coronavirus

The ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) originally emerged in China during December 2019 and had become a global pandemic by March 2020. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Two other coronaviruses have caused world-wide outbreaks in the past two decades, namely SARS-CoV (2002–2003) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) (2012–present). The surface spike glycoprotein (S), which is critical for virus entry through engaging the host receptor and mediating virus host membrane fusion, is the major antigen of coronaviruses. Recent studies provide molecular insights into antibody recognition of SARS-CoV-2. In this review, we discuss the relationship between the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 and its receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) including the latest findings.

The global virome: The viruses have a global distribution, phylogenetic diversity and host specificity. They are obligate intracellular parasites with single- or double-stranded DNA or RNA genomes, and afflict bacteria, plants, animals and human population. The viral infection begins when surface proteins bind to receptor proteins on the host cell surface, followed by internalisation, replication and lysis. Further, trans-species interactions of viruses with bacteria, small eukaryotes and host are associated with various zoonotic viral diseases and disease progression. Virome interface and transmission: The cross-species transmission from their natural reservoir, usually mammalian or avian, hosts to infect human-being is a rare probability, but occurs leading to the zoonotic human viral infection. The factors like increased human settlements and encroachments, expanded travel and trade networks, altered wildlife and livestock practices, modernised and mass-farming practices, compromised ecosystems and habitat destruction, and global climate change have impact on the interactions between virome and its hosts and other species and act as drivers of trans-species viral spill-over and human transmission. Zoonotic viral diseases and epidemics: The zoonotic viruses have caused various deadly pandemics in human history. They can be further characterized as either newly emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases, caused by pathogens that historically have infected the same host species, but continue to appear in new locations or in drug-resistant forms, or reappear after apparent control or elimination. The prevalence of zoonoses underlines importance of the animal–human–ecosystem interface in disease transmission. The present COVID-19 infection has certain distinct features which suppress the host immune response and promote the disease potential. Treatment for epidemics like covid-19: It appears that certain nutraceuticals may provide relief in clinical symptoms to patients infected with encapsulated RNA viruses such as influenza and coronavirus. These nutraceuticals appear to reduce the inflammation in the lungs and help to boost type 1 interferon response to these viral infections. The human intestinal microbiota acting in tandem with the host’s defence and immune system, is vital for homeostasis and preservation of health. The integrity and balanced activity of the gut microbes is responsible for the protection from disease states including viral infections. Certain probiotics may help in improving the sensitivity and effectivity of immune system against viral infections. Currently, antiviral therapy is available only for a limited number of zoonotic viral infections. Because viruses are intracellular parasites, antiviral drugs are not able to deactivate or destroy the virus but can reduce the viral load by inhibiting replication and facilitating the host’s innate immune mechanisms to neutralize the virus. Conclusion: Lessons from recent viral epidemics - Considering that certain nutraceuticals have demonstrated antiviral effects in both clinical and animal studies, further studies are required to establish their therapeutic efficacy. The components of nutraceuticals such as luteolin, apigenin, quercetin and chlorogenic acid may be useful for developing a combo-therapy. The use of probiotics to enhance immunity and immune response against viral infections is a novel possibility. The available antiviral therapy is inefficient in deactivating or destroying the infecting viruses, may help in reducing the viral load by inhibiting replication. The novel efficient antiviral agents are being explored.

The Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), has become a worldwide pandemic and the scientific communities are struggling to find out the ultimate treatment strategies against this lethal virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus–2 (SARS-CoV-2). Presently, there is no potential chemically proven antiviral therapy available in the market which can effectively combat the infection caused by this deadly virus. Few vaccines are already developed but it is not clear to the scientific community how much efficient they are to combat SARS-CoV-2. Mode of transmission and symptoms of the disease are two important factors in this regard. Rapid diagnosis of the COVID-19 is very much important to stop its spreading. In this scenario, a complete study starting from symptoms of the disease to vaccine development including various SARS-CoV-2 detection techniques is very much required. In this review article, we have made a partial analysis on the origin, virology, global health, detection techniques, replication pathways, doses, mode of actions of probable drugs, and vaccine development for SARS-CoV-2.

A growing figure of data proposes that outcomes with Coronavirus Disease 2019 are worse in those suffering from obesity and that a significant proportion of those requiring intensive care suffers from overweight or obesity [1]. 

