Dr. Boarhead’s Summary of Global Updates on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus: 17th January 2021
1. bioRxiv:
The spike N501Y substitution, which is shared by new variants of SARS-CoV-2 both in the UK and in South Africa, is of particular concern because it is located in the viral receptor binding site for cell entry and increases the ability to bind to the receptor. Scientists generated isogenic N501 and Y501 SARS-CoV-2. Sera of 20 participants in a trial of the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 had equivalent neutralizing titers to the N501 and Y501 viruses.
<7 Jan.>
[key info]
The Pfizer vaccine seems to be effective against the N501Y mutation.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.07.425740v1
2.
Lancet
:
A cohort of 1,733 adult patients (48% women, 52% men, median age 57.0 years) with COVID-19 discharged from Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan were studied during a clinical follow-up. Six months after illness onset, 76% (1,265 of 1,655) of the patients reported at least one symptom that persisted, with fatigue or muscle weakness being the most frequently reported (63%). More than 50% of the patients presented with residual chest imaging abnormalities.
<8 Jan.>
[key info]
Recovered COVID-19 patients still suffer from health sequelae.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00039-8/fulltext
3. Fierce Biotech:
The FDA alerts that mutations in the coronavirus’s genetic code (such as the new variant identified in the UK) can trigger false negative results in gold-standard COVID-19 tests. While FDA staff believed the risks were low, the agency listed three currently authorized tests
that might be compromised by genetic variants:
Thermo Fisher’s TaqPath combo kit, Mesa Biotech’s hand-held Accula test, and Applied DNA Sciences’ Linea assay.
<8 Jan.>
[key info]
New variants could trigger false negative results.
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/fda-warns-new-coronavirus-variant-could-trigger-false-negatives-among-gold-standard-tests?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTmpJek5HSmxZbVF5WldJNCIsInQiOiJ4YWl4cm9EdHg4OEtXTkNrdHBkNndVTEg5XC9GT0tNWGZqUHlBM2VrR3A5QU41ejVPbGRQTHEwXC93SXZGZGE0R2NpOFRtR0VLMUw3SVlicmtZRGpZQzJYcitwbGNrYTB4NmgrU21nSkE1a1E0QUMxM3hFXC9jSnpqZHl6aHdMSVRKViJ9&mrkid=1012166
4. Fierce Pharma:
A study showed that Actemra and Kevzara can cut hospital stays for COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care by 10 days and can lower the risk of death by 24% in patients who receive either drug within a day of admission. That finding prompted the UK government to recommend to the National Health Service that the IL-6 inhibitors be rolled out for the treatment of COVID-19.
<8 Jan.>
[key info]
Actemra and Kevzara may facilitate the recovery of hospitalized patients.
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/uk-embraces-roche-s-actemra-and-regeneron-s-kevzara-for-covid-19-after-study-shows-24-drop
5.
Clinical Infectious Diseases
:
A 78-year-old man with a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus was found re-infected with SARS-CoV-2 due to the new variant VOC-202012/01. His initial mild infection occurred in the first wave of the pandemic in the UK. Eight months later, reinfection was confirmed and caused a critical illness.
<9 Jan.>
[key info]
Reinfection caused by the new variant may escalate disease severity.
https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab014/6076528
6.
Nature
:
A study of the fluid from the lungs of 88 people with severe pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection suggests that once the virus reaches the lungs, it can infect macrophages, which respond by producing inflammatory molecules that attract T cells. T cells, in turn, produce a protein that stimulates macrophages to make more inflammatory molecules. This persistent lung inflammation could lead to some of the life-threatening consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
<11 Jan.>
[key info]
Some of the severe respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 seem to result from the activity of specific immune cells.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03148-w
7. Virological:
As of 7 Jan. 2021, 45 countries had reported the presence of VOC-202012/01 (lineage B.1.1.7), and 13 had reported 20C/501Y.V2 (lineage B.1.351). B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 genome sequences were available for 28 and 8 countries respectively. A study focuses on England and South Africa as they are the locations with the first reports and the highest reported prevalence of the two variants. However, due to low SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in many locations, researchers cannot reject the hypothesis that these lineages initially originated elsewhere.
<13 Jan.>
[key info]
Lack of genomic surveillance may have concealed the real origins of variants.
https://virological.org/t/tracking-the-international-spread-of-sars-cov-2-lineages-b-1-1-7-and-b-1-351-501y-v2/592
8.
New England Journal of Medicine
:
Of the 3,082 patients included in an analysis, death within 30 days after plasma transfusion occurred in 115 of 515 patients (22.3%) in the high-titer group, 549 of 2,006 patients (27.4%) in the medium-titer group, and 166 of 561 patients (29.6%) in the low-titer group. The association of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels with the risk of death from COVID-19 was moderated by the mechanical ventilation status. A lower risk of death within 30 days in the high-titer group than in the low-titer group was observed among patients who had not received mechanical ventilation before transfusion, and no effect on the risk of death was observed among patients who had received mechanical ventilation.
<13 Jan.>
[key info]
For hospitalized patients not receiving mechanical ventilation, higher-titer plasma transfusion may lead to lower mortality.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2031893
9.
New England Journal of Medicine
:
805 participants received the candidate vaccine Ad26.COV2.S. It has shown that neutralizing-antibody titers against the wild-type virus were detected in 90% or more of all participants on day 29 after the first vaccine dose. The rate reached 100% by day 57 with a further increase in titers, regardless of the vaccine dose or the age group. Titers remained stable until at least day 71. A second dose provided an increase in the titer by a factor of 2.6 to 2.9. Spike-binding antibody responses were similar to neutralizing-antibody responses.
<13 Jan.>
[key info]
Ad26.COV2.S performs well in a test of its safety and immunogenicity.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2034201
10. BBC:
CoronaVac has been found 50.4% effective in Brazilian clinical trials, a more modest figure than the data released last week. It was explained that the new figure included infections classified as very mild that did not require clinical assistance. Even so, the Butantan Institute, which has been conducting the trials in Brazil, stressed that the vaccine is 78% effective in preventing mild cases that needed treatment and 100% effective in staving off moderate to serious cases.
<13 Jan.>
[key info]
Brazilian results show that CoronaVac is 50.4% effective.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55642648
This is issue fifty-five,
edited on the basis of information from the official websites including but not limited to those of
The World Health Organization,
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control,
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States of America, &
The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy of the University of Minnesota
and from the forums of FluTrackers.com.
This issue is edited by Alex Sun, Dorothy Fang, Dora Zhang, and
Fred Wong,
under the supervision of Dr. Jason Chu and Conch Zhang.
2020 © The Chung Kwong Wui
