Skip to main content

Posts

  • Neutralizing antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in a COVID-19 recovered patient cohort and their implications

    24 Apr, 2020
    Background The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus threatens global public health. Currently, neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) versus this virus are expected to correlate with recovery and protection of this disease. However, the characteristics of these antibodies have not been well studied in association with the clinical manifestations in patients. Methods Plasma collected from 175 COVID-19 recovered patients with mild symptoms were screened using a safe and sensitive pseudoty...
  • Reinfection could not occur in SARS-CoV-2 infected rhesus macaques

    24 Apr, 2020
    An outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2), began in Wuhan and spread globally. Recently, it has been reported that discharged patients in China and elsewhere were testing positive after recovering. However, it remains unclear whether the convalescing patients have a risk of “relapse” or “reinfection”. The longitudinal tracking of re-exposure after the disappeared symptoms of the SARS-CoV-2-infected monkeys was p...
  • Endothelial cell infection and endotheliitis in COVID-19

    24 Apr, 2020
    Cardiovascular complications are rapidly emerging as a key threat in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in addition to respiratory disease. The mechanisms underlying the disproportionate effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on patients with cardiovascular comorbidities, however, remain incompletely understood.
    SARS-CoV-2 infects the host using the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, which is expressed in several organs, including th...
  • Clinical benefit of remdesivir in rhesus macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2

    23 Apr, 2020
    Abstract BackgroundEffective therapeutics to treat COVID-19 are urgently needed. Remdesivir is a nucleotide prodrug with in vitro and in vivo efficacy against coronaviruses. Here, we tested the efficacy of remdesivir treatment in a rhesus macaque model of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
    MethodsTo evaluate the effect of remdesivir treatment on SARS-CoV-2 disease outcome, we used the recently established rhesus macaque model of SARS-CoV-2 infection that results in transient lower respiratory tract...
  • Clinical Characteristics of Pregnant Women with Covid-19 in Wuhan, China

    23 Apr, 2020
    Despite the large and rapidly rising number of cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and resulting deaths,1 there are limited data about the clinical characteristics of pregnant women with the disease.2,3 We extracted information regarding epidemiologic, clinical, laboratory, and radiologic characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of pregnant women with Covid-19 through the epidemic reporting system of the National Health Commission of China, which stores the medical records o...
  • Researchers identify cells likely targeted by COVID-19 virus

    23 Apr, 2020
    Researchers at MIT; the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard; and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; along with colleagues from around the world have identified specific types of cells that appear to be targets of the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Using existing data on the RNA found in different types of cells, the researchers were able to search for cells that express the two proteins that help the SARS-CoV-2 virus enter human cells. They found subsets o...
  • Mediastinal lymphadenopathy in patients with severe COVID-19

    22 Apr, 2020


    CT has a leading place in the management of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Mediastinal lymph node enlargement is not considered a typical CT feature of COVID-19, and only 6% of patients admitted to hospital for COVID-19 had lymphadenopathy. This observation is concordant with previous studies in Chinese populations. However, the experience in critically ill patients with COVID-19 in France seems to be different.

    Lymphadenopathy was more common in French coho...
  • Medicine in the time of corona: Fundamental molecular research is “essential”

    22 Apr, 2020
    A pandemic—especially one caused by a mysterious or newly discovered infectious agent—engenders a stark reminder that supporting fundamental research has been a prudent investment of public funds. Fundamental molecular research plays an essential role in the clinic to decipher infectious processes, develop therapeutic strategies, and guide physicians, nurses, and other hospital employees in implementing the most effective application of new knowledge. As the world begins the process of healin...
  • Connecting clusters of COVID-19: an epidemiological and serological investigation

    22 Apr, 2020
    Elucidation of the chain of disease transmission and identification of the source of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections are crucial for effective disease containment. In this article, the physicians describe an epidemiological investigation that, with use of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serological assays, establishes links between three clusters of COVID-19.
    In Singapore, active case-finding and contact tracing were undertaken for all COVID-19 c...
  • Lessons after the COVID-19 outbreak in a pediatric transplant and hemato-oncology center embedded within a COVID-19 hospital in Italy

    22 Apr, 2020

    Italy is the second exposed country worldwide, after China, and Lombardia is the most affected region in Italy, with more than half of the national cases, with 13% of whom being healthcare professionals. The Clinica Pediatrica Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca is a general pediatric and hematology oncology and transplant center embedded within the designated COVID-19 general Hospital San Gerardo in Monza, located in Lombardia, Italy. Preventive and control measures specifically und...
  • Cytokine release syndrome in severe COVID-19

    21 Apr, 2020

    SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus that is most closely related to SARS-CoV. Both viruses use the angiotensin-converting enzyme–related carboxypeptidase (ACE2) receptor to gain entry to cells. This receptor is widely expressed in cardiopulmonary tissues but also in some hematopoietic cells, including monocytes and macrophages. A key feature of COVID-19 infection is lymphopenia (low blood lymphocyte count), which correlates with clinical severity. SARS-CoV efficiently infects primary human mo...
  • Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 transmission suggests epidemic control with digital contact tracing

    21 Apr, 2020
    The newly emergent human virus SARS-CoV-2 is resulting in high fatality rates and incapacitated health systems. Preventing further transmission is a priority. We analyzed key parameters of epidemic spread to estimate the contribution of different transmission routes and determine requirements for case isolation and contact-tracing needed to stop the epidemic. We conclude that viral spread is too fast to be contained by manual contact tracing, but could be controlled if this process was faster...