Article Summary
March 9, 2021
Persistence of Symptoms up to 10 Months Following Acute COVID-19 Illness
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Among US individuals with a history of symptomatic COVID-19 (n=6,211) participating in a 10-wave survey between June 2020 to January 2021, 80% reported recovering within less than 2 months and 8% reported experiencing symptoms for 2 months or more. 3% and 2% reported being symptomatic for ≥4 months and ≥6 months, respectively….
Infection Sustained by Lineage B.1.1.7 of SARS-CoV-2 Is Characterised by Longer Persistence and Higher Viral RNA Loads in Nasopharyngeal Swabs
Individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant may have higher viral loads and longer viral shedding duration, according to a surveillance study in Italy. 313 individuals with sequencing-confirmed B.1.1.7 infection had lower median cycle thresholds of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein (indicating higher viral loads) compared to individuals without B.1.1.7 infection (15.8 vs 16.9). Among…
SARS-CoV-2-Specific T Cell Memory Is Sustained in COVID-19 Convalescents for 8 Months with Successful Development of Stem Cell-like Memory T Cells
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Whole blood analysis from 94 individuals who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 in South Korea found that, SARS-CoV-2-specific memory T cell responses were maintained at up to 8 months post-symptom onset. Among 30 individuals with longitudinal samples beyond the first month, no significant differences in memory T cell responses were observed between…
COVID-19 Vaccine Response in Pregnant and Lactating Women a Cohort Study
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines elicited similar immune responses among pregnant (n=84) and lactating (n=31) women compared to non-pregnant reproductive-age women (n=16). All vaccine-induced SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody titers were higher compared to titers from a group of pregnant women (n=37) that had SARS-CoV-2 infection 4-12 weeks prior. Vaccine-induced antibodies were detected in all…
Safety and Immunogenicity of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, BBV152: Interim Results from a Double-Blind, Randomised, Multicentre, Phase 2 Trial, and 3-Month Follow-up of a Double-Blind, Randomised Phase 1 Trial
Interim results from a double-blind randomized phase 2 trial (n=380) of the Bharat Biotech whole-virion inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (BBV152) show robust neutralizing titers against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 at day 56 following two doses administered on day 0 and day 28. In a plaque-reduction neutralization test, the 6 µg dose group compared to the 3 µg dose…
Serological Evidence of Human Infection with SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies varied dramatically across WHO regions, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis including over 5 million participants from 400 serosurveys. The Southeast Asia region had the highest seroprevalence (20%), while the Western Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand, had the lowest (1.7%). In a subset of serosurveys with higher quality…
Acute Allergic Reactions to MRNA COVID-19 Vaccines
Among employees of Mass General Brigham (MGB), a Boston-based hospital and physicians network, who received their first dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine (n=64,900), acute allergic reactions of any type were reported by 1,365 employees overall (2.1%) and anaphylaxis was reported by 16 employees (2.5 cases per 10,000 vaccinations).. Among those reporting anaphylaxis,…
Performance of National COVID-19 ‘Symptom Checkers’: A Comparative Case Simulation Study
Using simulated patients designed to have signs and symptoms consistent with typical COVID-19 presentations as well as patients with conditions that can mimic COVID-19 (e.g. sepsis and bacterial pneumonia), the CDC Coronavirus Symptom Checker only successfully triaged 38% of cases to seek further health assessment. In contrast, the corresponding symptom checkers used in the UK,…
A Rapid Method to Evaluate Pre-Travel Testing Programs for COVID-19 A Study in Hawaii
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A rapid field study conducted in the Kahului main airport in Maui, Hawaii identified 2 SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive participants out of 279 consecutively sampled participants boarding for departure, despite all participants having a negative PCR test 72 hours prior. This positivity rate corresponded to 7 cases per 1,000 travelers, which corresponds to…
March 8, 2021
Estimating SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence and Epidemiological Parameters with Uncertainty from Serological Surveys
A modeling study compared SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence from different sampling schemes by integrating uncertainty from test characteristics, sample size, and heterogeneity in seroprevalence across subpopulations into the modeling framework. Sampling schemes informed by demographics and contact networks outperformed uniform sampling techniques. In addition, convenience samples, such as samples from blood donors, could be used to estimate…
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