ABSTRACT
Objectives: Nosocomial influenza outbreak detection remains challenging. We evaluated the diagnostic utility of blood cell parameters, along with their capacity to differentiate between hospital acquired influenza and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed patients diagnosed with nosocomial influenza from January 2017 to December 2019, and patients with COVID-19 in early 2020 at a tertiary teaching hospital in Beijing, China. We compared the differences between blood cell count and ratios (lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio [LMR], neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], lymphocyte-to-platelet ratio [LPR]) at symptom onset, before (admission), and after (recovery) nosocomial influenza. We also compared the abovementioned parameters between influenza and COVID-19 patients.ResultsLymphocyte count, LMR, and LPR were significantly lower in the symptom onset than in the admission and recovery groups ( p
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Influenza, HumanABSTRACT
The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a serious impact on global health. COVID-19 vaccines may be one of the most effective measure to end the pandemic. High infection risk and higher serious incident and mortality rates have been shown in cancer patients with COVID-19. Therefore, cancer patients should be the priority group for COVID-19 prevention. Until now, data of COVID-19 vaccination for cancer patients is lacking. We review the interim data of safety and immune-efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination in cancer patients based on the latest studies. Due to the complicated immune systems of cancer patients caused by the malignancy and anticancer treatments, we proposed preliminary specific COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for cancer patients with different anticancer treatments and at different stages of the disease. Preventing COVID-19 with vaccinations for cancer patients is crucial, and we call for more large-scale clinical trials and real-world studies, for further COVID-19 vaccination recommendations development.â©.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines/administration & dosage , COVID-19/prevention & control , Neoplasms/therapy , Practice Guidelines as Topic , SARS-CoV-2/drug effects , Vaccination/methods , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/virology , COVID-19 Vaccines/immunology , Humans , Pandemics , Radiotherapy/methods , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , SARS-CoV-2/physiology , Surgical Procedures, Operative/methodsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a viral respiratory disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Patients with this disease may be more prone to venous or arterial thrombosis because of the activation of many factors involved in it, including inflammation, platelet activation and endothelial dysfunction. Interferon gamma inducible protein-10 (IP-10), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and macrophage inflammatory protein 1-alpha (MIP1α) are cytokines related to thrombosis. Therefore, this study focused on these three indicators in COVID-19, with the hope to find biomarkers that are associated with patients' outcome. METHODS: This is a retrospective single-center study involving 74 severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients recruited from the ICU department of the Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China. The patients were divided into two groups: severe patients and critically ill patients. The serum IP-10, MCP-1 and MIP1α level in both groups was detected using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The clinical symptoms, laboratory test results, and the outcome of COVID-19 patients were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The serum IP-10 and MCP-1 level in critically ill patients was significantly higher than that in severe patients (P < 0.001). However, no statistical difference in MIP1α between the two groups was found. The analysis of dynamic changes showed that these indicators remarkably increased in patients with poor prognosis. Since the selected patients were severe or critically ill, no significant difference was observed between survival and death. CONCLUSIONS: IP-10 and MCP-1 are biomarkers associated with the severity of COVID-19 disease and can be related to the risk of death in COVID-19 patients.
Subject(s)
Chemokine CCL2/blood , Chemokine CXCL10/blood , Coronavirus Infections/complications , Cytokine Release Syndrome/complications , Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation/complications , Pneumonia, Viral/complications , Pulmonary Embolism/complications , Respiratory Insufficiency/complications , Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing/blood , Aged , Betacoronavirus/pathogenicity , Biomarkers/blood , COVID-19 , Coronavirus Infections/diagnosis , Coronavirus Infections/mortality , Coronavirus Infections/virology , Critical Illness , Cytokine Release Syndrome/diagnosis , Cytokine Release Syndrome/mortality , Cytokine Release Syndrome/virology , Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation/diagnosis , Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation/mortality , Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation/virology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pandemics , Pneumonia, Viral/diagnosis , Pneumonia, Viral/mortality , Pneumonia, Viral/virology , Prognosis , Pulmonary Embolism/diagnosis , Pulmonary Embolism/mortality , Pulmonary Embolism/virology , Respiratory Insufficiency/diagnosis , Respiratory Insufficiency/mortality , Respiratory Insufficiency/virology , Retrospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2 , Severity of Illness Index , Survival AnalysisABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) happened in early December and it has affected China in more ways than one. The societal response to the pandemic restricted medical students to their homes. Although students cannot learn about COVID-19 through clinical practice, they can still pay attention to news of COVID-19 through various channels. Although, as suggested by previous studies, some medical students have already volunteered to serve during the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall willingness of Chinese medical students to volunteer for such has not been systematically examined. AIM: To study Chinese medical students' interest in the relevant knowledge on COVID-19 and what roles they want to play in the pandemic. METHODS: Medical students at Peking Union Medical College were surveyed via a web-based questionnaire to obtain data on the extent of interest in the relevant knowledge on COVID-19, attitude towards volunteerism in the pandemic, and career preference. Logistic regression modeling was used to investigate possible factors that could encourage volunteerism among this group in a pandemic. RESULTS: A total of 552 medical students responded. Most medical students showed a huge interest in COVID-19. The extent of students' interest in COVID-19 varied among different student-classes (P < 0.05). Senior students had higher scores than the other two classes. The number of people who were 'glad to volunteer' in COVID-19 represented 85.6% of the respondents. What these students expressed willingness to undertake involved direct, indirect, and administrative job activities. Logistic regression analysis identified two factors that negatively influenced volunteering in the pandemic: Student-class and hazards of the voluntary job. Factors that positively influenced volunteering were time to watch COVID-19 news, predictable impact on China, and moral responsibility. CONCLUSION: More innovative methods can be explored to increase Chinese medical students' interest in reading about the relevant knowledge on COVID-19 and doing voluntary jobs during the pandemic.