International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2021
Therapeutic plasma exchange followed by convalescent plasma transfusion in critical COVID-19-An exploratory study.
The pathophysiology of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is primarily a host immune interplay to virus invasion. The therapeutic options have been explored either against hyperinflammation from dysregulated adaptive immunity or direct virus neutralization using antibodies from convalescent plasma (CP) of a recovered patient. The therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) for removal of excessive inflammatory cytokines has been tried with success in COVID-19. ⋯ The median duration ICU and hospital LOS were 12 (5-42) days and 18 (12-47) days respectively. No patient developed transfusion-associated complications, but three patients developed secondary bacterial sepsis within 14 days of therapy, and one died. This case series demonstrated the sequential use of TPE followed by CP transfusion as a therapeutic option in critical COVID-19.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2021
What factors drive the satisfaction of citizens with governments' responses to COVID-19?
This research scrutinizes the important factors influencing the satisfaction of citizens concerning their governments' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic based on an open-sourced survey of 14 countries. ⋯ The results herein offer some suggestions to governments when initiating policies to balance public health, livelihoods, and economic support.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialThe efficacy of midline catheters-a prospective, randomized, active-controlled study.
This study was performed to investigate whether an intravenous (IV) strategy based on new-generation midline catheters is an efficacious alternative to a conventional IV strategy consisting of peripheral venous catheters and central venous catheters, for patients needing IV therapy exceeding 5 days. ⋯ In patients requiring more than 5 days of IV therapy, a midline catheter strategy reduced the need for insertion of a CVC or four or more PVCs.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2021
Different pattern of the second outbreak of COVID-19 in Marseille, France.
To describe the characteristics of COVID-19 patients seen in March-April and June-August 2020 in Marseille, France with the aim to investigate possible changes in the disease between these two time periods. ⋯ Patients in the two periods did not present marked age and sex differences, but markers of severity were undoubtedly less prevalent in the summer period, associating with a 10 times decrease in the lethality rate.
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Tocilizumab (TCZ) is an interleukin-6 receptor antagonist, which has been used for the treatment of severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia (SSP), which aims to ameliorate the cytokine release syndrome (CRS) induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However, there are no consistent data about who might benefit most from it. ⋯ TCZ is well tolerated in patients with SSP, but it has a limited effect on the evolution of cases with high oxygen support needs.