Article Summary
February 3, 2021
Assessment of Suicide in Japan During the COVID-19 Pandemic vs Previous Years
Suicide rates in Japan increased among both men and women during 2020. The cross-sectional study included data from 90,048 people who died of suicide from 2016 to 2020, and based on trends from 2011-2019, the increase in suicides was most pronounced among men under age 30 (RR=1.48) and women under 30 (RR=2.14) and 30 to…
Gastroenterology Manifestations and COVID-19 Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis of 25,252 Cohorts among the First and Second Waves
Twenty percent of COVID-19 patients presented with GI symptoms, according to a meta-analysis. In 125 studies included in the analysis, GI symptoms upon presentation to care included loss of appetite (20%), altered sense of taste or loss of taste (15%), diarrhea (13%), nausea (10%), and vomiting of blood (9%). Over 26% of patients had confirmed…
The Basis of a More Contagious 501Y.V1 Variant of SARS-COV-2
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The receptor binding domain (RBD) of the 501Y.V1 SARS-CoV-2 variant (first identified in the UK) has around a 10-times higher binding affinity for human ACE2 than the RBD of the parent N501 strain, suggesting a potential mechanism for the higher rate of contagiousness observed with this strain. Sera collected from individuals immunized…
COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability and Inequity in the United States Results from a Nationally Representative Survey
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Weighted analysis of results from a nationally-representative survey of US adults (n=1,592) from September 1-7, 2020 showed that 59% of the population were willing or extremely willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it became publicly available, while almost 68% of respondents were willing or extremely willing to take the…
Single Dose Administration , and the Influence of the Timing of the Booster Dose on Immunogenicity and Efficacy of ChAdOx1 NCoV-19 ( AZD1222 ) Vaccine
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Exploratory analysis of interim data from the University of Oxford studies of the ChAdOx1 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) vaccine suggested that lengthening the interval between vaccination doses was associated with increases in clinical efficacy. In the standard dose group (since approved by the MHRA and other international regulators), the efficacy after the second dose was…
Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 VOC 501Y.V2 by Human Antisera Elicited by Both Inactivated BBIBP-CorV and Recombinant Dimeric RBD ZF2001 Vaccines
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Sera from 12 participants who received either the inactivated virus vaccine BBIP-CorV or the ZF2001 RBD protein subunit vaccine (both manufactured in China) showed neutralizing activity against the 501Y.V2 SARS-CoV-2 variant (first identified in South Africa). Neutralization was measured by microcytopathogenic effect assay and there were slightly reduced geometric mean antibody titers…
The Limit of Detection Matters: The Case for Benchmarking Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Testing
A study modeling the clinical sensitivity of assays to detect SARS-CoV-2 based on their limits of detection (LoD) found that each 10-fold increase in LoD was expected to lower the assay sensitivity by about 13%. Ct values were obtained from 4,700 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients using the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 EUA test. The authors argue that assays…
Azithromycin in Patients Admitted to Hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): A Randomised, Controlled, Open-Label, Platform Trial
A randomized open-label trial (RECOVERY) of azithromycin for COVID-19 found no significant differences in survival (rate ratio=0.97), duration of hospital stay (median 10 vs 11 days), or proportion of patients discharged from the hospital alive within 28 days (RR=1.04) between participants receiving azithromycin versus usual care. Among patients not receiving mechanical ventilation at baseline, no…
Sixteen Novel Lineages of SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa
An analysis of 1,365 SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences in South Africa identified 16 new lineages of the virus isolated between March 6 and August 26, 2020. Three lineages (B.1.1.54, B.1.1.56 and C.1) were responsible for 42% of all infections in South Africa during the first wave, during which 42 detectable lineages were circulating throughout the country….
Transmission of COVID-19 in 282 Clusters in Catalonia, Spain: A Cohort Study
The risk of transmission of COVID-19 was greater when the index case had a higher concentration of virus. A cohort study of 282 COVID-19 clusters (n=314 patients) in Spain conducted from March-April 2020 indicated that the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 was associated with the viral load of the index case. The secondary attack rate ranged…
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