scholarly journals Saliva as a Biological Sample for COVID-19 Diagnosis?

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-110
Author(s):  
D. Kafle ◽  
D. Sapkota

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a severe global health problem affecting almost every country in the world. Compared to other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is considered to be more infectious thereby leading to a rapid spread of this disease across the world. The effective control of this disease relies on timely diagnosis, proper isolation, contact tracing of the infected people and segregation of vulnerable group from potential contamination. Currently, the gold standard diagnostic test for COVID-19 is real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using nasopharyngeal swab (NPS). However, NPS collection has several shortcomings. Besides requiring an active involvement of healthcare personnel and personal protective equipment (PPE), NPS collection is uncomfortable for the patient as it can induce coughing, gagging, vomiting and even bleeding. Evidence from current studies indicates that saliva has a potential to be useful as an alternative biological sample for COVID-19 diagnosis. Indeed, saliva as a biological sample offers several advantages over NPS. Saliva collection is better accepted by patients, it can be self-collected and does not require PPE and active involvement of healthcare personnel. Moreover, preliminary results indicate that the sensitivity and specificity of saliva for COVID-19 diagnosis is similar to that of NPS. This summarizes recent observations in the field and discusses the potential use of saliva for COVID-19 diagnosis.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Bellavista ◽  
Marco Torello ◽  
Antonio Corradi ◽  
Luca Foschini

The recent COVID-19 pandemic in Italy has highlighted several critical issues in the management process of infected people. At the health level, the management of the COVID-19 positive was mainly delegated to the regional authorities and centrally monitored by the State. Despite requested common activities (such as diagnosis of virus positivity, active surveillance of infected people and contact tracing), Regional Health Departments were able to issue specific directives in their territories and establish priority levels for each activity according to the specific needs related to the emergency in their area. The development of novel digital tools for the management of infected people become an urgent necessity to foster more organized and integrated solutions, able to quickly process large amounts of data. Mobile Crowdsensing methodologies could effectively facilitate needed lateral interviewing activities as well as the monitoring of crowds in environments with a high concentration of virus-positive subjects (such are hospital wards but also other locations), facilitating the tracing of possible outbreaks of contagion due to advanced geolocation techniques and big data analysis methods. This paper analyzes the functionality of SWAPS (Supporting Workflows for Healthcare Personnel management), a modular and scalable web platform which facilitate and reduces the management time of COVID positive health personnel within healthcare facilities. It also analyzes the possible integrations between SWAPS and ParticipACT, an advanced MCS platform developed by the University of Bologna that can help set up the alert notification in case of entry into a COVID risk area. This article surveys the current literature on software platforms to address COVID-19 and related tracing issues and presents the practical issues and on-the-field results obtained from the research developed by the University of Bologna by assisting the deployment of the proposed solution for a big Regional Health Department in the city of Bologna.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Ghassane Benrhmach ◽  
Khalil Namir ◽  
Jamal Bouyaghroumni

The World Health Organization declared that the total number of confirmed cases tested positive for SARS‐CoV‐2, affecting 210 countries, exceeded 3 million on 29 April 2020, with more than 207,973 deaths. In order to end the global COVID‐19 pandemic, public authorities have put in place multiple strategies like testing, contact tracing, and social distancing. Predictive mathematical models for epidemics are fundamental to understand the development of the epidemic and to plan effective control strategies. Some hosts may carry SARS‐CoV‐2 and transmit it to others, yet display no symptoms themselves. We propose applying a model (SELIAHRD) taking in consideration the number of asymptomatic infected people. The SELIAHRD model consists of eight stages: Susceptible, Exposed, Latent, Symptomatic Infected, Asymptomatic Infected, Hospitalized, Recovered, and Dead. The asymptomatic carriers contribute to the spread of disease, but go largely undetected and can therefore undermine efforts to control transmission. The simulation of possible scenarios of the implementation of social distancing shows that if we rigorously follow the social distancing rule then the healthcare system will not be overloaded.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 638
Author(s):  
Miguel Rebollo ◽  
Rosa María Benito ◽  
Juan Carlos Losada ◽  
Javier Galeano

