Coronavirus News Updates
What Are COVID Toes? 4/20
Some potential symptoms of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, aren't what you would expect. A loss of smell or taste, for example. But now dermatologists say that some patients are presenting with purple lesions on their toes or hands, a condition commonly referred to as pernio -- and COVID-19 is probably behind it.
Antibody Tests: What Are They and How Do They Work? 4/20
After you've had an infection, your body retains little memories of the virus (or a bacteria) that can help it to fight off future infection. These memories are called antibodies, blood proteins. People with antibodies typically have immune cells that can stop a virus.
One of the keys to ending the COVID-19 shutdown, scientists say, is developing a reliable antibody test. This will allow us to identify people who have had the virus and recovered, for example. It may also lead to treatment options.
Here's a nice primer on antibodies from USA Today.
Study Finds 44% of Transmissions Occurred Before Symptoms 4/16
Researchers in China say that 44 percent of COVID-19 transmission pairs — that’s two people where one person most likely infected the other — occurred before the original person with the disease was symptomatic. In a study published April 15 in Nature Medicine, researchers estimate that presymptomatic transmission accounted for nearly half of all secondary cases. Furthermore, researchers concluded that people became infectious 2.3 days before symptom onset and infectiousness peaked 0.7 days before symptoms began.
Researchers Find Other Respiratory Infections in 21% of COVID-19 Tests 4/16
Scientists in California looked at 1,200 patients with respiratory symptoms and found that 21 percent who tested positive for COVID-19 also had a secondary infection like the common cold or respiratory syncytial virus, more commonly known as RSV. Of those tested originally for a different infection, 8 percent subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, leading researchers to conclude that just because a patient has a pathogen that isn’t COVID-19 doesn’t mean they do not also have the novel coronavirus. The study, which was conducted over the course of March, will have little impact on treatment, its authors said.
Worried About Your Immune System? Keep Exercising 4/15
Exercising regularly can help your body fight off infections like the cold and the flu.
Regular exercise, in particular, is key part of living a healthy lifestyle by promoting cardiovascular health lowering blood pressure, protecting against diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and helps control your weight. When you’re fit, your body is healthier and therefore your immune system is healthier. Exercise improves circulation, which may contribute directly to an improved immune response.
Which is why it’s important to keep exercising even if you’re stuck indoors during this pandemic. Here’s how to keep going.
Patients with Asthma at Higher Risk 4/13
If you have breathing-related disorder like asthma, you may be at a much higher risk of getting very sick from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's because COVID-19 can affect your respiratory tract (nose, throat and lungs), cause an asthma attack or possibly lead to pneumonia and acute respiratory disease.
In an interview with Healthline, MDVIP affiliate Louis Malinow, MD, an internist in Baltimore, described the challenge for people with asthma. “An asthmatic under poor control, who starts with 70 percent lung function for instance, and is then impacted and trying to function with 40 percent lung function, is going to be struggling a lot more,” Dr. Malinow said.
Read the full story on Healthline here.
Clinical Trial for COVID-19 Vaccine Launches this Week 4/9
There is some good news in the battle against COVID-19, the virus responsible for causing coronavirus: A vaccine candidate is about to enter a phase 1 clinical trial with 40 healthy adult volunteers. This trial, if successful, is an important step towards normalcy.
Inovio Pharamceuticals will begin administering two doses four weeks apart of NO-4800 DNA vaccine to participants, under a trial approved April 6 by the Food and Drug Administration. Study results, including initial immune response and safety data, are expected by late summer. Inovio hopes to get the second phase of the trial up and running as soon as possible. In fact, 1,000 doses of the vaccine have already been manufactured to support both phase one and phase two trials. Inovio’s vaccine program is funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The vaccine is promising. Preclinical results for the vaccine were consistent with the results of a phase one trial of a vaccine developed by University of Iowa and University of Georgia researchers to prevent MERS-CoV, the virus responsible for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (or MERS), another coronavirus.
