scholarly journals A clinical, laboratory, radiological, and microbiologicalstudy of pneumonia associated with covid-19 indicating person-to-person transmission

Background: Novel coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, province of China has now been declared as one of the deadliest pandemics inflicting humankind in last hundred years. Method: In the present study, we have inferred the clinical, laboratory, radiological, and microbiological findings of five patients in a family cluster who presented with unexplained pneumonia after coming back from overseas and touchdown right here in India on 1st March 2020 earlier than lockdown and another member of the family who didn’tvisit thiscountry. Results: From March 10, 2020, we enrolled a family of six patients who travelled to SingaporeonJanuary 10th 2020and returned on March 1st 2020. Of six family members who travelled to Singapore, five were recognised as affected with the radical coronavirus (COVID 19). Additionally, one family member, who did not travel to overseas also became infected with the virus post14 days of staying with four of the family members. Five family members (aged 30–55 years) presented with symptoms like fever, upper or lower respiratory tract symptoms, or diarrhoea, or a combination of these 3–6 days after exposure. Phylogenetic evaluation of these five subjects’ RT-PCR amplicons and two full genomes by nextgeneration sequencing presented that this is a novel coronavirus, which is closest to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-related coronaviruses. Conclusion: Our findings are steady with person-to-person transmission of this novel coronavirus in hospital (nosocomial) and family settings, and the reports of infected travellers in other geographical regions.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa De Pace ◽  
Patrizia Caligiuri ◽  
Valentina Ricucci ◽  
Nicola Nigro ◽  
Barbara Galano ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The ongoing pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 requires the availability of accurate and rapid diagnostic tests, especially in some clinical settings like emergency and intensive care units. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performances of rapid PCR kit Vivalytic SARS-CoV-2 in lower respiratory tract (LRT) specimens.Methods: A consecutive sample of LRT specimens (bronchoalveolar lavage and bronchoaspirates) was collected from Intensive Care Units of San Martino Hospital (Genoa, Italy) between November 2020 and January 2021. All samples were tested in RT-PCR by using Allplex™ SARS-CoV-2 assay (Seegene Inc., South Korea). Based on RT-PCR results, specimens were categorized into negative, positive with high viral load [cycle threshold (Ct) ≤30] and positive with low viral load (Ct of 31–35). A quota 1:1:1 sampling was used to achieve a sample size of 75. Then, all specimens were tested in the rapid PCR assay Vivalytic SARS-CoV-2 (Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH, Germany). The diagnostic performance of the rapid PCR against RT-PCR was assessed through calculation of accuracy, Cohen’s κ, sensitivity, specificity and expected positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values.Results: The overall diagnostic accuracy of the Vivalytic SARS-CoV-2 was 97.3% (95% CI: 90.9–99.3%) with an excellent Cohen’s κ of 0.94 (95% CI: 0.72–1). The sensitivity and specificity were 96% (95% CI: 86.5–98.9%) and 100% (95% CI: 86.7–100%), respectively. Samples with high viral loads had a sensitivity of 100% (Table 1). The distributions of E gene Ct values were similar (Wilcoxon’s test: P=0.070) with medians of 35 (IQR: 25–36) and 35 (IQR: 25–35), respectively (Figure 1). NPV and PPV was 92.6% and 100%, respectively.Conclusions: This study shows Vivalytic SARS-CoV-2 can be used following the sample liquefaction on LRT specimens. It’s a feasible and highly accurate molecular procedure especially in high viral load samples. This assay allows having a result in about 40 min and therefore may accelerate the clinical decision making in urgent/emergency situations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-157
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mostafa Ansari Ramandi ◽  
Mohammadreza Baay ◽  
Nasim Naderi

The disaster due to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) around the world has made investigators enthusiastic about working on different aspects of COVID-19. However, although the pandemic of COVID-19 has not yet ended, it seems that COVID-19 compared to the other coronavirus infections (the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome [MERS] and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS]) is more likely to target the heart. Comparing the previous presentations of the coronavirus family and the recent cardiovascular manifestations of COVID-19 can also help in predicting possible future challenges and taking measures to tackle these issues.


2008 ◽  
Vol 89 (9) ◽  
pp. 2136-2146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond H. See ◽  
Martin Petric ◽  
David J. Lawrence ◽  
Catherine P. Y. Mok ◽  
Thomas Rowe ◽  
...  

