Managing Oncology Services During a Major Coronavirus Outbreak: Lessons From the Saudi Arabia Experience

JCO Global Oncology
Volume 6, Page 518-524

g Jia, Xiaowen Hu, Feng Yang, Xin Song, Liyan Dong, Jingfei Zhang, Fachun Jiang and Ruqin G

Abstract

Outbreaks of infectious etiology, particularly those caused by a novel virus that has no known treatment or vaccine, may result in the interruption of medical care provided to patients with cancer and put them at risk for undertreatment in addition to the risk of being exposed to infection, a life-threatening event among patients with cancer. This article describes the approach used to manage patients with cancer during a large-scale Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus hospital outbreak in Saudi Arabia to ensure continuity of care and minimize harm from treatment interruption or acquiring infection. The approach taken toward managing this high-risk situation (COVID-19) could be easily adopted by health care organizations and would be helpful to ensure readiness for the occurrence of future outbreaks of different infectious etiologies like those recent episodes of new coronavirus.

Keywords

Opinion piece; Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment

Potential therapeutic options for coronavirus disease 2019: using knowledge of past outbreaks to guide future treatment

Chinese medical journal

Lin, J.; Ouyang, J.; Peng, X. R.; Isnard, S.; Fombuena, B.; Routy, J. P.; Chen, Y. K.

Introduction

In December 2019, initial cases of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) infection, termed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), were first reported in Wuhan, China. In humans, infections with the human coronavirus 229E, OC43, NL63 and HKU1 usually result in mild, self-limiting upper respiratory tract infections. However, other variants have rapid transmission rates and can cause severe respiratory syndrome and death. These variants include severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and the current 2019-nCov…

Keywords

By Comparative study, RCT; Normative guidance; Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment; Epidemiology

Comparison of immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies and RT-PCR for the detection of human coronaviruses 229E and OC43 in cell culture

Journal of Virological Methods
Volume 72, Issue 2, June 1998, Pages 145-152

Jacques Sizun, Nathalie Arbour, Pierre J Talbot

Abstract

Human coronaviruses, with two known serogroups named 229E and OC43, cause up to one third of common colds and may be associated with serious diseases such as nosocomial respiratory infections, enterocolitis, pericarditis and neurological disorders. Reliable methods of detection in clinical samples are needed for a better understanding of their role in pathology. As a first step in the design of such diagnostic procedures, the sensitivities and specificities of two viral diagnostic assays were compared in an experimental cell culture model: an indirect immuno-fluorescence assay using monoclonal antibodies and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction amplification of viral RNA from infected cells. Immunofluorescence detected human coronaviruses in cells infected at a MOI as low as 10−2 (log TCID50/ml=4.25 for HCV-229E and 2.0 for HCV-OC43; log PFU/ml=4.83 for HCV-229E and 1.84 for HCV-OC43) versus 10−3 (HCV-OC43) or 10−4 (HCV-229E) for reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction amplification (log TCID50/ml=1.75 for HCV-229E and 1.5 for HCV-OC43; log PFU/ml=2.3 for HCV-229E and 1.34 for HCV-OC43). There were no false positive signals with other human respiratory pathogens: influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus and adenovirus. Moreover, each assay was coronavirus serogroup-specific. These results demonstrate the potential usefulness of immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction RNA amplification for the rapid detection of human coronaviruses in infected cell cultures. Both methods could be applied to clinical specimens for the diagnosis of human infections.

Keywords

Coronavirus, 229E, OC43, Immunofluorescence, RT-PCR, Diagnostic