Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Case Reports
Pulmonary Pathology of Early-Phase 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pneumonia in Two Patients With Lung Cancer.
There is currently a lack of pathologic data on the novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) pneumonia, or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), from autopsy or biopsy. Two patients who recently underwent lung lobectomies for adenocarcinoma were retrospectively found to have had COVID-19 at the time of the operation. ⋯ Hyaline membranes were not prominent. Because both patients did not exhibit symptoms of pneumonia at the time of operation, these changes likely represent an early phase of the lung pathology of COVID-19 pneumonia.
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Journal of wound care · May 2020
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in preventing mechanical ventilation in COVID-19 patients: a retrospective case series.
A pandemic afflicts the entire world. The highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and rapidly spread across the entire globe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)has infected more than two million people worldwide, causing over 160,000 deaths. Patients with COVID-19 disease present with a wide array of symptoms, ranging from mild flu-like complaints to life threatening pulmonary and cardiac complications. Older people and patients with underlying disease have an increased risk of developing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) requiring mechanical ventilation. Once intubated, mortality increases exponentially. A number of pharmacologic regimens, including hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin, antiviral therapy (eg, remdesevir), and anti-IL-6 agents (e.g., toclizumab), have been highlighted by investigators over the course of the pandemic, based on the therapy's potential to interrupt the viral life-cycle of SARS-CoV-2 or preventing cytokine storm. At present, there have been no conclusive series of reproducible randomised clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of any one drug or therapy for COVID-19. ⋯ This small sample of patients exhibited dramatic improvement with HBOT. Most importantly, HBOT potentially prevented the need for mechanical ventilation. Larger studies are likely to define the role of HBOT in the treatment of this novel disease.
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The first Hungarian COVID-19 case was reported on March 4, 2020 by Hungarian officials. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at the highest risk of contracting the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), with 12% of total coronavirus cases confirmed among them recently. 80% of the infected persons show only mild, moderate symptoms or stay asymptomatic. The single-stranded viral RNA can be detected by RT-PCR from the respiratory tract, urine, blood and, particulary in children, from stool samples for 30-40 days. ⋯ Both cross-sectional and longitudinal sudies are recommended to evaluate the ratio of the recovered, i.e., "already protected", the ones in the acute phase, i.e., "the infectious", and the virus-naive, i.e., "at risk" workers. Of the available molecular diagnostic options, in addition to RT-PCR it would be advisable to introduce the novel rapid antibody tests which can give quick results, reveal the timeline of the infection, are easy to handle, inexpensive and can be used periodically to monitor HCWs' viral status during the still unkown duration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(21): 854-860.
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Kaohsiung J Med Sci · May 2020
Infection control measures of a Taiwanese hospital to confront the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Health Organization announced the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic on 12 March 2020. Although being in proximity to China, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, Taiwan has maintained a low number of COVID-19 cases despite its close social ties and heavy traffic between Taiwan and China. Containment strategies executed by the Taiwanese government have attracted global attention. ⋯ Herein, we present infection control measures that can be adopted in hospital settings that were executed in a Taiwanese hospital to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, including emergency preparedness and responses from the hospital administration, education, surveillance, patient flow arrangement, the partition of hospital zones, and the prevention of a systemic shutdown by using the "divided cabin, divided flow" strategy. The measures implemented by a Taiwan hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic may not be universally applicable in every hospital. Nonetheless, the presented infection control methods have been practically executed and can be referenced or modified to fit each hospital's unique condition.
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Ann. Clin. Biochem. · May 2020
Electrolyte imbalances in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Early studies have reported various electrolyte abnormalities at admission in patients who progress to the severe form of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As electrolyte imbalance may not only impact patient care, but provide insight into the pathophysiology of COVID-19, we aimed to analyse all early data reported on electrolytes in COVID-19 patients with and without severe form. ⋯ This pooled analysis confirms that COVID-19 severity is associated with lower serum concentrations of sodium, potassium and calcium. We recommend electrolytes be measured at initial presentation and serially monitored during hospitalization in order to establish timely and appropriate corrective actions.