Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Pol. Arch. Med. Wewn. · Jan 2020
ReviewMolecular epidemiology of SARS CoV-2: a review of current data on genetic variability of the virus.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), is a novel pathogen recently introduced to the human population. It is characterized by rapid epidemic transmissions due to lack of herd immunity as well as by notable mortality which increases with age and in patients with comorbidities. Outbreak forecasting and modelling suggest that the number of infected people will continue to rise globally in the forthcoming months. ⋯ It is unknown if this difference is associated with a higher virulence of viral strains, differences in host genomics, access to medical resources, or other unknown variables. Little is also known about SARS‑CoV‑2 evolutionary and transmission patterns as a limited number of large‑scale sequence and phylogenetic analyses have been performed so far. In this review, we aimed to provide concise data on the SARS‑CoV‑2 genomics, molecular evolution, and variability with special consideration of the disease course.
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Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2020
ReviewThe Comparative Immunological Characteristics of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Infections.
Immune dysfunction and aberrant cytokine storms often lead to rapid exacerbation of the disease during late infection stages in SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV patients. However, the underlying immunopathology mechanisms are not fully understood, and there has been little progress in research regarding the development of vaccines, anti-viral drugs, and immunotherapy. The newly discovered SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) is responsible for the third coronavirus pandemic in the human population, and this virus exhibits enhanced pathogenicity and transmissibility. ⋯ In this review, we provide detailed knowledge of the pathogenesis and immunological characteristics of SARS and MERS, and we present recent findings regarding the clinical features and potential immunopathogenesis of COVID-19. Host immunological characteristics of these three infections are summarised and compared. We aim to provide insights and scientific evidence regarding the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and therapeutic strategies targeting this disease.
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Multicenter Study
Clinical Characteristics of Elderly Patients with COVID-19 in Hunan Province, China: A Multicenter, Retrospective Study.
The aim of this study was to analyze and summarize the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compare the differences of young-old patients (60-74 years old) and old-old patients (≥75 years old). ⋯ Elderly patients usually have chronic medical illness and are likely to have a severe or critically severe condition. They could show atypical symptoms without fever or cough and multiple organ dysfunction. Old-old patients tend to have more complications than young-old patients during hospitalization. Careful nursing, observation, and systemic treatment are very important in elderly patients.
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Protecting healthcare workers (HCWs) from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a priority to maintain a safe and functioning healthcare system. Our objective was to describe and compare the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and lethality of SARS-CoV-2 infections among HCWs compared to non-HCWs. ⋯ HCWs represent a disproportionate number of diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections in Ontario, however this discrepancy is at least partially explained by limitations in testing earlier in the pandemic for non-HCWs. We observed a low risk of death in HCWs which could not be completely explained by other factors.
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Biol Methods Protoc · Jan 2020
Rapid and inexpensive whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 using 1200 bp tiled amplicons and Oxford Nanopore Rapid Barcoding.
Rapid and cost-efficient whole-genome sequencing of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019, is critical for understanding viral transmission dynamics. Here we show that using a new multiplexed set of primers in conjunction with the Oxford Nanopore Rapid Barcode library kit allows for faster, simpler, and less expensive SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing. ⋯ We also show that mis-classification of barcodes, which may be more likely when using the Oxford Nanopore Rapid Barcode library prep, is unlikely to cause problems in variant calling. This method reduces the time from RNA to genome sequence by more than half compared to the more standard ligation-based Oxford Nanopore library preparation method at considerably lower costs.