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Topic: Testing and Treatment
April 9, 2021
Ultra-Sensitive Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Antigen Detection for the Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Upper Respiratory Samples
A study of a newly developed ultra-sensitive assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 (S-PLEX, MesoScale Diagnostics) in upper respiratory samples (N=450) with a cycle threshold <35 (higher concentration of virus) demonstrated 95-98% positive agreement and 93-96% negative agreement with RT-PCR. This study confirmed the findings of a previous study of the assay that was performed on…
Factors Associated with Participation in Elementary School–Based SARS-CoV-2 Testing — Salt Lake County, Utah, December 2020–January 2021
An evaluation of an elementary school-based testing program for school contacts of persons with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in Salt Lake County, UT (N=856) found that students of White, Hispanic and other racial minority groups and those residing in zip codes with higher SARS-CoV-2 prevalence were more likely to consent to testing. No differences were found…
Mortality Among US Patients Hospitalized With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in 2020
A large, retrospective US cohort study of persons hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection (N=503,409) found that in-hospital mortality declined across all age groups between March 1 and November 1, 2020 from 20% to 9%. This finding was not explained by a change in the proportion of hospitalized patients by age, which was fairly stable throughout the…
April 8, 2021
CERC-002 a Human Anti-LIGHT mAb Reduces Respiratory Failure and Death in Hospitalized COVID-19 ARDS Patients
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment CERC-002 reduced mortality and the risk of respiratory failure through day 28 compared to placebo (84% vs 65%; p=0.044) among hospitalized COVID-19 patients with mild-to-moderate acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) according to a randomized placebo-controlled study (n=83). Efficacy was highest among patients ≥60 years old (77% vs…
TMPRSS2 and RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase Are Effective Targets of Therapeutic Intervention for Treatment of COVID-19 Caused by SARS-CoV-2 Variants (B.1.1.7 and B.1.351)
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infection designed to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) and RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp), proteins that play a role in cell entry, were shown to suppress in vitro viral replication of both variants of concern B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 with similar effectiveness as compared to the parent SARS-CoV-2 strain. Drug…
Differences in COVID-19 Testing and Test Positivity Among Veterans, United States, 2020
US Veterans who are female, from racial/ethnic minority groups, had a low income, or had a service-related disability were more likely to obtain a COVID-19 test according to a retrospective cohort study with over 6 million veterans across 130 Veterans Health Administration facilities. Among veterans who were tested, those who identify as African American or…
April 7, 2021
SARS-CoV-2 Is Detectable Using Sensitive RNA Saliva Testing Days before Viral Load Reaches Detection Range of Low-Sensitivity Nasal Swab Tests
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A case-control study that collected twice-daily self-collected samples from household contacts of individuals recently diagnosed with a SARS-CoV-2 infection found that SARS-CoV-2 RNA was first detectable in saliva samples and subsequently detectable in samples from nasal swabs. The study found that high-sensitivity tests that use saliva can detect SARS-CoV-2 infection 1.5 to…
Real World Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Nasopharyngeal Swab Testing in a High Burden COVID-19 Region
An observational analysis of hospitalized US patients who were retested for SARS-CoV-2 due to high clinician concern for a potential false-negative found that 7/160 (4.4%) patients with an initial negative nasopharyngeal PCR test had a subsequent positive test within 48 hours. The authors conclude that routine retesting for SARS-CoV-2 is not indicated and should only…
April 6, 2021
SLAMP A Rapid Fluorometric RT-LAMP Assay for Sensitive and Specific Detection of SARS-CoV-2 from Human Saliva
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] SLAMP, a novel RT-LAMP (reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification) assay applied to heat-inactivated saliva samples, demonstrated 91% sensitivity at 98% specificity compared to RT-PCR using nasopharyngeal swab samples among 243 individuals (65 SARS-COV-2 positive). Bikos et al. (Apr 5, 2021). SLAMP A Rapid Fluorometric RT-LAMP Assay for Sensitive and Specific Detection of SARS-CoV-2…
April 5, 2021
COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test as Screening Strategy at Points of Entry: Experience in Lazio Region, Central Italy, August–October 2020
Between mid-August to mid-October 2020, 1,176 of 73,643 rapid antigen test results (1.6%) were positive for travelers at points of entry in the Lazio Region of Italy via the STANDARD F COVID-19 Ag FIA, but only 40.5% antigen-positive samples also tested positive by RT-PCR. Antigen tests with a higher semiquantitative result were more likely to…
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