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for accurate information to contain its diffusion. Technological solutions are a complement that can help citizens to be informed about the risk in their environment. Although measures such as contact traceability have been successful in some countries, their use raises society’s resistance. This paper proposes a variation of the consensus processes in directed networks to create a risk map of a determined area. The process shares information with trusted contacts: people we would notify in the case of being infected. When the process converges, each participant would have obtained the risk map for the selected zone. The results are compared with the pilot project’s impact testing of the Spanish contact tracing app (RadarCOVID). The paper also depicts the results combining both strategies: contact tracing to detect potential infections and risk maps to avoid movements into conflictive areas. Although some works affirm that contact tracing apps need 60% of users to control the propagation, our results indicate that a 40% could be enough. On the other hand, the elaboration of risk maps could work with only 20% of active installations, but the effect is to delay the propagation instead of reducing the contagion. With both active strategies, this methodology is able to significantly reduce infected people withfewer participants.


2020 ◽  
pp. 27-30
Author(s):  
Nikodemus Angula ◽  
◽  
Faye Tjaheja Kandjeo ◽  

Covid-19 is the destructive world's most recent pandemic that is experienced in every part of the world. This deadly virus affects different people in different ways. Most infected people will develop mild to moderate illness and recover without hospitalisation. Covid-19 most common symptoms include fever, dry and tiredness. It is against this background that in Namibian health environment the country uses a manual system to record public member's demographic information when visiting public places which do not allow tracing and monitoring of every public member who visited the 14 regions in the country. Therefore, the present study developed a National COVID-19 health contact tracing and monitoring system which will allow every public member who visits an enclosed public place by capturing their demographic information as well as the date and time the facility was visited. The system replaces the paper-based method of recording the information of people visiting public places with an entrance that allows the coming in and out of people. The system will also allow for real-time monitoring of temperature changes of individuals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 162 (4) ◽  
pp. 123-134
Author(s):  
Blanka Emődy-Kiss ◽  
Ágnes Pataki ◽  
Gábor Deli ◽  
Sándor Papp ◽  
Mária Mátyus ◽  
...  

Összefoglaló. Bevezetés: A COVID–19-járvány az egész világon elterjedt. A járvány Európában való első megjelenése során megfigyelhető volt, hogy a terjedés mértéke kisebb azokban az országokban, ahol a tuberkulózis elleni védekezésül kiterjedt BCG-vakcinációt végeznek. Célkitűzés: A jelen munkában olyan összefüggéseket igyekeztünk feltárni, amelyek befolyásolták a járványterjedés paramétereit, különös figyelemmel a BCG-vakcinációs gyakorlatra. Módszerek: A világ összes olyan országára vonatkozóan, ahol megfelelő minőségű statisztikai adatok álltak rendelkezésünkre, vizsgáltuk a járvány terjedésének első hullámát. A mozgóátlagolt járványgörbéken elemeztük a járvány időtartamát, a tetőzés mértékét, a fertőzöttek és a halálesetek egymillió lakosra vetített számát. Figyelembe vettük az országok gazdasági mutatóit (GDP, légi forgalom, a tengeri hajózás mértéke). Statisztikai analízis: A vizsgált paraméterek nem mutattak normális eloszlást, így nemparaméteres próbákkal (rangkorreláció, Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA) statisztikai kapcsolatot kerestünk a járványterjedés mértéke, a BCG-vakcináció és más paraméterek között. Eredmények: A járvány gyorsan elterjedt a világon, de mégis, február első három hetében a terjedésben egy szünet volt megfigyelhető. A járványhullám Európában nagyjából egyszerre ért véget. A járvány által leginkább azok az országok érintettek, ahol nem alkalmaztak rendszeres BCG-vakcinációt, bár a képet bonyolítja, hogy ezek az országok gazdaságilag többnyire fejlettek. A halálozási rátában nem mutatkozott ilyen különbség. Következtetés: Statisztikailag igazolható tény, hogy a vakcinációt végző országokból az első hullám alatt kevesebb fertőzöttet jelentettek; az ok-okozati összefüggés bizonytalan, hiszen az országok múltja, szokásai, társadalmi berendezkedése, gazdasági fejlettsége nem azonos. Eredményeink alátámasztják az összehasonlító kontaktkutatás fontosságát annak tisztázására, hogy a BCG-oltás hogyan befolyásolja az emberek vírussal szembeni érzékenységét, valamint a vírus terjesztésének, továbbadásának képességét. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(4): 123–134. Summary. Introduction: The new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic is widespread throughout the world. During the outbreak of the pandemic in Europe it was revealed that the rate of spread was lower in countries where extensive BCG vaccination is used to protect against tuberculosis. Objective: In the present work, we sought to explore relationships that influenced epidemic spreading parameters, with particular reference to BCG vaccination practice. Methods: We examined the first wave of the spread of the epidemic for all countries in the world where adequate quality statistics were available. We analyzed the duration of the epidemic, the extent of the peak, the number of infected people, and the number of deaths per million inhabitants with the moving average of epidemic curves. We took into account the economic indicators of the countries (GDP, air traffic and extent of maritime shipping). Statistical analysis: The examined parameters did not show a normal distribution, so we looked for a statistical relationship with non-parametric tests (rank correlation, Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA) between the extents of epidemic spread, BCG vaccination and other parameters. Results: The epidemic spread rapidly around the world, but still, in the first three weeks of February, there was a pause in the spread. The first wave of epidemics ended roughly at the same time in Europe. Those countries are the most affected by the epidemic where regular BCG vaccination has not been used, although the picture is complicated by the fact that these countries are mostly economically developed. There was no such difference observable in the mortality rate. Conclusion: Although this work clearly demonstrates that during the first wave of the pandemic, fewer infections were reported worldwide in countries where BCG vaccination is obligatory, however, the causal relationship is uncertain, as the countries’ past, customs, social organization and economic development are different. Our results support the necessity of comparative contact tracing to clarify how BCG vaccination affects people’s susceptibility to this new type of coronavirus as well as their ability to spread and transmit the virus. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(4): 123–134.


