ABSTRACT
This paper describes the theory behind a smartphone application designed to detect COVID-19 infections through temperature monitoring. COVID-19 infections can cause a temperature increase typically around 0.5 C over a slow, moderate, nonlinear multi-day course averaging 5 days. To enable detection of this increase, filtering techniques are applied to simultaneously establish a base temperature and to detect a COVID-typical deviation from that base temperature. Numerical simulations are developed to assess the effectiveness of the application in detecting the presence of an infection in individuals and in groups. The measure of effectiveness is the number of new-infections incurred before the initial infection is detected. It is observed that group testing and group analysis becomes increasingly effective as the infection rate is increased, e.g. R0 ≥ 3. If the infection rate is low, e.g. R0 ≤ 1.1, group analysis becomes ineffective because, at any given time, too few people are infected simultaneously to be detectable in the group average. The effectiveness of individual testing and the individual analysis is unaffected by the infection rate. This result is significant since it has to be expected that widespread vaccination as well as social distancing efforts significantly reduce the infection rate making outbreaks challenging to spot. © 2022, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc.. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Rhino-orbital Cerebral Mucormycosis (ROCM), a rare invasive fungal infection, affects diabetic and immunocompromised individuals. Recent reports have raised the alarm for invasive ROCM associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 infection causes immune cell dysregulation, cytokine dysregulation, and is associated with invasive fungal infections. Immunosuppressive treatment of COVID-19 with corticosteroids increases the risk of opportunistic infection. We present a series of 3 cases of invasive ROCM with different outcomes in immunocompetent nondiabetic patients who all received corticosteroids at doses higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization, and who received oxygen during their SARS-CoV-2 treatment course. Immune dysregulatory effects of COVID-19 and high-dose corticosteroids may both have caused predisposition to ROCM in these cases. Additionally, health system stress caused by responding to COVID-19 surges may have predisposed patients to exposure to mucormycosis-causing fungi through use of non-sterilized water for oxygen humidification. In light of these cases, we encourage guideline-based corticosteroid dosing in the management of COVID-19 as well as vigilance for invasive mucormycosis and prompt treatment in corticosteroid-treated patients.