Article Summary
November 23, 2020
Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
A meta-analysis (n = 96 studies) of the clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 in children (mean age 6.5 years) reported that 90% had household contact with an individual with SARS-CoV-2, 23% were asymptomatic, 27% had at least one comorbidity, and 29% had a co-infection, such as with mycoplasma or influenza. The pooled incubation period was 9.6…
Workers at Long-Term Care Facilities and Their Risk for Severe COVID-19 Illness
50% of long-term care workers (LTC) in the US are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 due to age >65, obesity, or medical co-morbidities based on data from the 2017 and 2018 National Health Interview Surveys and risk categories developed by the CDC. Severe illness was defined as hospitalization, intubation, or death. A…
Pregnant Women with Severe or Critical COVID-19 Have Increased Composite Morbidity Compared to Non-Pregnant Matched Controls
A case-control study of women hospitalized with severe or critical COVID-19 in New York City and Philadelphia reported that pregnant women (n=38) were more likely to experience severe outcomes, including death and need for intubation or ventilation, when compared to the non-pregnant (n=94) women (34% vs. 15%, aOR=4.6). Pregnant patients also experienced higher rates of…
High Prevalence of Pericardial Involvement in College Student Athletes Recovering From COVID-19
In a cohort of 48 university student athletes who recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection and returned to campus in July 2020 in West Virginia (30% asymptomatic), more than 1 in 3 showed signs of resolving heart inflammation on imaging studies. 27 student athletes (56%) had cardiac abnormalities, including 19 students with late enhancement of the pericardium and…
Safety and Immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 NCoV-19 Vaccine Administered in a Prime-Boost Regimen in Young and Old Adults (COV002): A Single-Blind, Randomised, Controlled, Phase 2/3 Trial
A novel chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, was reported to be safe and well tolerated with reduced reactogenicity in healthy adults aged ≥18 years. A single-blind, randomized phase 2/3 trial in UK (n=552) found that compared to adults who received a control vaccine for meningitis, adults who received ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 developed antibody responses against the…
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ Ethical Principles for Allocating Initial Supplies of COVID-19 Vaccine — United States, 2020
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices announced 4 ethical principles, in addition to scientific data and implementation feasibility, to assist in developing implementation strategies for the initial allocation of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: 1) maximizing benefits and minimizing harms; 2) promoting justice; 3) mitigating health inequities; and 4) promoting transparency. McClung et al. (Nov 23, 2020)….
Pooling Is an Insufficient Strategy to Avoid Health Care Staff to Patient Transmission of SARS-CoV-2
Pooling strategies for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR screening showed low sensitivity compared to single sample testing in medical staff in a hospital in Germany. Among 280 samples tested (8 positive, 3%), the sensitivity was 29% in pooling with 10 samples (2/7 pools) and 76% in pooling with 5 samples (13/17 pools). In contrast to other studies, the…
A Serological Assay to Detect SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in at-Home Collected Finger-Prick Dried Blood Spots
A home-based finger‐prick dried blood spot collection kit demonstrated 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity in detecting SARS-CoV-2 antibodies against S1 protein in 111 specimens collected at home from 31 patients with COVID-19 and 80 healthy participants. The authors conclude such methods may facilitate the test within hard-to reach-populations and help reduce the sample collection burden…
Impact of Age on Duration of Viral RNA Shedding in Patients with COVID-19
Older age was associated with a longer duration of SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding among a cohort of 384 patients admitted from January 11, 2020 to March 24, 2020 in Wuhan, China (adjusted OR=1.02, 95%CI=1.01-1.04; p=0.003). The median duration of viral RNA shedding was 32 days (range 4-111 days). Zhou et al. (Nov 15, 2020). Impact of…
Lack of Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV in Poultry
Inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 or MERS-CoV into 5 poultry species (chickens, turkeys, ducks, quail, and geese; 10 birds of each species included) did not show clinical signs of disease, virus replication in oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs, nor serum antibody response in serum at 14 days post-challenge. The authors suggest that poultry are unlikely to support replication…
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