Author(s):  
Anara Kamalova

This article deals with the state of marketing and its role in strengthening macroeconomic indicators of the Kyrgyz Republic, but it does not apply in the country properly. The need for the use of state marketing is intensifying with the entering of Kyrgyzstan to EEU as a member. To improve the structure of foreign trade, it is proposed marketing initiatives and research on the study of the external market, the internal potential of the country, specialization of production, the creation of "umbrella brand" for the country, the best way of satisfying consumers of public services, effective control of the quality and safety of products, regulation of the relevant parameters, that meet international standards, the fight against counterfeit, creating a positive image of Kyrgyzstan in the world and others.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukman Olagoke ◽  
Ahmet E. Topcu

BACKGROUND COVID-19 represents a serious threat to both national health and economic systems. To curb this pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a series of COVID-19 public safety guidelines. Different countries around the world initiated different measures in line with the WHO guidelines to mitigate and investigate the spread of COVID-19 in their territories. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these control measures using a data-centric approach. METHODS We begin with a simple text analysis of coronavirus-related articles and show that reports on similar outbreaks in the past strongly proposed similar control measures. This reaffirms the fact that these control measures are in order. Subsequently, we propose a simple performance statistic that quantifies general performance and performance under the different measures that were initiated. A density based clustering of based on performance statistic was carried out to group countries based on performance. RESULTS The performance statistic helps evaluate quantitatively the impact of COVID-19 control measures. Countries tend show variability in performance under different control measures. The performance statistic has negative correlation with cases of death which is a useful characteristics for COVID-19 control measure performance analysis. A web-based time-line visualization that enables comparison of performances and cases across continents and subregions is presented. CONCLUSIONS The performance metric is relevant for the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 control measures. This can help caregivers and policymakers identify effective control measures and reduce cases of death due to COVID-19. The interactive web visualizer provides easily digested and quick feedback to augment decision-making processes in the COVID-19 response measures evaluation. CLINICALTRIAL Not Applicable


Respiration ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Catherine L. Oberg ◽  
Reza Ronaghi ◽  
Erik E. Folch ◽  
Colleen L. Channick ◽  
Tao He ◽  
...  

