Articles: pandemics.
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The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has devastated health infrastructure around the world. Both ACE2 (an entry receptor) and TMPRSS2 (used by the virus for spike protein priming) are key proteins to SARS-CoV-2 cell entry, enabling progression to COVID-19 in humans. Comparative genomic research into critical ACE2 binding sites, associated with the spike receptor binding domain, has suggested that African and Asian primates may also be susceptible to disease from SARS-CoV-2 infection. ⋯ All missense variants observed in wild Ch. sabaeus populations are also present in the VRC, along with two splice acceptor variants (at X:14,065,076) not observed in the wild sample that are potentially disruptive to ACE2 function. The presence of these variants in the VRC suggests a promising model for SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccine and therapy development. In keeping with a One Health approach, characterizing actual susceptibility and potential for bi-directional zoonotic/anthroponotic transfer in savanna monkey populations may be an important consideration for controlling COVID-19 epidemics in communities with frequent human/non-human primate interactions that, in many cases, may have limited health infrastructure.
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The worldwide shortage of single-use N95 respirators and surgical masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many health care personnel to use their existing equipment for as long as possible. In many cases, workers cover respirators with available masks in an attempt to extend their effectiveness against the virus. Due to low mask supplies, many people instead are using face coverings improvised from common fabrics. ⋯ We show that silk is a hydrophobic barrier to droplets, can be more breathable than other fabrics that trap humidity, and are re-useable via cleaning. We suggest that silk can serve as an effective material for making hydrophobic barriers that protect respirators, and silk can now be tested under clinical conditions to verify its efficacy for this function. Although respirators are still the most appropriate form of protection, silk face coverings possess properties that make them capable of repelling droplets.
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Technol. Cancer Res. Treat. · Jan 2020
Challenges for a Cancer Center in the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic.
The novel Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is sweeping through China, posing the greatest ever threat to its public health and economy. As a tertiary cancer center in Southwest China, we formulated and implemented an anti-infection protocol to prevent the spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 in our department. ⋯ Challenges from the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic remain in our community. The anti-infection protocol implemented at our cancer center has been effective in preventing cross-infection. Whether our anti-infection protocol experience can be applied to curb the spread of the infection in other parts of the world remains to be tested.
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Ethnicity & disease · Jan 2020
EditorialIncorporating Health Equity and Community Perspectives During COVID-19: Commonalities with Cardiovascular Health Equity Research.
The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the deeply entrenched structural inequities in health that exist in the United States. We draw parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and our cardiovascular health equity research focused on physical activity and diabetes to highlight three common needs: 1) access to timely and disaggregated data; 2) how to integrate community-engaged approaches in telehealth; and 3) policy initiatives that explicitly integrate health equity and social justice principles and action. We suggest that a similar sense of urgency regarding COVID-19 should be applied to slow the burgeoning costs and suffering associated with cardiovascular disease overall and in marginalized communities specifically. We remain hopeful that the current crisis can serve as a guide for aligning our principles as a just and democratic society with a health agenda that explicitly recognizes that social inequities in health for some impacts all members of society.
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This study integrates the daily intercity migration data with the classic Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Removed (SEIR) model to construct a new model suitable for describing the dynamics of epidemic spreading of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China. Daily intercity migration data for 367 cities in China were collected from Baidu Migration, a mobile-app based human migration tracking data system. Early outbreak data of infected, recovered and death cases from official source (from January 24 to February 16, 2020) were used for model fitting. ⋯ The work was completed on February 19, 2020. Our results showed that the number of infections in most cities in China would peak between mid February to early March 2020, with about 0.8%, less than 0.1% and less than 0.01% of the population eventually infected in Wuhan, Hubei Province and the rest of China, respectively. Moreover, for most cities outside and within Hubei Province (except Wuhan), the total number of infected individuals is expected to be less than 300 and 4000, respectively.