Initial Experience of an Emergency Department in Shenzhen in Responding to the Emerging Wuhan Coronavirus Pneumonia

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 75, Issue 4, April 2020, Page 556.

Lu, K. L.; Chen, S.; Leung, L. P.

Since the emergence of a cluster of patients with pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, emergency departments (EDs) in China have instituted special measures to manage patients with potential exposure to the virus. We describe our initial experience in managing the current outbreak caused by COVID-19…

Keywords

Epidemiology

COVID-19 in Endoscopy: Time to do more?

Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Thompson, Christopher C.; Shen, Lin; Lee, Linda S.

Introduction

We have read with great interest the paired articles on SARS-CoV-2/Novel Coronavirus19 (COVID-19) in this issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. The first is entitled “Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: what the department of endoscopy should know” by Repici et al, 1 which describes the Italian experience, and the second is “Considerations in performing endoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic” by Soetikno et al, 2 which is drawn largely from the Hong Kong experience. We would like to congratulate the authors for their development and rigorous account of the endoscopic practices they have successfully used to minimize infection of endoscopy staff while providing essential services in this high-risk environment. We would also like to share a U.S. hospital perspective gained from our experience contending with numerous COVID-19 cases following the Biogen conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

Keywords

Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment

How could artificial intelligence aid in the fight against coronavirus?

Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy

Yassine, Hadi M.; Shah, Zubair.

Do you believe that artificial intelligence (AI) is the key to a cure for the coronavirus?

Dr Hadi: Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the means or avenues to understand the virus and develop preventative and control measures. This includes but is not limited to: the usage of mathematical modeling to understand virus transmission, structural biology to determine virus structure and develop vaccines, computational biology to understand virus evolution, as well as docking studies to screen for drugs and inhibitors

Keywords

COVID19, Artificial Intelligence, In-silico, Vaccines, Emerging Diseases

The Effects Of Misleading Media Reports About COVID-19 On Chinese Tourists Mental Health: A Perspective Article

Anatolia

Zheng, Yi; Goh,Edmund; Wen, Jun.

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. This pandemic has since saturated the headlines of major international media channels that disseminate information to global citizens. However, some media coverage of COVID-19 has negatively influenced Chinese travellers’ mental health due to the outbreak having been labelled “Chinese virus pandemonium.” Key world leaders have also parroted such sensationalism; for example, President Donald Trump called COVID-19 the “Chinese virus”. This discriminatory labelling has resulted in violent attacks on Chinese international travellers and students. This perspective article explores how misleading and discriminatory media reports may affect the mental well-being of ethnically Chinese travellers during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

COVID-19 outbreak, misleading information, media coverage, mental health, psychological well-being

COVID 2019 Outbreak: The disappointment in Indian Teachers

Asian Journal of Psychiatry
Volume 50, April 2020, 102047

Bhat, Ritesh; Singh, Varun Kumar; Naik, Nithesh; Kamath C, Raghavendra; Mulimani, Prashant; Kulkarni, Niranjan.

Introduction

Coronavirus disease or commonly known as COVID19 is the news of every single second since it originated from Wuhan, China (Wang et al., 2020), which is declared as a pandemic disease by World Health Organization, said to be caused by a new strain of the virus. The disease is said to spread through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose of an infected person, particularly when he/she sneezes or coughs (World Health Organization, 2020). Though the human coronaviruses have been recognized now for many years, the lack of immunity to the identified new strain, there is a large portion of the population susceptible to it (Goyal et al., 2020). Besides, the latest trend of the exponential increase in the infected people, with a steep rise of 69.17 % within three days from 21st March 2020 to 23rd March 2020 (Kiprosh, 2020), and because of the lack of preventive vaccine (El Zowalaty and Järhult, 2020), there has been a high panic situation amongst the local public.

Italy in a Time of Emergency and Scarce Resources: The Need for Embedding Ethical Reflection in Social and Clinical Settings

The Journal of Clinical Ethics
Volume 31, 2020, Issue 1, pp 92-94

Nicoli, F., Gasparetto, A.

