The current global perspective of the knowledge-attitude-behavior of the general public towards the corona virus disease -19 pandemic: Systematic review and meta-analysis on 67,143 participants.

BACKGROUND: Determining the success of infectious disease outbreak prevention is dependent mainly on public knowledge and compliance regarding the guidelines of precautionary behaviors and practices. While the current literature about the COVID-19 pandemic extensively addresses clinical and laboratory-based studies, a gap remains still present in terms of evaluating the general public knowledge and behaviors towards the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this review was to form a preliminary and contemporary understanding of the general public knowledge, attitude, and behaviors towards the COVID-19 pandemic globally. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted in various databases until May 2020. Each study's characteristics including the sample size, region, and study type were examined individually. A meta-analysis with a random-effects model and pooled prevalence with 95% confidence interval (CI) of all evaluated outcomes such as adequate knowledge, positive feelings, worrisome about the COVID-19 pandemic, and practice were recorded and reported from each study. Parameters such as random distribution, blinding, incomplete outcome data, selective reporting, and other biases were utilized to assess the quality of each retrieved record. Both Begg's and Egger's tests were employed to evaluate symmetry of funnel plots for assessment of publication bias. The overall quality of evidence was evaluated using GRADEpro software. RESULTS: A total of 26 studies with 67,143 participants were analyzed. The overall prevalence of knowledge, positive attitude, worrisome, and practice of precautionary measures were 0.87 (95%CI, 0.84-0.89), 0.85 (95%CI, 0.77-0.92), 0.71 (95%CI, 0.61-0.81), and 0.77 (95%CI, 0.70-0.83), respectively. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that social distancing was less practiced in Africa than other regions (p = 0.02), while knowledge of prevention of COVID-19 was reported higher in Asia (p = 0.001). Furthermore, people in developing countries had a higher prevalence of worrisome towards the COVID-19 pandemic with a p-value of less than 0.001. The quality of evidence was noted to be of low certainty in practice domain but moderate in the remaining outcomes. CONCLUSION: Assessing the public's risk perception and precautionary behaviors is essential in directing future policy and health population research regarding infection control and preventing new airborne disease outbreaks.

A systematic review of contemporary evidence on SARS-CoV-2 and HIV coinfection: What does it look like up to date?

BACKGROUND: Preexisting alteration of the immune system by factors including older age, cardiovascular diseases, morbid obesity, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have detrimental effects on SARS-CoV-2 patients. Literature regarding SARS-CoV-2/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is still developing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the existing literature pertaining to SARS-CoV-2/HIV coinfection systematically. Research records' characteristics and patients' clinical data were collected. RESULTS: Seven research records were included, of which three were case series and four were case reports, reporting a total of 16 cases. There was one case of death, whereas (15/16) patients were discharged home. Majority of patients developed consistent clinical presentation of SARS-CoV-2. All patients had initial positive RT-PCR results, and four cases had HIV-related lymphopenia. CONCLUSION: Although the current literature is still growing to increase our understanding of SARS-CoV-2/HIV coinfection, people living with HIV should adhere to the guidelines of healthy behavior and practice during this pandemic.