Background: The new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak severely hit Northeastern France from March to May 2020. The massive arrival of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients in the intensive care units (ICU) raised the question of how immunocompromised patients would be affected. Therefore, we analyzed the clinical, biological and radiological features of 24 immunocompromised ICU patients with severe SAR-CoV-2 infection. Results: The mortality rate was significantly higher for immunocompromised patients compared with other patients (41.7% versus 27.3%, respectively, p = 0.021). Mortality occurred in the first 2 weeks of intensive care, highlighting the possible interest in prolonged full-code managnement of these patients. Finally, patients with lymphoid malignancies appeared to be particularly affected, mostly with monoclonal gamma-pathology. Conclusion: Mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 acute respiratory syndrome in immuno-compromised patient is high. No treatment was associated with survival improvement. Prolonged full-code management is required for these patients.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified in Wuhan, China, and caused coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), which is still a global pandemic. Dermatologic manifestations have increasingly been identified as significant extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19. The dermatologic manifestations associated with COVID-19 infection reported to date include maculopapular rash, vesicular lesions, urticaria-like lesions, and chilblain-like lesions. Knowledge of dermatologic manifestations of COVID-19 may be essential for early diagnosis and a better prognosis in COVID-19 patients. This review summarizes the current understanding of common COVID-19-associated dermatologic manifestations.

Solid tumor oncology treatments are primarily performed in the outpatient setting. However, hospitalizations are inevitable due to complications of cancer and treatment-related toxicities. With rising health care spending, the length of hospital stay (LOS) is increasingly considered a proxy for healthcare costs. There are several ongoing efforts to abbreviate the inpatient LOS and ensure a safe and timely discharge to the outpatient setting. In addition to the acute illness and the associated comorbidities, various factors affect the LOS: social determinants of health (SDOH), nutritional status in cancer patients, and end-of-life issues. Furthermore, it is unclear how the institutional policies on social distancing and visitation during the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic may impact the LOS. The purpose of this article is to review various factors and barriers that lead to longer LOS for solid tumor patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, and identify the critical areas of quality improvement.

There is a constant rise in cases of rhino-orbital mucormycosis in people with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Generally, Mucormycosis develops in immunosuppression or debilitating diseases. In cases having head and neck involvement, the mold enters the respiratory tract with further involvement of nose and sinuses and there is consecutive progression into orbital and intracranial structures. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is an independent risk factor for both severe COVID-19 and mucormycosis. The clinical examination and direct smears are helpful for early diagnosis of the disease and timely intervention. For the better prevention and management of such opportunistic infections in COVID-19 patients, it is prudent to establish prophylactic treatment protocols along with rational use of corticosteroids. We here report a case of Rhino-orbital Mucormycosis infection caused by Rhizopus oryzae in a COVID-19 patient with Diabetes Mellitus.

Purpose: Real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based testing remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Due to the high diagnosis demand of SARS-CoV-2 and the limited resources for RT-PCR testing, especially in Low-Income Countries (LICs), antigen-based methods are being considered as an option. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 antigen assay for large population screening compared to RT-PCR.Methods: This evaluation was conducted on 4146 participants including travelers and participants under household survey and vaccine evaluation studies before injection of the first dose. Oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swaps were collected from each participant into 2 mL of viral transport medium (VTM) and 400 μl of VTM were used to assess the performance of LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 antigen assay, compared to RT-PCR. Results: The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 of the cohort was 4.5% with RT-PCR and 4.1% with LumiraDx antigen test. Compared to the RT-PCR, the sensitivity and specificity of the LumiraDx antigen SARS-CoV-2 test were 82,7% [95% CI 74.1-89,7] and 99.9% [95% CI 99.6-99.9] respectively. Given the RT-PCR threshold cycle (Ct) range, the sensitivity was 92.1% [95% CI 84.6-96.3] when the Ct value was below or equal 33 cycles, and 38.1% [95% CI 18.9-61.3] when it was above 33 cycles. The inter-rater reliability showed a kappa coefficient of 0.88 when considering all the patients and 0.94 for Ct values below 33 cycles. Conclusion: Our data have shown that the LumiraDx platform can be considered for large-scale testing of SARS-CoV-2.