Abstract

The COVID-19 virus is severely testing the Italian healthcare system, as the requests for intensive treatment are greater than the real capacity of the system to receive patients. Given this emergency situation, it follows that citizens are limited in their freedom of movement in order to limit infection, and that in hospitals a significant number of critical situations must be faced. This brief contribution aims to offer a reflection on the public and clinical role of the bioethicist: a figure able to promote dialogue between the world of medicine and the community, and to face ethical dilemmas even in emergent clinical settings.

Keywords

Epidemiology; Ethics, social science, economics

Consensus Guidelines For Managing The Airway In Patients With COVID-19

Anaesthesia

Cook, T. M.; El-Boghdadly, K.; McGuire, B.; McNarry, A. F.; Patel, A.; Higgs, A..

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is highly contagious. Airway management of patients with COVID-19 is high risk to staff and patients. We aimed to develop principles for airway management of patients with COVID-19 to encourage safe, accurate and swift performance. This consensus statement has been brought together at short notice to advise on airway management for patients with COVID-19, drawing on published literature and immediately available information from clinicians and experts. Recommendations on the prevention of contamination of healthcare workers, the choice of staff involved in airway management, the training required and the selection of equipment are discussed. The fundamental principles of airway management in these settings are described for: emergency tracheal intubation; predicted or unexpected difficult tracheal intubation; cardiac arrest; anaesthetic care; and tracheal extubation. We provide figures to support clinicians in safe airway management of patients with COVID-19. The advice in this document is designed to be adapted in line with local workplace policies.

Keywords

airway; anaesthesia; coronavirus; COVID-19; critical care; difficult airway; intubation

Not wearing masks to protect against coronavirus is a ‘big mistake,’ top Chinese scientist says

The European respiratory journal

Cohen, Jon.

To the Editor,

Chinese scientists at the front of that country’s outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not been particularly accessible to foreign media. Many have been overwhelmed trying to understand their epidemic and combat it, and responding to media requests, especially from journalists outside of China, has not been a top priority.

Science has tried to interview George Gao, director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for 2 months. Last week he responded.

Keywords

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment

Posttraumatic stress symptoms and attitude toward crisis mental health services among clinically stable patients with COVID-19 in China

Psychological Medicine
March 2020 , pp. 1-7

Bo, Hai-Xin; Li, Wen; Yang, Yuan; Wang, Yu; Zhang, Qinge; Cheung, Teris; Wu, Xinjuan; Xiang, Yu-Tao.

Body

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, which is believed to be originated from Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, has been rapidly transmitted globally. With the increasing number of infected cases and deaths, many patients experienced both physical sufferings and great psychological distress. In China, a range of guidelines and expert consensus have been developed by health authorities and academic associations. Crisis mental health interventions, such as online education and counseling services, have been widely adopted nationwide.(Liu et al., 2020) According to the treatment guidelines in China, COVID-19 patients need to be treated in isolated infectious hospitals. Due to social isolation, perceived danger, uncertainty, physical discomfort, medication side effects, fear of virus transmission to others, and overwhelming negative news portrayal in mass media coverage, patients with COVID-19 may experience loneliness, anger, anxiety, depression, and insomnia, and posttraumatic stress symptoms,(Wu, Chan, & Ma, 2005; Xiang et al., 2020) which could negatively affect individuals’ social and occupational functioning, and quality of life.(Monson, Caron, McCloskey, & Brunet, 2017; North et al., 2002) To date, no studies on the pattern of posttraumatic stress symptoms among COVID-19 patients have been reported.

Keywords

Ethics, social science, economics

COVID-19 positive test result from private hospital laboratory, neglecting on reporting and problem on national infection control

Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Thompson, Christopher C.; Shen, Lin; Lee, Linda S.

To the Editor,

The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a new global public health problem. It already affects more than 140 countries around the world. Thailand is the second country in the timeline of disease pandemic [1]. The infection occurs since early January 2020 and COVID-19 is still uncontrollable problem. The Thai Ministry of Public Health tried several methods for counteracting the disease outbreak. As a legal control, COVID-19 is included into the national list of infectious disease under surveillance. The laws note that when a medical center detects this disease, an official report to governmental Center of Disease Control has to done within 3 hours. If one violates this legal control, there will be punishment.