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically affected hospital and operating room (OR) workflow around the world as well as trainee education. Many institutions have instituted mandatory preoperative SARS-CoV-2 PCR nasopharyngeal swab (NS) testing in patients who are low risk for COVID-19 prior to elective cases. This method, however, is challenging as the sensitivity, specificity, and overall reliability of testing remains unclear. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> The objective of this study was to assess the concordance of a negative NS in low risk preoperative patients with lower airway bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens obtained from the same patients. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We prospectively sent intraoperative lower airway BAL samples collected within 48 h of a negative mandatory preoperative NS for SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing. All adult patients undergoing a scheduled bronchoscopic procedure for any reason were enrolled, including elective and nonelective cases. <b><i>Results:</i></b> One-hundred eighty-nine patients were included. All BAL specimens were negative for SARS-CoV-2 indicative of 100% concordance between testing modalities. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> These results are promising and suggest that preoperative nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 testing provides adequate screening to rule out active COVID-19 infection prior to OR cases in a population characterized as low risk by negative symptom screening. This information can be used for both pre-procedural screening and when reintroducing trainees into the workforce.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzipi Braun ◽  
Shiraz Halevi ◽  
Rotem Hadar ◽  
Gilate Efroni ◽  
Efrat Glick Saar ◽  
...  

AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread around the world, impacting the lives of many individuals. Growing evidence suggests that the nasopharyngeal and respiratory tract microbiome are influenced by various health and disease conditions, including the presence and the severity of different viral disease. To evaluate the potential interactions between Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the nasopharyngeal microbiome. Microbial composition of nasopharyngeal swab samples submitted to the clinical microbiology lab for suspected SARS-CoV-2 infections was assessed using 16S amplicon sequencing. The study included a total of 55 nasopharyngeal samples from 33 subjects, with longitudinal sampling available for 12 out of the 33 subjects. 21 of the 33 subjects had at least one positive COVID-19 PCR results as determined by the clinical microbiology lab. Inter-personal variation was the strongest factor explaining > 75% of the microbial variation, irrespective of the SARS-CoV-2 status. No significant effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the nasopharyngeal microbial community was observed using multiple analysis methods. These results indicate that unlike some other viruses, for which an effect on the microbial composition was noted, SARS-CoV-2 does not have a strong effect on the nasopharynx microbial habitants.


Author(s):  
Ting Wan Tan ◽  
Han Ling Tan ◽  
Man Na Chang ◽  
Wen Shu Lin ◽  
Chih Ming Chang

(1) Background: The implementation of effective control measures in a timely fashion is crucial to control the epidemic outbreak of COVID-19. In this study, we aimed to analyze the control measures implemented during the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as evaluating the responses and outcomes at different phases for epidemic control in Taiwan. (2) Methods: This case study reviewed responses to COVID-19 and the effectiveness of a range of control measures implemented for epidemic control in Taiwan and assessed all laboratory-confirmed cases between 11 January until 20 December 2020, inclusive of these dates. The confirmation of COVID-19 infection was defined as the positive result of a reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction test taken from a nasopharyngeal swab. Test results were reported by the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control. The incidence rate, mortality rate, and testing rate were compiled, and the risk ratio was provided to gain insights into the effectiveness of prevention measures. (3) Results and Discussion: This study presents retrospective data on the COVID-19 incidence rate in Taiwan, combined with the vital preventive control measures, in a timeline of the early stage of the epidemic that occurred in Taiwan. The implementation of multiple strategy control measures and the assistance of technologies to control the COVID-19 epidemic in Taiwan led to a relatively slower trend in the outbreak compared to the neighboring countries. In Taiwan, 766 confirmed patients were included, comprised of 88.1% imported cases and 7.2% local transmission cases, within the studied period. The incidence rate of COVID-19 in Taiwan during the studied period was 32 per million people, with a mortality rate of 0.3 per million people. Our analysis showed a significantly raised incidence risk ratio in the countries of interest in comparison to Taiwan during the study period; in the range of 1.9 to 947.5. The outbreak was brought under control through epidemic policies and hospital strategies implemented by the Taiwan Government. (4) Conclusion: Taiwan’s preventive strategies resulted in a drastically lower risk for Taiwan nationals of contracting COVID-19 when new pharmaceutical drug or vaccines were not yet available. The preventive strategies employed by Taiwan could serve as a guide and reference for future epidemic control strategies.


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