NO-4800 DNA vaccine involves injected a lab-created plasmid, a genetic cellular structure that can replicate without chromosomes, into a patient, triggering their cells to produce a specific antibody that fights the COVID-19 infection. Until now, DNA vaccines have been used in veterinarian medicine. This will be the first DNA vaccine engineered for humans.
The trial beginning this week is actually the second vaccine trial. Back in March a vaccine developed by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and biotechnology company Moderna was launched.
If Inovio’s trial is successful, the vaccine could be approved within 18 months.
-- Janet Tiberian, MA, MPH, CHES
What Is Convalescent Plasma? 4/6
You may have recently heard a new phrase related to COVID-19 treatment: convalescent plasma. Convalescent plasma refers to a blood product that contains antibodies of a particular virus or bacteria. In this case, doctors are taking plasma from the blood of patients who have had and recovered from COVID-19 and giving that plasma to patients who still have the disease.
Once platelets and red and white blood cells are removed, plasma is the clear liquid part of blood that remains. It contains water salts, enzymes, proteins and antibodies.
Convalescent plasma is designed to boost the immune systems of patients and dates back more than 100 years. It’s been used to treat diphtheria, scarlet fever and tetanus, according to the journal Contagion. More recently, the Food and Drug Administration, which has approved trials of convalescent plasma for COVID-19, convalescent plasma was tested to treat the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 and 2010 as well as SARS and MERS outbreaks.
The Red Cross is looking for plasma donations from people who have recovered from COVID-19. Early, small studies have suggested convalescent plasma may help until another treatment becomes available.
Facemasks 4/4
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released guidelines for facemasks (read about how facemasks work). The agency now says you should cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others. Why? You could spread COVID-19 to others even if you do not feel sick, the CDC says. Here's the verbatim guidance:
- Everyone should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public, for example to the grocery store or to pick up other necessities.
- Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.
- The cloth face cover is meant to protect other people in case you are infected.
- Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker.
- Continue to keep about 6 feet between yourself and others. The cloth face cover is not a substitute for social distancing.
Here's a link to the CDC's advice on protecting yourself.
Vaccine News 4/3
Researchers believe the virus passes from person to person through airborne droplets, passed by breath, sneezes and coughs. The aerosolized virus can hang in the air for hours, according to some research. Although face coverings may not prevent all transmissions, they may help reduce the risk of that people without symptoms transmit the disease to the healthy.
Researchers say they'll be ready to begin testing a vaccine in humans within a few months, according to a paper published in EBioMedicine April 2. Early research on a vaccine called PittCoVax in mice showed an increase in antibodies within two weeks of receiving the vaccine.
Commonalities Among the Moderate to Severely Ill COVID-19 patients 4/3
New research, published April 2, is confirming what scientists already thought: Older, sicker patients are more likely to die from COVID-19. In a study conducted from mid-January to mid-February in Wuhan, China, patients who died from COVID-19 were more likely to be older (68 vs. 51), more likely to be male (73 percent vs. 55 percent) and more likely to have chronic hypertension and cardiovascular disease (48 percent vs. 14 percent).
Deceased patients were more likely to have leukocytosis (50 percent vs. 4 percent) and lymphopenia (91 percent vs. 47 percent). These terms refer to an excess of white blood cells, which are part of the body's immune response, or too few white blood cells, respectively.
Other commonalities: liver enzymes, creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase, troponin, N-terminal–pro–brain natriuretic peptide, d-dimer, and systemic inflammatory marker levels were much higher in deceased patients than in those who recovered. The study is called Clinical Features of Moderately to Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 Who Die.
Treatment Update 4/2
Hospitals and researchers are looking for ways to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. They are testing different therapies, including antiviral drugs previously developed to treat other viral infections, to see if they might also be effective against the virus that causes COVID-19. Here is the latest on treatment from Harvard Health.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new antibodies test for coronavirus, which can verify a person has had an infection and may have built up some immunity. Why is that important? According to an article in the New York Times, "People with immunity might be able to venture safely from their homes and help shore up the work force. It may be particularly important for doctors and nurses to know whether they have antibodies."
Map of coronavirus cases. For a U.S. specific map, click on US under the "Confirmed Cases by Country" column.