Laboratory biomarker predictors for disease progression and outcome among Egyptian COVID-19 patients.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic resulted in more than five hundred million infected cases worldwide. The current study aimed to screen the correlation of different laboratory findings with disease severity and clinical outcomes of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among Egyptian patients to obtain prognostic indicators of disease severity and outcome.A total of 112 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients were examined. According to the severity of the disease, these patients were divided into three main groups: mild, moderate and severe cases. In addition, clinical characteristics and laboratory findings, including Hb, platelet count, white blood cell count, lymphocyte percentage, neutrophil percentage, neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), D-dimer, highly sensitive C-reactive protein (HS-CRP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatinine, were measured.The presence of hypertension and/or diabetes was found to be a significant risk factor for disease severity and poor outcome. Increased respiratory rate, levels of SpO2, HS-CRP, D-dimer, NLR, ALT, LDH, lymphopenia and neutrophilia, as well as changes in chest computed tomography (CT), were associated with increased disease severity and fatal consequences. Highly sensitive C-reactive protein, D-dimer, NLR and LDH constituted excellent predictors for both disease severity and death.Laboratory biomarkers, such as HS-CRP, D-dimer, NLR and LDH, are excellent predictors for both disease severity and death. They can predict mortality in patients at the time of admission secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection and can help physicians identify high-risk patients before clinical deterioration.

Covid-19: Urgent Call to Action.

Novel Corona Virus 2019 (COVID-19) is a new virus spread rapidly all over the world. It has specific respiratory or gastrointestinal tract symptoms. Its reported complications include respiratory distress, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and septic shock. Due to heavy cytokines released by the virus; corticosteroids (40-120 mg / day) were given to severe cases to reduce pneumonia. It's a difficult task to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and to invent proper vaccines and treatments. In this review, the existing understanding of fatal, pandemic human coronavirus SARS-Cov2 (COVID-19), with special reference to its diagnosis, origin, transmission, and different approaches to develop its therapeutics, will be discussed.

Genomic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 in Egypt.

Introduction: The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread throughout the globe, causing a pandemic. In Egypt over 115,000 individuals were infected so far. Objective: In the present study, the objective is to perform a complete genome sequence of SAR-CoV2 isolated from Egyptian coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. Methods: Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 61 COVID-19 patients who attended at National Cancer Institute, Kasr Al-Aini Hospital and the army hospital. Viral RNA was extracted and whole genomic sequencing was conducted using Next Generation Sequencing. Results: In all cases, the sequenced virus has at least 99% identity to the reference Wuhan 1. The sequence analysis showed 204 distinct genome variations including 114 missense mutations, 72 synonymous mutations, 1 disruptive in-frame deletion, 7 downstream gene mutations, 6 upstream gene mutations, 3 frame-shift deletions, and 1 in-frame deletion. The most dominant clades were G/GH/GR/O and the dominant type is B. Conclusion: The whole genomic sequence of SARS-CoV2 showed 204 variations in the genomes of the Egyptian isolates, where the Asp614Gly (D614G) substitution is the most common among the samples (60/61). So far, there were no strikingly variations specific to the Egyptian population, at least for this set of samples.