Subjects: Biology >> Virology Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Preventive Medicine and Hygienics submitted time 2021-07-17
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Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Biology >> Virology submitted time 2020-04-19
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Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Clinical Medicine submitted time 2020-02-28
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Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Clinical Medicine submitted time 2020-02-26
Abstract: Background: The efficient transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-2 Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from patients to healthcare workers or family members has been a worrisome and prominent feature of the ongoing outbreak. On the basis of clinical practice and in-vitro studies, we postulated that post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) using Arbidol is associated with decreased infection among individuals exposed to confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study on family members and health care workers who were exposed to patients confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 infection by real-time RT-PCR and Chest CT from January 1 to January 16, 2020. We collected demographic information, work location of exposure, post-exposure prophylaxis information, and symptoms, if any, 24 days after exposure. The relation between post-exposure prophylaxis and infection in household contacts and healthcare workers were respectively analyzed. Results: 27 families and 124 health care workers had evidence of close exposure to patients with confirmed COVID-19. There were no differences in age, profession and sex distribution in the two groups with different post-exposure prophylaxis, table 1. Logistic regression based on the data of the family members and health care workers with Arbidol or Oseltamivir prophylaxis showed that Arbidol PEP was a strong protective factor against the development of COVID-19 (Odds ratio 0·011 , 95% CI 0·001-0·125, P=0·0003 for family members and Odds ratio 0·049, 95%CI 0·003-0·717), P= 0·0276 for health care workers). On the contrary, Oseltamivir was associated with an increase in COVID-19 infection (Odds ratio 20·446, 95% CI 1·407-297·143, P= 0·0271). Conclusions: Our findings suggest Arbidol could reduce the infection risk of the novel coronavirus in hospital and family settings. This treatment should be promoted for PEP use and should be the subject of further investigation. " " " "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Pharmacology submitted time 2020-02-23
Abstract: A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infectious disease has broken out in Wuhan, Hubei Province since December 2019, and spread rapidly from Wuhan to other areas, which has been listed as an international concerning public health emergency. We compared the Spike proteins from four sources, SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and Bat-CoVRaTG13, and found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus sequence had redundant PRRA sequences. Through a series of analyses, we propose the reason why SARS-CoV-2is more infectious than other coronaviruses. And through structure based virtual ligand screening, we foundpotentialfurin inhibitors, which might be used in the treatment of new coronary pneumonia. " "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Clinical Medicine submitted time 2020-03-05
Abstract: Background: In December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified in Wuhan, China, which spread rapidly and has become a world-wide public health challenge. We aimed to assess the efficacy of tocilizumab in severe patients with Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) and seek a new therapeutic strategy. Methods: The patients diagnosed as severe or critical COVID-19 in The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (Anhui Provincial Hospital) and Anhui Fuyang Second People’s Hospital were given tocilizumab in addition to routine therapy between February 5 and February 14, 2020. The changes of clinical manifestations, CT scan image, and laboratory examinations were retrospectively analyzed. Findings: Within a few days, the fever returned to normal and all other symptoms improved remarkably. Fifteen of the 20 patients (75.0%) had lowered their oxygen intake and one patient need no oxygen therapy. CT scans manifested that the lung lesion opacity absorbed in 19 patients (90.5%). The percentage of lymphocytes in peripheral blood, which decreased in 85.0% patients (17/20) before treatment (mean, 15.52 ± 8.89%), returned to normal in 52.6% patients (10/19) on the fifth day after treatment. Abnormally elevated C-reactive protein decreased significantly in 84.2% patients (16/19). No obvious adverse reactions were observed. Nineteen patients (90.5%) have been discharged on average 13.5 days after the treatment with tocilizumab and the rest are recovering well. Interpretation: Tocilizumab is an effective treatment in severe patients of COVID-19, which provided a new therapeutic strategy for this fatal infectious disease" "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Preclinical Medicine submitted time 2020-02-27
Abstract:Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a recently identified lineage B coronavirus, causing rapid worldwide outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Despite genetically closed to SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 seems to possess enhanced infectivity and subtle different clinical features, which may hamper the early screening of suspected patients as well as the control of virus transmission. Unfortunately, there are few tools to predict the potential target organ damage and possible clinical manifestations caused by such novel coronavirus. To solve this problem, we investigate the potential host cell entry mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 through bioinformatics. Using the online single-cell sequence datasets, we analyze the expression of major receptor in host cells that mediates the virus entry, including angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and its co-expressed membrane endopeptidases. The results indicated the differential expression of ADAM10 and ADAM17 might contribute to the ACE2 shedding and affect the membrane ACE2 abundance. We further confirm a putative furin-cleavage site reported recently in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which may facilitate the virus-cell fusion. Based on these findings, we develop a novel approach that comprehensively analyzed the virus receptor expression, ACE2 shedding, membrane fusion activity, virus uptake and virus replication to evaluate the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 to different human organs. Our results indicate that, in addition to airway epithelia, cardiac tissue and enteric canals are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 as well.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Biology >> Virology Subjects: Biology >> Biological Evolution Subjects: Biology >> Genetics submitted time 2020-02-21
