Result for
Topic: Testing and Treatment
May 21, 2020
Delayed Laboratory Response to COVID-19 Caused by Molecular Diagnostic Contamination
In February 2020, 10 laboratories in Europe reported that commercial primer and probe batches used for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests were contaminated with synthetic control material. This caused a 7-14 day delay of regional testing roll-out in various countries. Mogling et al. (May 20, 2020). Delayed Laboratory Response to COVID-19 Caused by Molecular Diagnostic Contamination. Emerging Infectious…
Similar Incidence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases with and without Hydroxychloroquine Therapy
[pre-print, not peer reviewed] Macias et al. conducted a retrospective analysis of 722 patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases who were being treated with (n=423) and without hydroxychloroquine (n=290) in Seville, Spain. Incidence and severity of COVID-19 did not differ between the treatment groups. Over seven weeks, 5 (1.7%) cases of COVID-19 were reported among patients using hydroxychloroquine and 5 (1.2%) among those without hydroxychloroquine. Macias et al. (May 20, 2020). Similar Incidence…
May 20, 2020
Longitudinal Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG Seropositivity to Detect COVID-19
Suhandynata et al. evaluated the clinical performance of the Diazyme SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG serology assay using a cohort of 54 PCR positive patients and an additional 235 negative samples. The assay had a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 98.7% at 15 or more days after SARS-CoV-2 confirmation. The study also evaluated time to seroconversion in 14 patients who were seronegative on admission. The…
Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Rapid Diagnosis of Patients with COVID-19
Mei et al. developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that integrates chest CT findings with clinical history to provide rapid diagnosis of COVID-19. The algorithm achieved high discriminative performance (AUC=0.92) with equal sensitivity compared to a senior thoracic radiologist (84.3% vs 74.6%) on a test set of 279 patients. The algorithm also correctly identified 17 of 25 patients who presented with normal CT…
Detection of Nucleocapsid Antibody to SARS-CoV-2 Is More Sensitive than Antibody to Spike Protein in COVID-19 Patients
Luciferase immunopreciptation assay systems (LIPS) were found to be more sensitive to SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies to the nucleocapsid than antibodies to the spike protein at 15 or more days after symptom onset. Sampling daily from patients showed that immunocompromised patients generally had a delayed antibody response. Though this study only included symptomatic patients, among whom antibody levels are likely…
May 19, 2020
“Off-Label” Use of Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, Lopinavir-Ritonavir and Chloroquine in COVID-19: A Survey of Cardiac Adverse Drug Reactions by the French Network of Pharmacovigilance Centers
Gerard et al. investigated the cardiac safety of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, lopinavir-ritonavir and chloroquine for “off-label” use among COVID-19 patients. Over a one month period, 120 cardiac adverse drug reactions among COVID-19 patients were reported to the Nice Regional Center of Pharmacovigilance in France. 86% of these adverse events were associated with hydroxychloroquine, alone or in…
Clinical Characteristics and Early Outcomes in Patients with COVID-19 Treated with Tocilizumab at a United States Academic Center
The authors describe clinical outcomes for the first tocilizumab-treated cohort of 11 critically-ill patients with COVID-19 in the United States. Patients experienced mixed outcomes, highlighting the need for randomized trial data. Although C-reactive protein levels decreased in all patients following treatment (median211.6 mg/L pre-treatment vs. 19.7 mg/L at 5 days post-treatment), patients had higher IL-6…
Variation in False-Negative Rate of Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based SARS-CoV-2 Tests by Time Since Exposure
Kucirka et al. found that the probability of a false negative SARS-CoV-2 test result using RT-PCR varied significantly over the disease course. Among 1,330 patients, the false negative rate was lowest between symptom onset (38% false negative rate) and 3 days following symptom onset (20% false negative rate). Prior to symptom onset, patients had a…
Substantial Underestimation of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the United States Due to Incomplete Testing and Imperfect Test Accuracy
Current confirmed COVID-19 case counts in the US underestimate the total burden of the SARS-CoV-2 due to incomplete testing, driven by limited test availability, which is restricted primarily to individuals with moderate to severe symptoms. Imperfect diagnostic accuracy of the tests also contributes to an undercount of cases. Wu et al. estimated that there were…
Cross-Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by a Human Monoclonal SARS-CoV Antibody
Pinto et al. describe an antibody(S309) that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2. This antibody was identified from memory B cells of a person infected with SARS-CoV in 2003. The S309 antibody functions by engaging the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein receptor-binding domain, the region that facilitates the SARS-CoV-2 virus’ entry into host cells. These findings can be used to facilitate…
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