Although the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak was controlled, repeated transmission of SARS coronavirus (CoV) over several years makes the development of a SARS vaccine desirable. We performed a comparative evaluation of two SARS vaccines for their ability to protect against live SARS-CoV intranasal challenge in ferrets. Both the whole killed SARS-CoV vaccine (with and without alum) and adenovirus-based vectors encoding the nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) protein induced neutralizing antibody responses and reduced viral replication and shedding in the upper respiratory tract and progression of virus to the lower respiratory tract. The vaccines also diminished haemorrhage in the thymus and reduced the severity and extent of pneumonia and damage to lung epithelium. However, despite high neutralizing antibody titres, protection was incomplete for all vaccine preparations and administration routes. Our data suggest that a combination of vaccine strategies may be required for effective protection from this pathogen. The ferret may be a good model for SARS-CoV infection because it is the only model that replicates the fever seen in human patients, as well as replicating other SARS disease features including infection by the respiratory route, clinical signs, viral replication in upper and lower respiratory tract and lung damage.


Author(s):  
Neha Saini ◽  
Prem Pandey ◽  
Mandar Shirolkar ◽  
Atul Kulkarni

Humanity is going through never seen before health crisis due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are 24.02 million cases and 0.82 million deaths worldwide as of 26th August 2020 due to deadly infection of COVID-19. The disease has been spreading exponentially (R-naught number: 3) and has challenged even the best healthcare infrastructure in the world. With the progression of the disease, the countries shifted the focus from cure to diagnosis and containment to flatten the curve. The review shows that the disease is spreading exponentially while the resources are still limited. We focus upon the probable vectors of the virus, different diagnostic methods with advantages & limitations, and the way forward. This review article covers the different diagnostic methods with more advantages, limitations, and the future sneak-peek into the forthcoming developments for the diagnostic processes such as RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase chain reaction).


2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
Sidra Afzal ◽  
Tania Naveel ◽  
Mahira Afzal

For the last few months, COVID-19 has had a significant effect on clinical laboratory. This formalized with existing issues and difficulties for the laboratory evaluation of infections owing to extreme acute coronaviral syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The selection of the relevant respiratory tract specimen from the appropriate anatomical position is key to a timely and correct molecular diagnosis of COVID-19 at the right time in the pre-analytical process. Suitable steps are needed to safeguard laboratory personnel in order to provide accurate test results. The article is aimed at reviewing the literature related to the diagnosis and treatment therapy adapted to compete for novel coronavirus. The study is followed by reviewing 40-45 articles to critically evaluate and extract the possible therapies adapted in the different regions of the world. Serology, radiotherapy, antigen-detection test, point-of-care molecular diagnostics and other radiotherapeutic approaches are found to be efficient and used in several regions of the world.


Author(s):  
Sagar A. Jawale

Introduction: In India and worldwide, there are millions of cases of acute respiratory infections annually killing hundreds of thousand people. It also has billions of dollars of losses worldwide. There are frequent outbreaks of deadly infections such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus in Mexico in March 2009, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012 and the current pandemic with Novel CoronaVirus -Covid19. I did my research to find a common effective, safe, and cheap therapynamed as Ozonated air inhalation therapy (OAIT) for respiratory infections. Materials and methods: In the last one year, I treated 21 patients (group A) with upper and lower respiratory tract infections (URTI and LRTI) with 0.1 ppm Ozonated air inhalation therapy (OAIT). OAIT was given as a monotherapy. In the same time period, 36 patients (group B) were given conventional treatment in the form of antibiotics, anti-histaminic and analgesics kept as control.


Author(s):  
Vivek Ambade

Researchers around the world have experienced the dual nature of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), ‘tragically lethal in some persons and surprisingly benign in others’. They have congregated to study novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a disease that mainly attacks the lungs, but also has mystifying effects on the heart, kidneys and brain. Researchers are also gathering information to determine what actually kills COVID-19 patients, whether respiratory disorder or coagulation disorder or multi organ failure. Various laboratory parameters like lactate, ferritin, hypoalbuminemia have been established as risk factor or associated with poor outcomes, but yet could not be substantiated with the scientific biochemical rationale.  SARS-CoV-2 affects the alveolar type II epithelial cells, that significantly disturbs its surfactant homeostasis, deprive Na,K-ATPase of  ATP, thereby  disturbing the alveolar lining fluid which then gradually decreases the alveolar gaseous exchange  initiating intracellular hypoxic conditions. This activates AMP-activated kinase, which further inhibits Na,K-ATPase, that  can  progressively cause  respiratory distress syndrome. The virus may infect endothelial cell (EC), which being low energetic, cannot withstand the huge energy requirement towards viral replication,  and therefore glycolysis,  the prime energy generating pathway,  has to mandatorily be upregulated, which can be achieved by Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1). However, HIF-1 activates transcription of von Willebrand factor, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, and suppresses the release of thrombomodulin, thereby setting off the coagulation cascade that leads to in-situ pulmonary thrombosis and micro clots. The proposed HIF-1 hypothesis can rationalize various features, clinical laboratory as well as autopsy findings such as respiratory distress syndrome, increased  blood ferritin and lactate levels, endothelial invasion, in-situ pulmonary thrombosis and micro clots,  and multiorgan failure in COVID -19 Keywords: novel coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, hypoxia-inducible factor-1


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