Background: For the prevention of respiratory infection similar to the current pandemic COVID-19, face masks are considered an effective method. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a highly transmittable virus that continues to disrupt livelihoods, particularly those of low-income segments of society, around the world has poor knowledge towards facemask at the same time has huge gape towards attitude which affects the behaviors. Therefore this study was aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice towards facemask use amid the COVID-19 pandemic among public transport drivers in Debre-Tabor town, Ethiopia, 2021.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 407 public transport drivers in Debre-Tabor town from July to August 2021. The study participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique after proportionally allocating the sample size from the total number of public transport drivers, and finally, study subjects were elected continuously working in Debre- Tabor Town public transport drivers. The data were collected by trained data collectors using a structured questionnaire with face-to-face interview administered questioners and an on-the-spot observational checklist. The collected data were checked, coded, and entered into SPSS version 23, and for data cleaning and analysis.Result: A total of 407 drivers responded to the questionnaire with a response rate of 96.4% were participated in this study. The mean age was 32.75 years (range: 19-45 years). Among them majority was male 383(94.1%) and the majority of 177(43.5%) were Bajaj drives. Among the responders, 114(28%) used radio to gather information, and 41(10.1%) drivers where were caught by COVID-19, but, only 30(7.4%) were vaccinated COVID-19 vaccine. Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding facemask use among these drivers were 368(90.4% [95% CI: 87.7-93.1]). 163(40% [95% CI: 37.5% - 43.2%]), and 23 ((5.6%) [95% CI: 3.7% - 8.3%]) Regarding facemask use against COVID-19 infection respectivelyConclusion and recommendation: The current study was able to demonstrate 90.4% of drivers had good knowledge. Positive attitude and practice levels of face mask use among drivers were less than half of them or 40%, and 5.6% respectively. There is a high supply of Surgical Face masks but poor attitude and practice. Almost all of the participants don’t wear a face mask despite having good knowledge about the transmission routes of COVID-19. The government COVID-19 prevention task force or health sector should be continued their awareness creation to bring behavioral change for the implementation of the COVID-19 prevention method, especially facemask.

The effect of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has produced significant health concerns negatively impacting individuals. As the ongoing and constantly changing nature of SARS-CoV-2 continues, the unique characteristics of this pandemic trend toward anxiety and loneliness as significant behavioral health outcomes. Furthermore, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has significantly impacted the utilization of social media platforms such as Twitter. Utilizing over 1.6 million tweets from approximately 988,760 Twitter users geolocated in Washington state from the University of Pennsylvania’s publicly available Twitter database (from March 2020 to March 2021), this study evaluated the impact of SARS-CoV-2 by using expressions of loneliness and anxiety to predict mental and physical symptoms. Bivariate correlations revealed expressions of loneliness were correlated to trouble breathing while expressions of anxiety were correlated to skin lesions, body aches, flu-like, seasonal cold, trouble breathing, nausea or diarrhea, fever, chills, and cough. Multiple multivariate linear regressions were completed, and a significant regression equation was found in predicting trouble breathing symptoms on expressions of loneliness and anxiety, however, the proportion of variance was 8% of the observed variation in the model. Further implications revealed the importance of understanding mental and physical well-being during a public health crisis as well as the use of social media platforms as primary and supplementary stimuli.

Background: The novel coronavirus is a rapidly spreading respiratory disease that has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and a global public health emergency. The use of face masks has been recommended by the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a standard prevention method for transmission of COVID-19.Objective: The objective of this study is to determine face mask utilization and associated factors in combating the COVID-19 pandemic among government employees in Akaki district administration offices in Akaki District, Oromia, Ethiopia, 2022Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted from December 1, 2021, to February 15, 2022, on 385 government employees working in Akaki district administration offices. After obtaining consent from the study participants, data were collected using pretested, self-administered, and standardized questionnaires adapted from other studies. After the data was collected, it was entered into Epi info version 7.2.6, cleaned, and analyzed using SPSS version 26. A logistic regression model was computed to measure the association between the predictor and outcome variables. A p - value of.05 with a 95% CI was used as the cut-off point to declare the level of statistical significance. Results: The study showed that the magnitude of good practice for facemask utilization was 213 (53.5%) (95% CI: 1.50, 1.60) for preventing COVID-19. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, the odds of using face masks among male employees (AOR = 0.275; 95% CI: 0.137, 0.555), employees aged 20-29 (AOR = 0.17; 95% CI: 0.065, 0.481 ), employees aged 30-39 (AOR = 0.260, 95% CI: 0.109, 0.623), employees of less than five family size (AOR = 0.549, 95% CI: 0.303, 0.995), work experience at 6-12 (AOR = 0, 32, 95 CI: 0.120, 0.450), poor knowledge about face mask use (AOR = 0.504, 95% CI: 0.302, 0.844), and employees with a negative attitude (AOR = 0.430, 95% CI: 0.256, 0.721) were factors significantly associated with face mask utilization.Conclusion: The magnitude of facemask utilization was low (53.5%) compared to other studies. The results of the study showed that age, sex, household family size, work experience, poor knowledge, and the negative attitude of employees toward facemask utilization were among the factors significantly associated with facemask utilization.

