Covid19-Sources

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of long COVID in children and adolescents and identify the full spectrum of signs and symptoms present after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: Two independent investigators searched PubMed and Embase in order to identify observational studies that met the following criteria: 1) a minimum of 30 patients, 2) ages ranged from 0 to 18 years, 3) published in English, 4) published before February 10th, 2022, and 5) meets the National Institute for Healthcare Excellence (NICE) definition of long COVID, which consists of both ongoing (4 to 12 weeks) and post COVID 19 (≥12 weeks) symptoms. For COVID symptoms reported in two or more studies, random-effects meta-analyses were performed using the MetaXL software to estimate the pooled prevalence, and Review Manager (RevMan) software 5.4 was utilized to estimate the Odds Ratios (ORs) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistics. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviewers and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) reporting guideline was followed (registration PROSPERO CRD42021275408). Results: The literature search yielded 68 articles for long COVID in children and adolescents. After screening, 21 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review and meta-analyses. A total of 80,071 children and adolescents with COVID-19 were included. The prevalence of long COVID was 25.24% (95% CI 18.17-33.02), and the most prevalent clinical manifestations were mood symptoms (16.50%; 95% CI 7.37-28.15), fatigue (9.66%; 95% CI 4.45-16.46), and sleep disorders (8.42%; 95% CI 3.41-15.20). When compared to controls, children infected by SARS-CoV-2 had a higher risk of persistent dyspnea (OR 2.69 95%CI 2.30-3.14), anosmia/ageusia (OR 10.68, 95%CI 2.48, 46.03), and/or fever (OR 2.23, 95%CI 1.22-4.07). The main limitation of these meta-analyses is the probability of bias, which includes lack of standardized definitions, recall, selection, misclassification, nonresponse and/or loss of follow-up, and the high level of heterogeneity. Conclusion: These meta-analyses provide an overview of the broad symptomatology of long COVID in minors, which may help improve management, rehabilitation programs, and future development of guidelines and therapeutic research for COVID-19. ### Competing Interest Statement SLL is an employee of Novartis Pharmaceutical Company; the statements presented in the paper do not necessarily represent the position of the company. The remaining authors have no competing interests to declare ### Funding Statement This work was supported by funds from Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. In addition, the datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Freiburg – Die Prävalenzen zu Long COVID bei Erwachsenen variieren in Studien von etwa 2 % bis hin zu mehr als 60 %. Die Nachbeobachtungszeit der meisten... #EPILOC #LongCOVID

Safety data from more than 298 million doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine administered in the first 6 months of the US vaccination programme show that most reported adverse events were mild and short in duration.

Background: Mandatory use of face covering masks (FCM) had been established for children aged six and above in Catalonia (Spain), as one of the non-pharmaceutic

AbstractBackground. The role of SARS-CoV-2 in the pathogenesis of testicular damage is uncertain.Methods. We investigated the virological, pathological, and imm

With a response rate of 78% of Dutch pediatric departments, we identified 89 children, aged 2–18 years, suspected of long-COVID with various complaints. Of these children, 36% experienced severe limitations in daily function. The most common complaints were fatigue, dyspnea, and concentration difficulties with 87%, 55%, and 45% respectively. Our case series emphasizes the nonspecific and broad clinical manifestations seen in post-COVID complaints.

There is increasing evidence that adult patients diagnosed with acute COVID-19 suffer from Long COVID initially described in Italy.1 A recent large cohort of 1733 patients from Wuhan found persistent symptoms in 76% of patients 6 months after initial diagnosis.2 To date, data on Long COVID in children are scarce, with the exception of an earlier description of five children with Long COVID in Sweden.3 We assessed persistent symptoms in paediatric patients previously diagnosed with COVID-19.

Nature - Genetic variants that are linked to immune signalling, mucus production and other functions increase the risk of critical COVID-19.

Nature - Genome studies have discovered some genetic risk factors for disease — and could point to treatments.

Darf ich wieder ins Training zurückkehren? Wie steht es um meine körperliche Belastbarkeit? Worauf sollte ich beim Wiedereinstieg achten? Eine Sporttauglichkeitsuntersuchung nach einer Covid-19-Infektion verschafft Ihnen Gewissheit über Ihren Gesundheitsstatus und eventuelle Risiken. Unsere Experten beraten Sie individuell hinsichtlich Ihres Trainings. Herzliche Grüße, Ihr Team der Präventiven Sportmedizin und Sportkardiologie der TU München

We used daily real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) results from 67 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a household transmission study to examine the trajectory of cycle threshold (Ct) values, an inverse correlate of viral RNA concentration, from nasal specimens collected between April 2020 and May 2021. Ct values varied over the course of infection, across RT-PCR platforms, and by participant age. Specimens collected from children6 and adolescents showed higher Ct values and adults aged ≥50 years showed lower Ct values than adults aged 18-49 years. Ct values were lower on days when participants reported experiencing symptoms.

