Journal of infection and public health
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J Infect Public Health · Feb 2021
Multicenter StudyCharacteristics and outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in critically ill pediatric patients admitted to the intensive care unit: A multicenter retrospective cohort study.
Characteristics of critical Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in children is not well understood. This study described the clinical characteristics of children admitted to intensive care units (ICU) and explored factors associated with the need for invasive ventilation or mortality. ⋯ Our findings suggest that children admitted to the ICU with SARS-CoV-2 infection, generally, have a favorable outcome. Low platelets count, elevated procalcitonin, presence of comorbidity, and shock at the time of ICU admission were associated with death. This study may shed more light on the disease dynamics of critical pediatric COVID-19.
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J Infect Public Health · Feb 2021
Severe COVID-19 pneumonia in Piacenza, Italy - A cohort study of the first pandemic wave.
Piacenza is the closest city to the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cluster in Italy and has the highest national COVID-19 death rates per population. The objective of this study is to present characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted to medical departments of the Hospital of Piacenza during the first wave of the epidemic. ⋯ Overall case fatality rates were high and associated with comorbidities, extensive lung involvement, ARDS at admission, and advanced age. The use of antivirals was not associated with increased survival.
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J Infect Public Health · Feb 2021
Identification of potential SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitors by targeting the interface region between the spike RBD and human ACE2.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a fatal infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus infection is initiated upon recognition and binding of the spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD) to the host cell surface receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Blocking the interaction between S protein and ACE2 receptor is a novel approach to prevent the viral entry into the host cell. ⋯ The protein-ligand complexes showed stable trajectories throughout the simulation time. ZINC33039472 exhibited binding free energy value lower as compared to the control (emodin) with a higher contribution by gas-phase energy and van der Waals energy to the total binding free energy. Thus, ZINC33039472 is identified to be a promising interfacial binding molecule which can inhibit the interaction between the viral S protein and human ACE2 receptor which would consequently help in the management of the disease.