Mar 10th, 2023 - In January 2022, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant initiated major outbreaks and dominated the transmissions in Hong Kong, displacing an earlier outbreak seeded by the Delta variants. To provide insight into the transmission potential of the emerging variants, we aimed to compare the epidemiological characteristics of the Omicron and Delta variants. We analysed the line-list clinical and contact t...

Mar 4th, 2023 - Patients with haematological malignancies (HM) and SARS-CoV-2 infection present a higher risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality. The aim of the study was to investigate whether vaccination and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have modified the outcomes of HM patients with COVID-19. This is a single-centre retrospective study in HM patients hospitalized due to SARS-CoV-2 infection from March 2020 to ...

Feb 24th, 2023 - Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) clade B viruses are found in camelids and humans in the Middle East, but clade C viruses are not. We provide experimental evidence for extended shedding of MERS-CoV clade B viruses in llamas, which might explain why they outcompete clade C strains in the Arabian Peninsula.

Feb 23rd, 2023 - Outcome of early treatment of COVID-19 with antivirals or anti-spike monoclonal antibodies (MABs) in patients with haematological malignancies (HM) is unknown. A retrospective study of HM patients treated for mild/moderate COVID-19 between March 2021 and July 2022 was performed. The main composite end-point was treatment failure (severe COVID-19 or COVID-19-related death). We included 328 conse...

Feb 23rd, 2023 - Little is known about the characteristics of lymphocyte subsets and the association with patient outcomes in COVID-19 with and without impaired kidney function. Lymphocyte subsets were compared in COVID-19 patients with or without kidney dysfunction. The primary outcome was a composite of all-cause mortality or intensive care unit admission. Secondary outcomes included duration of viral sheddin...

Feb 17th, 2023 - We describe a case of a 24-year-old Brazilian woman previously vaccinated with CoronaVac and a booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, with persistent viral shedding. We evaluated viral load, antibody dynamics for SARS-CoV-2 and performed genomic analysis to identify the viral variant. The female remained positive for 40 days following symptom onset (cycle quantificatio...

Feb 9th, 2023 - With the variability in emerging data, guidance on the isolation duration for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to the Omicron variant is controversial. This study aimed to determine the predictors of prolonged viral RNA shedding in patients with non-severe COVID-19 and construct a nomogram to predict patients at risk of 14-day PCR conversion failure. Adult patients with non...

Feb 2nd, 2023 - To describe the epidemiological, clinical, and household transmission characteristics of pediatric COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, China. Pediatric patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in Shanghai from March-May 2022 were enrolled in this retrospective, multicenter cohort study. The symptoms and the risk factors associated with disease severity were analyzed. In total, 2620 cases (age range, 24 days...

Jan 26th, 2023 - Viral shedding and neutralizing antibody (NAb) dynamics among patients hospitalized with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and immune correlates of protection have been key questions throughout the pandemic. We investigated the duration of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positivity, infectious viral shedding and NAb titers as well as the association between NAb...

Jan 22nd, 2023 - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and resulting COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic have required mass diagnostic testing, often taking place in testing sites within hospitals, clinics, or at satellite locations. To establish the potential of SARS-CoV-2 aerosol transmission and to identify junctures during testing that result in increased viral exposure, ...

Dec 27th, 2022 - The extent to which vaccinated persons who become infected with SARS-CoV-2 contribute to transmission is unclear. During a SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant outbreak among incarcerated persons with high vaccination rates in a federal prison, we assessed markers of viral shedding in vaccinated and unvaccinated persons. Consenting incarcerated persons with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection provided mid-turbi...

Dec 22nd, 2022 - Early treatment of COVID-19 with direct-acting antiviral drugs in the community could plausibly prevent deterioration, speed up recovery, and reduce health-care use in the community, viral shedding, and, the need for hospital admission. Molnupiravir is an oral antiviral that was initially developed for influenza,1 but has subsequently been assessed as a treatment of COVID-19.2 Molnupiravir is a...

Dec 3rd, 2022 - There have been limited data on the risk of onward transmission from individuals with Omicron variant infections who return to work after a 5-day isolation. To evaluate the risk of transmission from healthcare workers (HCWs) with Omicron variant who returned to work after a 5-day isolation and the viable-virus shedding kinetics. This investigation was performed in a tertiary care hospital, Seou...

Dec 3rd, 2022 - Much of the world's population has been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Thus, immunity from prior infection will play a critical role in future SARS-CoV-2 transmission. We investigated the impact of infection-induced immunity on viral shedding duration and viral load. We conducted a household cohort study in Managua, Nicaragua, with an embedded transmission study that closely monitors participants re...

Dec 3rd, 2022 - There are limited data comparing the transmission rates and kinetics of viable virus shedding of the Omicron variant to those of the Delta variant. We compared these rates in hospitalized patients infected with Delta and Omicron variants. We prospectively enrolled adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to a tertiary care hospital in South Korea between September 2021 and May 2022. Secondary atta...

Dec 3rd, 2022 - SARS-CoV-2 viral load and detection of infectious virus in the respiratory tract are the two key parameters for estimating infectiousness. As shedding of infectious virus is required for onward transmission, understanding shedding characteristics is relevant for public health interventions. Viral shedding is influenced by biological characteristics of the virus, host factors and pre-existing im...

Nov 27th, 2022 - The preclinical time course of SARS-CoV-2 shedding is not well-described. Understanding this time course will help to inform risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. During an outbreak in a congregate setting, we collected paired mid-turbinate nasal swabs for antigen testing and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) every other day from all consenting infected and exposed persons. Am...

Nov 11th, 2022 - Our knowledge of the role of the gut microbiome in acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and post-acute COVID-19 is rapidly increasing, whereas little is known regarding the contribution of multi-kingdom microbiota and host-microbial interactions to COVID-19 severity and consequences. Herein, we perform an integrated analysis using 296 fecal metagenomes, 79 fecal metabolomics, viral load in...

Nov 4th, 2022 - Guidelines on COVID-19 management are developed as we learn from this pandemic. However, most research has been done on hospitalised patients and the impact of the disease on non-hospitalised and their role in transmission are not yet well understood. The COVID HOME study conducts research among COVID-19 patients and their family members who were not hospitalised during acute disease, to guide ...

Nov 2nd, 2022 - Background: As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, numerous variants of SARS-CoV-2 have arisen, with several displaying increased transmissibility. Methods: The present study compared dose-response relationships and disease presentation in nonhuman primates infected with aerosols containing an isolate of the Gamma variant of SARS-CoV-2 to the results of our previous study with the earlier WA-...