Keywords

Infection prevention and control

Preparedness and Lessons Learned from the Novel Coronavirus Disease

The International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Volume 11, March 2020, Issue 2, pp 108-112

Gudi, S. K.; Tiwari, K. K.

Abstract

In a short span, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has captured global consciousness by significantly affecting the day-to-day life of humans and emerged as a public health emergency. Undoubtedly, it indicates that lessons learnt from the past epidemics of coronaviruses such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), had not enough and thus left us ill-prepared to deal with the challenges that COVID-19 pandemic is currently posing. Currently, as a global pandemic, COVID-19 poses major challenges and thus forcing the entire world to lockdown. However, the disease has prepared humankind in facing such outbreaks at present as well as in the future. Besides, it has also taught numerous lessons that are worth considering and implementing to make the world a better reality.

Keywords

Epidemiology

Does hand hygiene reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission?

Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology

Yang, Chao.

Letter To The Editor

Tracy share their experience of stepping up infection control measures in ophthalmology to minimize COVID19 infection of both healthcare workers and patients, and emphasize universal masking, hand hygiene, and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, whether hand hygiene is “particularly important” for SARS-CoV-2 infection control needs further study, as there is no convincing evidence that this prevention tool is effective in the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic…

Keywords

Infection prevention and control

COVID-19 drives new threat to bats in China

Infectious Disease Reports
Vol. 367, Issue 6485, pp. 1436

Zhao, H.

Introduction

As pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to accelerate, the French Health Minister, Olivier Véran, has confused matters by claiming on Twitter that anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen or cortisone could aggravate the infection (1). However, scientific evidence does not indicate that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) consumption puts patients who otherwise might have mild or asymptomatic infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)—the virus that causes COVID-19—at risk of more severe disease. People taking NSAIDs for other reasons should not stop doing so for fear of increasing their COVID-19 risk

Keywords

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment

CT morphology of COVID-19: Case report and review of literature

RoFo : Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Rontgenstrahlen und der Nuklearmedizin

Hamer, Okka Wilkea; Salzberger, Bernd; Gebauer, Johannes; Stroszczynski, Christian; Pfeifer, Michael.

Introduction

In December 2019 a clustering of pneumonia was reported for the first time in Wuhan, Hubei, China. A coronavirus was identified as the pathogen, which has since been given the name Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is called COVID-19 which has since spread worldwide. In Germany, the numbers continue to increase, and the level of COVID-19 lethality in Europe cannot yet be accurately estimated. However, lethality appears to be particularly higher in older patients compared to seasonal influenza. Based on experience in China, computed tomography (CT) is very helpful in COVID-19 in that it can produce an image that is suggestive for diagnosis, and the sensitivity of CT is in some cases higher than that of the current gold standard, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

The aim of this article is to present a case with COVID-19 pneumonia and to provide an overview of the existing radiological literature on COVID-19.

Keywords

Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment

Report from the American Society for Microbiology COVID-19 International Summit, 23 March 2020: Value of Diagnostic Testing for SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19

mBio
Volume 11, 2020, Issue 2

Patel, R.; Babady, E.; Theel, E. S.; Storch, G. A.; Pinsky, B. A.; St George, K.; Smith, T. C.; Bertuzzi, S.

GUEST EDITORIAL

As we enter the second quarter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS–CoV-2) increasingly available (though still limited and/or slow in some areas), we are faced with new questions and challenges regarding this novel virus. When to test? Whom to test? What to test? How often to test? And, what to do with test results? Since SARS–CoV-2 is a new virus, there is little evidence to fall back on for test utilization and diagnostic stewardship.

Keywords

Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment; Epidemiology

COVID-19, a UK perspective

European Journal of Emergency Medicine

Sriskandar, Joanna; Bloom, Benjamin.

