Dr. Boarhead’s Summary of Global Updates on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus: 20th December 2020
1. medRxiv:
Scientists modelled the effects of rolling out a vaccine if various age groups are given priority. They found that in most scenarios, giving the jabs to people older than 60 before those in other age groups saved the greatest number of lives. But to prevent as many people as possible from getting infected, countries should prioritize younger age groups.
<7 Dec.>
[key info]
People older than 60 are key vaccine recipients.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.08.20190629v2
2.
Science
:
Analysis of 772 SARS-CoV-2 genomes in Boston revealed numerous introductions of the virus, a small number of which led to most cases. The data revealed two superspreading events. One, in a nursing facility, led to rapid transmission and significant mortality but little broader spread. The other, at an international conference, produced sustained community transmission and was exported, resulting in extensive spread. The two events differed significantly in the genetic variation they generated, suggesting varying transmission dynamics in superspreading events.
<10 Dec.>
[key info]
Two superspreading events have been identified in Boston.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/12/09/science.abe3261
3.
New England Journal of Medicine
:
A total of 1,033 patients underwent randomization, with 515 assigned to combination treatment (baricitinib plus remdesivir) and 518 to control (remdesivir plus placebo). Patients receiving baricitinib had a median time to recovery of 7 days and 30% higher odds of improvement in clinical status on day 15 than in the control group. The 28-day mortality was 5.1% in the combination group and 7.8% in the control group. Serious adverse events were less frequent in the combination group than in the control group, as were new infections.
<11 Dec.>
[key info]
Baricitinib plus remdesivir was superior to remdesivir plus placebo in reducing recovery time.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2031994
4.
Lancet
:
In order to confirm whether HIV infection is associated with the risk of COVID-19 death, 17,282,905 adults were included in a retrospective cohort study, of whom 27,480 (0.16%) contracted HIV. People living with HIV had higher risk of COVID-19 death than those without HIV. There was some evidence that the association was greater among people of Black ethnicity.
<11 Dec.>
[key info]
People with HIV seem to be at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(20)30305-2/fulltext
5.
Nature Medicine
:
A general population risk calculator was developed for COVID-19 mortality to produce absolute risk estimates in future time frames. Scientists applied the model to data from a variety of sources to project the risk for the general adult population across 477 US cities and for the Medicare population aged 65 years and older across 3,113 US counties. Validation analyses of 54,444 deaths from 7 Jun. to 1 Oct. show that the model is well calibrated for the US population.
<11 Dec.>
[key info]
A web-based risk calculator for viewing community-level risks has been established.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-01191-8
6.
Nature
:
The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) genome-wide association study (GWAS) was carried out in 2,244 critically ill COVID-19 patients from 208 UK ICUs. Scientists found evidence in support of a causal link between low expression of IFNAR2 and high expression of TYK2 with life-threatening disease. Transcriptome-wide association in lung tissues revealed that high expression of the monocyte/macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19.
<11 Dec.>
[key info]
Scientists identified genetic signals related to critical COVID-19.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03065-y
7.
Journal of the American Medical Association
:
In a national cohort of patients in US Veterans Affairs hospitals, 27% survivors of COVID-19 hospitalization were readmitted or died by 60 days after discharge, and this rate was lower than that of pneumonia or heart failure survivors. However, rates of readmission or death following COVID-19 hospitalization were higher than those of pneumonia or heart failure during the first 10 days after discharge, suggesting a period of heightened risk of clinical deterioration.
<14 Dec.>
[key info]
COVID-19 patients may face higher risks within the first 10 days after discharge than pneumonia and heart failure patients.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2774380
8.
Journal of the American Medical Association
:
A total of 54 relevant studies with 77,758 participants reporting household secondary transmission were identified. Estimated household secondary attack rate was 16.6%, higher than that of SARS-CoV (7.5%) or MERS-CoV (4.7%). Household secondary attack rates were higher in adult contacts (28.3%) than in child contacts (16.8%), in spouses (37.8%) than in other family contacts (17.8%), and in households with 1 contact (41.5%) than in households with 3 or more contacts (22.8%).
<14 Dec.>
[key info]
SARS-CoV-2 is more transmissible in households than SARS-CoV.
[link] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2774102
9.
Cell
:
A Lentiviral Vector (LV) was generated to elicit neutralizing antibodies against the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. Systemic vaccination by this vector in mice confers only partial protection, despite high levels of serum neutralizing activity. However, eliciting an immune response in the respiratory tract through an intranasal boost results in >log10(3) decrease in the lung viral loads and reduces local inflammation. Moreover, both integrative and non-integrative LV platforms display strong vaccine efficacy and inhibit lung deleterious injury in golden hamsters.
<14 Dec.>
[key info]
Evidence was provided of marked prophylactic effect of the LV-based vaccination against SARS-CoV-2.
https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(20)30672-7
10. US FDA:
The FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the second vaccine to prevent COVID-19. The EUA allows the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine to be distributed in the US for use in individuals 18 years of age and older. The vaccine contains a small piece of SARS-CoV-2’s mRNA that instructs cells in the body to make the virus’s distinctive spike protein. After a person receives this vaccine, his or her body produces copies of the spike protein, which does not cause disease but triggers the immune system to learn to react defensively, producing an immune response against SARS-CoV-2.
<18 Dec.>
[key info]
The US FDA issued the second EUA for a COVID-19 vaccine.
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-additional-action-fight-against-covid-19-issuing-emergency-use-authorization-second-covid
This is issue fifty-one
, 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
