Application of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) in Diagnostics of Influenza during COVID-19 Pandemic in elderly Hospitalized People (Short Communication)

Influenza is a viral disease of the respiratory tract which affects a relatively large number of people in Slovakia and around the world every year. The patient groups most at risk are the elderly and immunocompromised patients in whom the disease can have serious outcomes including death. Therefore, early diagnosis of influenza and subsequent epidemiological management is very important. Point-of-care testing (POCT) seems to be very useful for rapid molecular diagnosis of influenza A and B viruses in patient samples. In today's coronavirus

Role of interleukin 6 as a predictive factor for a severe course of Covid-19: retrospective data analysis of patients from a long-term care facility during Covid-19 outbreak.

BACKGROUND: Covid-19 is a disease with high morbidity and mortality among elderly residents of long-term care facilities (LTCF). During an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the LTCF an effective screening tool is essential to identify the patients at risk for severe disease. We explored the role of interleukin 6 (IL-6) as a predictor for severe disease during the outbreak of Covid-19 in one LTCF in Slovakia. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective data analysis of cases of COVID-19, diagnosed during the outbreak in one LTCF in Slovakia between April 11, 2020, and May 5, 2020. Within 24 h after the diagnosis of Covid-19, clinical and laboratory screening was performed in the LTCF to identify patients in need of hospitalization. Patients with oxygen saturation below 90% were immediately referred to the hospital. Patients staying in the LFTC were monitored daily and those that developed hypoxemia were transferred to the hospital. We analyzed the association between the IL-6 at the initial assessment and development of hypoxemia during follow up and determined the cut-off of the IL-6 able to predict the development of hypoxemia requiring oxygen therapy. RESULTS: Fifty-three patients (11 men, 42 women) with diagnosed Covid-19 were included in the analysis. 19 (53%) patients developed hypoxemia during the disease. Patients with hypoxemia had significantly higher concentrations of IL-6, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, fibrinogen, total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase at initial screening. ROC analyses identified IL-6 as the most robust predictor of hypoxemia. The concentration of IL-6 > 24 pg/mL predicted the development of hypoxemia with the sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 88.9%. The positive and negative predictive values were 76.9, and 100% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The concentration of IL-6 > 24 pg/mL at initial assessment predicted the development of hypoxemia requiring hospitalization with excellent sensitivity and good specificity. IL-6 appears as a potential predictor for the development of the severe Covid-19 and might serve for early identification of patients in need of hospitalization. Further studies are needed to evaluate the robustness of the use of IL-6 as an effective screening tool for the severe course of Covid-19.

Gerontocardiology: Covid-19

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the “new virus” SARS-CoV-2, has changed the way the world runs. In the majority of cases, the course of the infection is asymptomatic or only mild symptoms are present: however it can also be serious and even lethal. Here, seniors are at special COVID-19 risk. The disease attacks mainly the respiratory system, but other systems, the cardiovascular sytem being one of them, are frequently affected as well. In this review, we offer one way of looking at what we know of the cardiovascular consequences of COVID-19 in seniors. Ref. 83, on-line full text (Free, PDF) www.cardi-ologyletters.sk.

Application of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) in diagnostics of influenza

Influenza is a viral disease of the respiratory tract, which affects a relatively large number of people in Slovakia and even around the world every year. The most risk patient groups are the elderly and immunocompromised patients with serious outcomes and increased mortality. Therefore early diagnosis of influenza and subsequent epidemiological management is very important. For this purpose POCT („point-of-care tests“ or „bedside tests“) seems to be very useful for rapid molecular genetic detection of influenza A and B viruses in samples of the patients. Today rapid diagnostic tests for influenza and coronavirus available at emergency departments in all Slovak hospitals are promising way how to be more effective in patient triage and they can minimise number of nosocomial infections due to respiratory virus infections. © 2020 UKSS and NASS