Introduction

On 31 December 2019, the WHO was informed of new cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology. On 7 January 2020, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of the pneumonia. The organism has subsequently been named SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes COVID-19 [1]. By 22 January, Public Health England (PHE) published its first news report on the novel virus. On the 23 January 2020, the Emergency Department (ED) at Royal London Hospital swabbed its first potential COVID-19 patient. As of 9 March, in the UK, 24 641 people have tested negative, 319 tested positive and three people have died and were positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment

COVID-19 in a Long-Term Care Facility - King County, Washington, February 27-March 9, 2020

MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Volume 69, March 2020, Issue 12, p 339-342

McMichael, T. M.; Clark, S.; Pogosjans, S.; Kay, M.; Lewis, J.; Baer, A.; Kawakami, V.; Lukoff, M. D.; Ferro, J.; Brostrom-Smith, C.; Riedo, F. X.; Russell, D.; Hiatt, B.; Montgomery, P.; Rao, A. K.; Currie, D. W.; Chow, E. J.; Tobolowsky, F.; Bardossy, A. C.; Oakley, L. P.; Jacobs, J. R.; Schwartz, N. G.; Stone, N.; Reddy, S. C.; Jernigan, J. A.; Honein, M. A.; Clark, T. A.; Duchin, J. S.

Abstract

On February 28, 2020, a case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was identified in a woman resident of a long-term care skilled nursing facility (facility A) in King County, Washington.* Epidemiologic investigation of facility A identified 129 cases of COVID-19 associated with facility A, including 81 of the residents, 34 staff members, and 14 visitors; 23 persons died. Limitations in effective infection control and prevention and staff members working in multiple facilities contributed to intra- and interfacility spread. COVID-19 can spread rapidly in long-term residential care facilities, and persons with chronic underlying medical conditions are at greater risk for COVID-19-associated severe disease and death. Long-term care facilities should take proactive steps to protect the health of residents and preserve the health care workforce by identifying and excluding potentially infected staff members and visitors, ensuring early recognition of potentially infected patients, and implementing appropriate infection control measures.

Keywords

Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment

Covid-19 and the Digestive System

Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology

Wong, S. H.; Lui, R. N.; Sung, J. J.

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is currently causing a major pandemic. It is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a member of the Betacoronavirus genus that also includes the SARS-CoV and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). While patients typically present with fever and a respiratory illness, some patients also report gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Studies have identified the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in stool specimens of infected patients, and its viral receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was found to be highly expressed in gastrointestinal epithelial cells. These suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can actively infect and replicate in the gastrointestinal tract. This has important implications to the disease management, transmission, and infection control. In this article, we review the important gastrointestinal aspects of the disease.

Keywords

COVID-19, coronavirus, pneumonia, gastrointestinal infection, diarrhoea

Suggestions for safety and protection control in Department of Nuclear Medicine during the outbreak of COVID-19 (Copy)

European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging

Zhang, X.; Shao, F.; Lan, X.

Body

Dear Sir,

Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus disease named COVID-19 broke out in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, and then spread throughout the country. At present, growing cases have been found in other countries with a rapid growth rate, and the world moves closer toward worldwide spread of the virus. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (EDCD) had raised the risk infection level of COVID-19 from medium to high for its severe situation. The virus spread rapidly from person to person through the droplets of respiratory and close contact, and everyone can be infected. The common clinical symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and myalgia or fatigue. Old men with comorbidities are more likely to have severe or even fatal respiratory diseases, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. In our department, four highly suspected patients with COVID-19 underwent [18F]-FDG PET/CT in January 2020. PET and SPECT are routine examinations for clinical diagnosis of various diseases and appropriate protective measures should be carried out during this epidemic...

Keywords

Opinion piece; Epidemiology

COVID-19: protect great apes during human pandemics

Nature 
579, 7800, 497 (2020)

Gillespie, T. R.; Leendertz, F. H.

Correspondence

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic, is also a threat to our closest living relatives, the great apes. As leading experts in the conservation and health of these animals, we urge governments, conservation practitioners, researchers, tourism professionals and funding agencies to reduce the risk of introducing the virus into these endangered apes.

Keywords

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment, human pandemics