Are Lockdowns Effective in Managing Pandemics?

The present coronavirus crisis caused a major worldwide disruption which has not been experienced for decades. The lockdown-based crisis management was implemented by nearly all the countries, and studies confirming lockdown effectiveness can be found alongside the studies questioning it. In this work, we performed a narrative review of the works studying the above effectiveness,… Continue reading Are Lockdowns Effective in Managing Pandemics?

Immune boosting by B.1.1.529 (Omicron) depends on previous SARS-CoV-2 exposure

Importance of infection historyA long-term study of healthcare workers in the United Kingdom has allowed their history of infection and vaccination to be traced precisely. Reynolds et al. found some unexpected immune-damping effects caused by infection with a heterologous variant to the latest wave of infection by the Omicron/Pango lineage B.1.1.529. The authors found that… Continue reading Immune boosting by B.1.1.529 (Omicron) depends on previous SARS-CoV-2 exposure

The Incidence of Myocarditis and Pericarditis in Post COVID-19 Unvaccinated Patients—A Large Population-Based Study

Myocarditis and pericarditis are potential post-acute cardiac sequelae of COVID-19 infection, arising from adaptive immune responses. We aimed to study the incidence of post-acute COVID-19 myocarditis and pericarditis. Retrospective cohort study of 196,992 adults after COVID-19 infection in Clalit Health Services members in Israel between March 2020 and January 2021. Inpatient myocarditis and pericarditis diagnoses… Continue reading The Incidence of Myocarditis and Pericarditis in Post COVID-19 Unvaccinated Patients—A Large Population-Based Study

Risk of covid-19 related deaths for SARS-CoV-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) compared with delta (B.1.617.2): retrospective cohort study

Objective To assess the risk of covid-19 death after infection with omicron BA.1 compared with delta (B.1.617.2).Design Retrospective cohort study.Setting England, United Kingdom, from 1 December 2021 to 30 December 2021.Participants 1 035 149 people aged 18-100 years who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 under the national surveillance programme and had an infection identified as omicron BA.1 or… Continue reading Risk of covid-19 related deaths for SARS-CoV-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) compared with delta (B.1.617.2): retrospective cohort study

The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?

After starting in late 2019, COVID-19 spread worldwide, and Italy was one of the first Western nations to be seriously affected. At that time, both the virus and the disease were little known and there were no Evidence-Based Medicine indications for treatment. The Italian Health Ministry guidelines claimed that, unless oxygen saturation fell to <92%,… Continue reading The Problem of Home Therapy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Government Guidelines versus Freedom of Cure?

Update: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates and Abortion-Derived Cell Lines

Accurate information about the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines is essential, especially because many proposed candidates use newer molecular technologies for production of a viral vaccine. One concern regarding the ethical assessment of viral vaccine candidates is the potential use of abortion-derived cell lines in the development, production or testing of a vaccine. This… Continue reading Update: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates and Abortion-Derived Cell Lines

Clinical features and novel presentations of human monkeypox in a central London centre during the 2022 outbreak: descriptive case series

Objective To characterise the clinical features of monkeypox infection in humans.Design Descriptive case series.Setting A regional high consequences infectious disease centre with associated primary and secondary care referrals, and affiliated sexual health centres in south London between May and July 2022.Participants 197 patients with polymerase chain reaction confirmed monkeypox infection.Results The median age of participants… Continue reading Clinical features and novel presentations of human monkeypox in a central London centre during the 2022 outbreak: descriptive case series

Clinical efficacy and safety of linezolid in intensive care unit patients

AbstractBackgroundTo characterize the population of critically ill patients and infections treated with linezolid in the intensive care unit (ICU), and to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of linezolid therapy.MethodsThis multi-center, observational, real-world study was conducted across 52 hospitals between June 9, 2018, and December 28, 2019. Patients who met the following inclusion criteria were… Continue reading Clinical efficacy and safety of linezolid in intensive care unit patients