Nature Communications - While cross-reactive immunity between human coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 may contribute to host protection, validating evidences are still scarce. Here the authors assess a...

Persistent symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 are prevalent weeks to months following the infection. To date, it is difficult to disentangle the direct from the indirect effects of SARS-CoV-2, including lockdown, social and economic factors. Objective: The study aims to characterize the prevalence of symptoms, functional capacity and quality of life at 12 months in outpatient symptomatic individuals tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared to individuals tested negative. Methods: From April 23 to July 27, 2021, outpatient symptomatic individuals tested for SARS-CoV-2 at the Geneva University Hospitals were followed up 12 months after their test date. Results: At 12 months, out of the 1,447 participants (mean age 45.2 years, 61.2% women), 33.4% reported residual mild to moderate symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to 6.5% in the control group. Symptoms included fatigue (16% vs. 3.1%); dyspnea (8.9% vs. 1.1%); headache (9.8% vs. 1.7%); insomnia (8.9% vs. 2.7%) and difficulty concentrating (7.4% vs. 2.5%). When compared to the control group, 30.5% of SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals reported functional impairment at 12 months versus 6.6%. SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with the persistence of symptoms (aOR 4.1; 2.60-6.83) and functional impairment (aOR 3.54; 2.16-5.80) overall, and in subgroups of women, men, individuals younger than 40 years, between 40–59 years, and in individuals with no past medical or psychiatric history. Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to persistent symptoms over several months including in young healthy individuals, in addition to the pandemic effects, and potentially more than other common respiratory infections. Symptoms impact functional capacity up to 12 months post-infection.

Bethesda/Maryland – Ein gut funktionierendes angeborenes Immunsystem kann eine Erstinfektion mit SARS-CoV-2 bereits nach wenigen Tagen beenden, lange bevor die... #Studie #COVID19 #Science

Background The elderly are highly vulnerable to severe Covid-19. Waning immunity and emergence of Omicron have caused concerns about reduced effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines. The objective was to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) against severe Covid-19 among the elderly. Methods This nationwide, register-based cohort study included all residents aged 70 years and over in Finland. The follow-up started on December 27, 2020, and ended on February 19, 2022. The study outcomes were Covid-19-related hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admission timely associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. VE was estimated as 1 minus the hazard ratio comparing the vaccinated and unvaccinated and taking into account time since vaccination. Omicron-specific VE was evaluated as the effectiveness observed since January 01, 2022. Results The cohort included 897932 individuals. Comirnaty (BioNTech/Pfizer) VE against Covid-19-related hospitalization was 93% (95% confidence interval [CI], 90%–95%) and 87% (84%–89%) 14–90 and 91–180 days after the second dose; VE increased to 96% (95%–97%) 14–60 days after the third dose. VE of other homologous and heterologous 3-dose series was similar. Protection against severe Covid-19 requiring ICU treatment was even better. Since January 01, 2022, Comirnaty VE was 91% (95% CI, 79%–96%) and 76% (56%–86%) 14–90 and 91–180 days after the second and 95% (94%–97%) 14–60 days after the third dose. Conclusions VE against severe Covid-19 is high among the elderly. It waned slightly after 2 doses, but a third restored the protection. VE against severe Covid-19 remained high even after the emergence of Omicron. ### Competing Interest Statement No financial conflicts related to the current work. Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) conducts Public-Private Partnership with vaccine manufacturers and has received research funding from Sanofi Inc., Pfizer Inc., and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA for non-COVID-19-related studies. AAP has been an investigator in these studies but has received no personal remuneration. ### Funding Statement No external funding. This study was funded by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: A waiver of ethical approval was received from Professor Mika Salminen, Director of the Department for Health Security Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (see supplement material). I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes By Finnish law, the authors are not permitted to share individual-level register data. The computing code is available upon request.

Diese Aussage von Herrn #Kubicki macht derzeit ja die Runde. Die Einschätzung von Herrn @Heilrath teile ich vollumfänglich und ergänze, dass ein ganz frisches Preprint aus Dänemark eindrücklich zeigt, dass das für #Omikron schlicht falsch ist! Und Südafrika!#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 https://t.co/f4hDdYQMh8 pic.twitter.com/Ea8JuSSLNv— The Binder Lab (@TheBinderLab) March 15, 2022

Here, we provide two methods for monitoring reinfection trends in routine surveillance data to identify signatures of changes in reinfection risk and apply these approaches to data from South Africa’s SARS-CoV-2 epidemic to date. While we found no evidence of increased reinfection risk associated with circulation of Beta (B.1.351) or Delta (B.1.617.2) variants, we find clear, population-level evidence to suggest immune evasion by the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant in previously infected individuals in South Africa. Reinfections occurring between 01 November 2021 and 31 January 2022 were detected in individuals infected in all three previous waves, and there has been an increase in the risk of having a third infection since mid-November 2021.

Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy - ACE2-independent infection of T lymphocytes by SARS-CoV-2

Deaths reported within 28 days of testing positive were 61% (95% confidence interval: 56% to 65%) lower in suspected COVID-19 reinfection than primary infection cases. In the unvaccinated cohort, reinfections were associated with 49% (37% to 58%) lower odds of hospital admission in cases aged 50 to 65 years in the population not identified at risk of complication for COVID-19, and 34% (17% to 48%) in those at risk. ICU admission at reinfection compared to primary infection decreased 76% (55% to 87%). Individuals at risk and those aged below 50 years, who received at least 1 dose of vaccine against COVID-19, were 62% (39% to 74%) and 58% (24% to 77%) less likely to get admitted to hospital at reinfection, respectively.

Eine neue Studie soll zeigen, dass #SARSCoV2 auch T-Zellen infiziert und tötet. Aus immunologischer Sicht gibt es allerdings Probleme, die diesen Schluss nicht zulassen.#COVID19 ist eine ernste Erkrankung, aber kein "Airborne AIDS". Kurzer🧵1/nhttps://t.co/9RmC3KZuUv— Alexander Schäfer 🇪🇺🇺🇦 (@Immuno_Alex) March 14, 2022

AbstractBackground. Case series without control groups suggest that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection may result in cogniti

I spoke with @LaurenPelley about a new preprint comparing survival of Omicron vs. ancestral strain on surfaces. TLDR Omicron is more stable (probably in aerosols too, may contribute to greater transmissibility, my graph of their data👇) /1 pic.twitter.com/ECR8nrhjuP— Linsey Marr (@linseymarr) March 11, 2022

Figures have soared by 1.2m in two years of pandemic as long Covid takes its toll

Cross-Variant Neutralizing Antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections

Nature Medicine - Individuals with COVID-19 are at increased long-term risk for a wide range of cardiovascular disorders, even for individuals who were not hospitalized during the acute phase of...

Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) represent an emerging global crisis. However, quantifiable risk factors for PASC and their biological associations are poorly resolved. We executed a deep multi-omic, longitudinal investigation of 309 COVID-19 patients from initial diagnosis to convalescence (2–3 months later), integrated with clinical data and patient-reported symptoms. We resolved four PASC-anticipating risk factors at the time of initial COVID-19 diagnosis: type 2 diabetes, SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia, Epstein-Barr virus viremia, and specific auto-antibodies. In patients with gastrointestinal PASC, SARS-CoV-2-specific and CMV-specific CD8+ T cells exhibited unique dynamics during recovery from COVID-19. Analysis of symptom-associated immunological signatures revealed coordinated immunity polarization into four endotypes, exhibiting divergent acute severity and PASC. We find that immunological associations between PASC factors diminish over time, leading to distinct convalescent immune states. Detectability of most PASC factors at COVID-19 diagnosis emphasizes the importance of early disease measurements for understanding emergent chronic conditions and suggests PASC treatment strategies.

The Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly replaced the Delta variant as a dominating SARS-CoV-2 variant because of natural selection, which favors the variant with higher infectivity and stronger vaccine breakthrough ability. Omicron has three lineages or subvariants, BA.1 (B.1.1.529.1), BA.2 (B.1.1.529.2), and BA.3 (B.1.1.529.3). Among them, BA.1 is the currently prevailing subvariant. BA.2 shares 32 mutations with BA.1 but has 28 distinct ones. BA.3 shares most of its mutations with BA.1 and BA.2 except for one. BA.2 is found to be able to alarmingly reinfect patients originally infected by Omicron BA.1. An important question is whether BA.2 or BA.3 will become a new dominating “variant of concern”. Currently, no experimental data has been reported about BA.2 and BA.3. We construct a novel algebraic topology-based deep learning model trained with tens of thousands of mutational and deep mutational data to systematically evaluate BA.2’s and BA.3’s infectivity, vaccine breakthrough capability, and antibody resistance. Our comparative analysis of all main variants namely, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Lambda, Mu, BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3, unveils that BA.2 is about 1.5 and 4.2 times as contagious as BA.1 and Delta, respectively. It is also 30% and 17-fold more capable than BA.1 and Delta, respectively, to escape current vaccines. Therefore, we project that Omicron BA.2 is on its path to becoming the next dominating variant. We forecast that like Omicron BA.1, BA.2 will also seriously compromise most existing mAbs, except for sotrovimab developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

The frequency and extent of persistent sequelae in children and adolescents after infection with SARS-CoV-2 still needs to be comprehensively determined. In this cross-sectional clinical trial, we used non-invasive, label-free morphologic and free-breathing phase-resolved functional low-field magnetic resonance imaging (LF-MRI) to identify pulmonary changes in children and adolescents from 5 to

Nature - SARS-CoV-2 is associated with changes in brain structure in UK Biobank