Turk J Med Sci
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Although we have enough and cumulative information about acute effects of COVID-19, our knowledge is extremely limited about long-term consequences of COVID-19, in terms of its impacts and burdens on patients, families, and the health system. Considering the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms affecting all of the organ systems in critically ill COVID-19 patients who are admitted to intensive care units, the development of post-intensive care syndrome is inevitable. ⋯ These patients should be followed regarding cognitive, physical, and psychiatric aspects and necessary specialist referrals should be carried out. In this article, we are presenting the experience and recommendations of our center, as a guide for the establishment process of post-intensive care outpatient clinics for the critically ill patients who required intensive care admission due to COVID-19 and could be discharged.
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Due to the COVID-19 infection, which was recognized as a global pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020, the number of cases and disease-related deaths increases day by day globally. For this reason, antiviral agents used in treatment and vaccines, the most effective weapon in prevention, continue to be the most popular topic of the plan. Several situations are expected to affect the course of the pandemic. ⋯ Conclusion: Vaccination trials, which started due to the seriousness and urgency of the situation that we are in, continue exceptionally quickly and effectively. As per the WHO›s data on July 9, 2021, there have been 291 vaccine trials, 107 of which are in the clinical phase, and 18 (16%) of the vaccine candidates in the clinical phase are RNA-based vaccines. Also, the number of RNA-based vaccines with ongoing preclinical trials is 2
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Review Meta Analysis
How efficient are facial masks against COVID-19? Evaluating the mask use of various communities one year into the pandemic.
Face masks are devices worn over the mouth and nose to protect against splashes, infectious respiratory droplets, or aerosols generated during breathing or coughing according to their filtering capacity. Medical masks, respirators, or cloth masks have been used for source control and for the protection of the exposed. After the first case on March 11, 2020, in Turkey, National COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Board published various contents for the correct use of masks. ⋯ Metaanalysis, case control, cross sectional, cohort, retrospective, retrospective cross sectional, research, randomized controlled, and controlled comparison studies were reviewed on the protective effect of masks on COVID-19 with laboratory evidence. Optimum use of face masks with additional precautions has been found to be useful controlling the spread of the respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 in most of the studies and metaanalyses. As a conclusion, the recent evidence in COVID-19 pandemic is consistent with the previous studies which have shown association between face mask use and decreased risk of viral infections, and medical face mask use should be encouraged both for the community and healthcare facilities along with other infection control measures such as hand hygiene, during outbreaks when there is widespread community transmission.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has created a major alteration in the medical literature including the sepsis discussion. From the outset of the pandemic, various reports have indicated that although there are some unique features pertinent to COVID-19, many of its acute manifestations are similar to sepsis caused by other pathogens. As a consequence, the old definitions now require consideration of this new etiologic agent, namely SARS-CoV-2. ⋯ In bacterial sepsis, systemic inflammation affecting multiple organs is more dominant than in COVID-19 sepsis. While bacterial sepsis causes an early and sudden onset clinical deterioration, viral diseases may exhibit a relatively late onset and chronic course. Consideration of severe COVID-19 disease as a sepsis syndrome has relevance and may assist in terms of determining treatments that will modulate the immune response, limit intrinsic damage to tissue and organs, and potentially improve outcome.
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In the Wuhan province of China, almost two years ago, in December 2019, the novel Coronavirus 2019 has caused a severe involvement of the lower respiratory tract leading to an acute life-threatening respiratory syndrome, coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Subsequently, coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rapidly spread to the entire world causing a pandemic and affected every single person on earth either directly or indirectly with destroying all facets of social life and economy. Since the announcement of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, we have witnessed tremendous scientific work on all aspects of COVID-19 across the globe, which has never been witnessed before. ⋯ Immune deficiency, being on corticosteroids for inflammatory diseases, delayed interferon response and advanced age adversely influence prognosis with impairing viral clearance. On the other hand, exuberant immune response with features of cytokine storm is the leading cause of death, which can be alleviated by use of either general immunosuppression with corticosteroids or selective neutralization of potent pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-6. Herein, we summarized the potential effective immunomodulatory treatments emphasizing in which patient population it is the most suitable, which dose should be administered, and which is the most appropriate timepoint to administer the drug during the course of the disease.