Abstract: Background. The outbreak of COVID-19 started in mid-December 2019 in Wuhan, Central China. Up to February 18, 2020, SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 70,000 people in China, and another 25 countries across five continents. In this study, we used 93 complete genomes of SARS-CoV-2 from the GISAID EpiFluTM database to decode the evolution and human-to-human transmissions of SARS-CoV-2 in the recent two months. Methods. Alignment of coding-regions was conducted haplotype analyses using DnaSP. Substitution sites were analyzed in codon. Evolutionary analysis of haplotypes used NETWORK. Population size changes were estimated using both DnaSP and Arlequin. Expansion date of population size was calculated based on the expansion parameter tau (τ) using the formula t=τ/2u. Findings. Eight coding-regions have 120 substitution sites, including 79 non-synonymous and 40 synonymous substitutions. Forty-two non-synonymous substitutions changed the biochemical property of amino acids. No evident combination was found. Fifty-eight haplotypes were classified as five groups, and 31 haplotypes were found in samples from both China and other countries, respectively. The rooted network suggested H13 and H35 to be ancestral haplotypes, and H1 (and its descendent haplotypes including all samples from the Hua Nan market) was derived H3 haplotype. Population size of SARS-CoV-2 were estimated to have a recent expansion on 6 January 2020, and an early expansion on 8 December 2019. Interpretation. Genomic variations of SARS-CoV-2 are still low in comparisons with published genomes of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Phyloepidemiologic analyses indicated the SARS-CoV-2 source at the Hua Nan market should be imported from other places. The crowded market boosted SARS-CoV-2 rapid circulations in the market and spread it to the whole city in early December 2019. Furthermore, phyloepidemiologic approaches have recovered specific direction of human-to-human transmissions, and the import sources of international infectious cases.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Preventive Medicine and Hygienics submitted time 2023-03-29
Abstract: Emerging in December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) eventually became a pandemic and posed a tremendous threat to global public health. However, the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, remain to be determined. It has been reported that a certain number of the early case clusters had a contact history with the Huanan Seafood Market. Therefore, surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 within the market is of vital importance. Herein, we presented the SARS-CoV-2 detection results of 1380 samples collected from the environment since 1st Jan and animals since 18th Jan within the market in early 2020. By SARS-CoV-2-specific RT-qPCR, 73 environmental samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and three live viruses were successfully isolated. The viruses from the market shared nucleotide identity of 99.99% to 100% with the human isolate HCoV-19/Wuhan/IVDC-HB-01/2019. The A lineage (8782T and 28144C), as the likely ancestral SARS-CoV-2 lineage, was found in an environmental sample. No virus was detected in the animal swabs covering 18 species of animals in the market. The RNA-seq analysis of SARS-CoV-2 positive/negative environmental samples showed the abundance of different vertebrata genera. In summary, this study provided convincing evidence of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Huanan Seafood Market during the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Preclinical Medicine Subjects: Medicine, Pharmacy >> Other Disciplines of Medicine and Pharmacology submitted time 2020-02-25
Abstract: The 2019 novel coronavirus has killed 2596 globally since the outbreak began in December 2019 and more than 11,000 patients are still in severe conditions. The virus and medical conditions caused by the virus were named as SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Although antiviral, symptomatic, and functionally supportive treatments have been applied, more than 100 patients die each day from infection with the virus. The most common deadly complication of COVID-19 is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). SARS-CoV-2 infection may become pandemic. ARDS is caused by various similar viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and influenza viruses. Thus, strategies for decreasing the mortality of virus-initiated ARDS are needed at the urgent, long-term, and broad levels. ARDS was previously referred to as wet lungs with vascular leaking, which described the clinical manifestations and chest computed tomography images of COVID-19-ARDS. Determining from where and how water is leaking into the lungs will lead to the development of mechanism-based management strategies for reducing mortality. These approaches can be used to prevent and stop water leakage from the pulmonary capillary into the lung interstitial space. For mild and moderate cases, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as those used for rheumatoid arthritis, may be useful for preventing and deceasing this water leakage. Administration of immunosuppressants, such as sirolimus and tacrolimus, may stagger the peak times of injuries caused by viral infection, immune response, and non-immune inflammation to decrease the extent of water leakage and prevent life-threatening conditions. Using anti-flame (Qing-Huo) Chinese herbs may also be useful. For severe case, blood dialysis can be an effective strategy for eliminating most inflammatory mediators and cytotoxic substances.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review