Introduction: Allergen immunotherapy is the only targeted therapy that can modify the natural course of allergic diseases. In pediatric patients, SCIT with aeroallergens is an effective treatment and should be considered as a preventive strategy in the treatment of allergic diseases, even though one of the major concerns about it is its safety. The main purposes of this study were to assess the safety of SCIT ultra-rush schedules with polymerized extracts in a pediatric population and to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the safety and time of administration of subcutaneous immunotherapy among pediatric patients.Methods: A retrospective medical records review of patients under 18 years of age undergoing SCIT was made and re-scheduling due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic was recorded. Results: A total of 192 pediatric patients were included. Fifty-nine (31%) had local reactions and systemic reactions were not reported. In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Portugal and all non-urgent appointments and procedures were postponed. In our group of pediatric patients, 43 (22%) were referred to primary care, 38 (20%) stopped AIT definitively and 111 (58%) maintained administrations in the hospital. Only 2 (2%) of them had reactions upon reinitiation. Conclusion: In this study, the ultra-rush protocol using polymerized extracts was safe in pediatric patients. Although the effectiveness of AIT may be compromised due to prolonged suspension of the treatment, it is important to note that despite longer interruptions, administrations may continue without compromising safety, maintaining shorter visits and a lower number of injections.

The epidemic of COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and turned into a national crisis, with infected individuals diagnosed all over China [1-3]. In early March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the Wuhan epidemic has turned into a global pandemic. Many European countries have started to know several cases affected by this coronavirus, which is known to be highly contagious. The WHO has launched several recommendations to curb the spread of this virus and to call the general confinement establishment in the affected countries. 

The pandemic the new Coronavirus infection has brought changes in the health status of a large number of our citizens. The consequence of this has been a higher rate of employees seeking medical care and subsequent sick leave. Crisis phenomena in the economic and social life of society are associated with the consequences of the pandemic, moreover, the stress burden on the population increases with the consequences of the pandemic. All this affects the level of performance. The transferred COVID-19 has increased the number of patients with complaints of pain in joints and muscles, with the phenomena of cardiovascular pathology, as well as in breathing, increased frequency of asthma attacks, etc. That is, complications affected a wide range of diseases [1-4]. All this is the consequence, including neurological pathology, which is closely related to stress. According to surveys of several large industrial enterprises, 31.7% of those seeking medical help report anxiety, sleep problems, and a feeling of fatigue [5]. Exacerbation of chronic diseases was recorded in more than 50% of patients with COVID-19. The figures show that more than 1/3 of the population is chronically unwell, and more often than usual they apply for sick leave, which inevitably leads to a decrease in economic indicators [6-10].

Information regarding the effects of the novel coronavirus on human reproduction is currently limited. The objective of our work was to assess whether, in women who have passed the disease, there was a variation in the ovarian reserve through the determination of AMH levels. During May-June 2020, women performing an Assisted Reproductive treatment and who had a positive IgG for SARS-CoV-2 were included in the study; this group of women had a previous AMH determination of no more than 6 months. Women were stratified into two groups, according to their previous AMH levels: low responders (AMH<1 ng/ml) or normal-high responders (AMH ≥ 1 ng/ml) Statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 19.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). A total of 46 patients were included in the study; 16 women were diagnosed as having low ovarian reserve (AMH < 1 ng/ml), with an average age of 38.6 years, whereas 30 were classified as having normal ovarian reserve (AMH ≥ 1 ng/ml), with an average age of 34.7 years. Generally, the data show no variation in AMH levels before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection (1.73 ng/ml vs. 1.61 ng/ml, respectively). However, when we analyzed these differences according to the study groups, the results were consistent with the patient's ovarian status. It is possible to conclude that the fact of having passed the disease does not affect the ovarian reserve status but the degree of the variation of AMH levels depending on the patient was a low or high responder.

