Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Nebulised unfractionated heparin (UFH) has a strong scientific and biological rationale and warrants urgent investigation of its therapeutic potential, for COVID-19-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). COVID-19 ARDS displays the typical features of diffuse alveolar damage with extensive pulmonary coagulation activation resulting in fibrin deposition in the microvasculature and formation of hyaline membranes in the air sacs. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 who manifest severe disease have high levels of inflammatory cytokines in plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and significant coagulopathy. ⋯ Furthermore, clinical studies have shown that inhaled UFH safely improves outcomes in other inflammatory respiratory diseases and also acts as an effective mucolytic in sputum-producing respiratory patients. UFH is widely available and inexpensive, which may make this treatment also accessible for low- and middle-income countries. These potentially important therapeutic properties of nebulised UFH underline the need for expedited large-scale clinical trials to test its potential to reduce mortality in COVID-19 patients.
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Saliva as a diagnostic specimen for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in suspected patients: a scoping review.
From the begging months of 2020 a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, also called 2019-nCoV) caused a devastating global outbreak. At present, the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is made through a nasopharyngeal swab based on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. However, some recent studies suggested the possible role of oral fluids and saliva in the detection of SARS-CoV-2. The purpose of this scoping review is evaluating the available evidence regarding the efficacy of saliva as a diagnostic specimen in COVID-19 patients. ⋯ Despite limitations of this study, the findings of this review suggest that the use of self-collected saliva as a non-invasive specimen has proper accuracy and reliability regarding detection of SARS-CoV-2 based on RT-PCR technique.