In December, 2015, the first imported case of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection was diagnosed in French Guiana in a group of 136 travellers returning from Suriname. No autochthonous cases had been detected ...in French Guiana at that time. To prevent secondary cases, we systematically screened co-travellers 1, 10, and 30 days after their return (clinical examination, urine samples, and blood samples).
Purpose
Covid-19 is a global threat that pushes health care to its limits. Since there is neither a vaccine nor a drug for Covid-19, people with an increased risk for severe and fatal courses of ...disease particularly need protection. Furthermore, factors increasing these risks are of interest in the search of potential treatments. A systematic literature review on the risk factors of severe and fatal Covid-19 courses is presented.
Methods
The review is carried out on PubMed and a publicly available preprint dataset. For analysis, risk factors are categorized and information regarding the study such as study size and location are extracted. The results are compared to risk factors listed by four public authorities from different countries.
Results
The 28 records included, eleven of which are preprints, indicate that conditions and comorbidities connected to a poor state of health such as high age, obesity, diabetes and hypertension are risk factors for severe and fatal disease courses. Furthermore, severe and fatal courses are associated with organ damages mainly affecting the heart, liver and kidneys. Coagulation dysfunctions could play a critical role in the organ damaging. Time to hospital admission, tuberculosis, inflammation disorders and coagulation dysfunctions are identified as risk factors found in the review but not mentioned by the public authorities.
Conclusion
Factors associated with increased risk of severe or fatal disease courses were identified, which include conditions connected with a poor state of health as well as organ damages and coagulation dysfunctions. The results may facilitate upcoming Covid-19 research.
COVID-19 and the nervous system Berger, Joseph R.
Journal of neurovirology,
04/2020, Letnik:
26, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A pandemic due to novel coronavirus arose in mid-December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and in 3 months’ time swept the world. The disease has been referred to as COVID-19, and the causative agent has been ...labelled SARS-CoV-2 due to its genetic similarities to the virus (SARS-CoV-1) responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic nearly 20 years earlier. The spike proteins of both viruses dictate tissue tropism using the angiotensin-converting enzyme type 2 (ACE-2) receptor to bind to cells. The ACE-2 receptor can be found in nervous system tissue and endothelial cells among the tissues of many other organs.
Neurological complications have been observed with COVID-19. Myalgia and headache are relatively common, but serious neurological disease appears to be rare. No part of the neuraxis is spared. The neurological disorders occurring with COVID-19 may have many pathophysiological underpinnings. Some appear to be the consequence of direct viral invasion of the nervous system tissue, others arise as a postviral autoimmune process, and still others are the result of metabolic and systemic complications due to the associated critical illness. This review addresses the preliminary observations regarding the neurological disorders reported with COVID-19 to date and describes some of the disorders that are anticipated from prior experience with similar coronaviruses.
Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has emerged and rapidly spread throughout the world, resulting in a global public health emergency. The lack of vaccine and antivirals has brought ...an urgent need for an animal model. Human angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) has been identified as a functional receptor for SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we generated a mouse model expressing human ACE2 (hACE2) by using CRISPR/Cas9 knockin technology. In comparison with wild-type C57BL/6 mice, both young and aged hACE2 mice sustained high viral loads in lung, trachea, and brain upon intranasal infection. Although fatalities were not observed, interstitial pneumonia and elevated cytokines were seen in SARS-CoV-2 infected-aged hACE2 mice. Interestingly, intragastric inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 was seen to cause productive infection and lead to pulmonary pathological changes in hACE2 mice. Overall, this animal model described here provides a useful tool for studying SARS-CoV-2 transmission and pathogenesis and evaluating COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
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•Human ACE2 knockin mice were generated by using CRISPR/Cas9 technology•SARS-CoV-2 leads to robust replication in lung, trachea, and brain•SARS-CoV-2 causes interstitial pneumonia and elevated cytokine in aged hACE2 mice•High dose of SARS-CoV-2 can establish infection via intragastric route in hACE2 mice
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an urgent need for small animal models. Here, Sun et al. established an ACE2 humanized mouse by CRISPR/Cas9 knockin technology. These hACE2 mice are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection upon intranasal inoculation, and the resulting pulmonary infection and pathological changes resemble those observed in COVID-19 patients.
Porcine circovirus-associated disease (PCVAD) is clinically manifested by postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), respiratory and enteric disease, reproductive failure, and porcine ...dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS). Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is an essential component of PCVAD, although an etiologic role in PDNS is not well established. Here, a novel circovirus, designated porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3), was identified in sows that died acutely with PDNS-like clinical signs. The capsid and replicase proteins of PCV3 are only 37% and 55% identical to PCV2 and bat circoviruses, respectively. Aborted fetuses from sows with PDNS contained high levels of PCV3 (7.57 × 10
genome copies/ml), and no other viruses were detected by PCR and metagenomic sequencing. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of sow tissue samples identified PCV3 antigen in skin, kidney, lung, and lymph node samples localized in typical PDNS lesions, including necrotizing vasculitis, glomerulonephritis, granulomatous lymphadenitis, and bronchointerstitial pneumonia. Further study of archived PDNS tissue samples that were negative for PCV2 by IHC analysis identified 45 of 48 that were PCV3 positive by quantitative PCR (qPCR), with 60% of a subset also testing positive for PCV3 by IHC analysis. Analysis by qPCR of 271 porcine respiratory disease diagnostic submission samples identified 34 PCV3-positive cases (12.5%), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detection of anti-PCV3 capsid antibodies in serum samples found that 46 (55%) of 83 samples tested were positive. These results suggest that PCV3 commonly circulates within U.S. swine and may play an etiologic role in reproductive failure and PDNS. Because of the high economic impact of PCV2, this novel circovirus warrants further studies to elucidate its significance and role in PCVAD.
While porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) was first identified in sporadic cases of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome in Canada in the early 1990s, an epidemic of severe systemic disease due to PCV2 spread worldwide in the ensuing decade. Despite being effectively controlled by commercial vaccines, PCV2 remains one of the most economically significant viruses of swine. Here, a novel porcine circovirus (PCV3) that is distantly related to known circoviruses was identified in sows with porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS) and reproductive failure. PCV2, which has previously been associated with these clinical presentations, was not identified. High levels of PCV3 nucleic acid were observed in aborted fetuses by quantitative PCR, and PCV3 antigen was localized in histologic lesions typical of PDNS in sows by immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. PCV3 was also identified in archival PDNS diagnostic samples that previously tested negative for PCV2 by IHC analysis. The emergence of PCV3 warrants further investigation.
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