symptoms are circulating (Moriyama et al., 2020).Temporal profile of SARS-CoV-2 viral load in posterior nasopharyngeal samples: Analysis of 944 patients in Apulia, Italy
From early 2020 a new Coronavirus disease named COVID-19 has spread worldwide with Italy being one of the most affected countries, albeit with substantial regional differences (IstitutoSuperiorediSanità; WHO). In the Apulia region (southern Italy) approximately 7900 cases of COVID-19 infection have been reported so far, with a peak at the end of April and a substantial decrease from May-June. The rate of hospitalization and number of severe cases also fell during this time (IstitutoSuperiorediSanità).