Originating from China in 2019, the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had badly affected most of the world causing immense morbidity and mortality. The disease in moderate to severe cases was characterized by intense inflammation leading to ARDS and hypercoagulable states leading to thrombo-embolism and mortality.Aim: This study aimed to explore the association of inflammatory biomarkers with COVID-19 disease severity in our hospital which became a dedicated COVID hospital during the pandemic.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a viral pneumonia that is found in China and has spread globally. Early diagnosis is important for effective and timely treatment. Thus, many ongoing studies attempt to solve key COVID-19 problems such as workload classification, detection, and differentiation from other pneumonia and healthy lungs using different imaging modalities. Researchers have identified some limitations in the deployment of deep learning methods to detect COVID-19, but there are still unmet challenges to be addressed. The use of binary classifiers or building classifiers based on only a few classes is some of the limitations that most of the existing research on the COVID-19 classification problem suffers from. Additionally, most prior studies have focused on model or ensemble models that depend on a flat single-feature imaging modality without using any clinical information or benefiting from the hierarchical structure of pneumonia, which leads to clinical challenges, and evaluated their systems using a small public dataset. Additionally, reliance on diagnostic processes based on CT as the main imaging modality, ignoring chest X-rays. Radiologists, computer scientists, and physicians all need to come to an understanding of these interdisciplinary issues. This article first highlights the challenges of deep learning deployment for COVID-19 detection using a literature review and document analysis. Second, it provides six key recommendations that could assist future researchers in this field in improving the diagnostic process for COVID-19. However, there is a need for a collective effort from all of them to consider the provided recommendations to effectively solve these issues.

This article investigates the viability of SARS-CoV-2 and its dependence on pH levels, specifically focusing on the difference between the pH stability intervals for the coronavirus and human blood. Human blood typically maintains a pH range of around 7.35 to 7.45, while SARS-CoV-2 exhibits stability within the pH range of 6.0 to 6.5. The study aims to elucidate the critical role of hemoglobin in maintaining pH balance and explores its implications for viral susceptibility. The findings emphasize the importance of reinforcing the alkalinity of the medium as a means to weaken the virus. The research contributes to the understanding of pH-dependent mechanisms in viral infections and provides valuable insights for the development of potential therapeutic strategies.

The relevance of this work is due to the insufficient number of modern studies on the treatment of patients with paranoid schizophrenia with non-suicidal autoaggressive actions or in short: “NSAA”, who have had a coronavirus infection. The aim of the study was to study the role of buspirone in the complex therapy of patients with paranoid schizophrenia with NSAA who had a coronavirus infection. Materials and research methods: 99 patients with paranoid schizophrenia meeting ICD-10 criteria were examined by a continuous, non-randomized clinical method. Fisher’s test was used for statistical evaluation. Results: It was established that the consequence of the coronavirus infection was an increase in the proportion of residual organic changes in the form of manifestations of the dysphoric syndrome, specific changes in the cognitive sphere, and the autonomic nervous system. The manifestations of dysphoria included an increase in the frequency of openly manifested aggression, anxiety, impulsivity, and the implementation of NSAA by the type of affective discharge. The structure of acquired cognitive impairments consisted of changes in thinking by the type of thoroughness, and rigidity of perseveration. Changes in the autonomic nervous system are presented in the form of diencephalic crises. Also, psychotic states not characteristic of the previously examined patients were noted, such as twilight stupefaction, delusional symptoms of Cappgras, Fregoli, and tactile hallucinosis. It has been established that the use of buspirone as part of complex therapy with neuroleptics, compared with monotherapy with neuroleptics, increases the effectiveness of therapy in relation to these clinical manifestations in the studied individuals. Conclusion: The use of buspirone in combination with neuroleptic drugs increases the effectiveness of therapy in relation to the leading psychopathological manifestations in patients with paranoid schizophrenia with NSAA who have undergone coronavirus infection.