Novel Multi-Modal Throat Inflammation and Chest Radiography based Early-Diagnosis and Mass-Screening of COVID-19

Background: The upsurge of COVID-19 has received significant international contemplation considering its life-threatening ramifications. To ensure that the susceptible patients can be quarantined to control the spread of the disease during the incubation period of the coronavirus, it becomes imperative to automatically and non-invasively mass screen patients. The diagnosis using RT-PCR is arduous and time-consuming. Currently, the non-invasive mass screening of susceptible cases is being performed by utilizing the thermal screening technique. However, with the consumption of paracetamol, the symptoms of fever can be suppressed. Methods: A novel multi-modal approach has been proposed. Throat inflammation-based mass screening and early prediction followed by Chest X-Ray based diagnosis have been proposed. Depth-wise separable convolutions have been utilized by fine-tuning Xception Net and Mobile Net architectures. NADAM optimizer has been leveraged to promote faster convergence. Results: The proposed method achieved 91% accuracy on the throat inflammation identification task and 96% accuracy on chest radiography conducted on the dataset. Conclusion: Evaluation of the proposed method indicates promising results and henceforth validates its clinical reliability. The future direction could be working on a larger dataset in close collaboration with the medical fraternity. © 2021 Ramwala et al.

Epidemiology of antimicrobial use among SARS-COV-2 positive and negative admissions in the us: A multicenter evaluation

Background: SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus, emerged in Wuhan, China in December of 2019, and became a pandemic. Increases in bacterial/fungal co-infections have occurred during influenza pandemics and early data from this pandemic indicate high utilization of antimicrobial therapy. We compared the utilization of antimicrobials and health outcomes between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative patients. Methods: Patients hospitalized at 271 US acute care facilities from 3/1/20-5/30/20 with ≥1 day length of stay (LOS) and ≥24 hours of antimicrobial therapy tested for SARS-CoV-2 were included in the study (BD Insights Research Database [Becton, Dickinson & Company, Franklin Lakes, NJ]). Demographics, antimicrobial utilization, duration of antimicrobial therapy, hospital LOS and ICU LOS data were analyzed by SARS-CoV-2 test results. Results: 142,054 patients were tested for SARS CoV-2 and 12% (n=17,075) were SARS-CoV-2 positive. SARS-CoV-2 negative and positive patients did not differ regarding presence of a positive bacterial culture. Total LOS, % ICU admission, and ICU LOS were higher among SARS-CoV-2 positive patients (Table). In total 48% of admissions were prescribed antimicrobial therapy;rates were higher in SARS-CoV-2 positive versus negative admissions (68% vs. 46%). The most common antimicrobials and classes are in Table. Antimicrobial therapy and outcomes in hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 tested patients. Conclusion: Almost half of patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 were prescribed antimicrobials, with antimicrobial use higher among those with SARS-CoV-2, despite similar rates of positive cultures. On average, antimicrobials were prescribed within 10 hours from the time to admission among patients tested. These treatment patterns may highlight the difficulties in making treatment decisions and concerns over potential bacterial superinfection in SARS-CoV-2, but also indicate potential overuse of antimicrobials. Collateral damage from antimicrobial overuse include increase selection of antimicrobial resistance, adverse effects of drugs, and unnecessary treatment costs. It will be important to continue to evaluate the utilization and appropriateness of antimicrobial use among SARS-CoV-2 patients.

Comparison of the epidemiology and pathogens cultured from patients hospitalized with SARS-COV-2 positive versus SARS-COV-2 negative in the us: A multicenter evaluation

Background: Past experiences with viral epidemics have indicated an increased risk for bacterial, fungal, or other viral secondary or co-infections due to patient characteristics, healthcare exposures and biological factors. It is important to understand the epidemiology of these infections to properly treat and manage these complex patients. This study evaluates the frequency, source, and pathogens identified among SARS-CoV-2 tested patients. Methods: This was a multi-center, retrospective cohort analysis of SARS-COV-2 tested patients from 271 US acute care facilities with >1 day inpatient admission with a discharge or death between 3/1/20-5/31/20 (BD Insights Research Database [Becton, Dickinson & Company, Franklin Lakes, NJ]). We evaluated pathogens identified from blood, respiratory tract (upper/lower), urine, intra-abdominal (IA), skin/wound and other sources and classified them with respect to Gram-negative (GN), and Grampositive (GP) bacteria, fungi, and viruses among those SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative. Results: There were 599,709 admissions with 142,054 (23.7%) patients tested. Among those SARS-CoV-2 tested, 17,075 (12%) were positive and 124,979 (78%) were negative. The most common specimen collection sites (Table 1) and pathogens (Table 2) are shown. Higher rates of urine and respiratory cultures and higher rates of P. aeruginosa and fungi were seen in SARS CoV-2 positive patients. The top pathogens for urine cultures were Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, for blood Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli and respiratory Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. SARS-CoV-2 positive patients had an overall longer length of stay (LOS) than negative, which almost doubled when a positive pathogen was identified. Conclusion: There were similar rates of positive pathogen identification among SARS-CoV-2 test positive and negative patients, which might highlight similarities in clinical presentation. However, SARS-CoV-2 positive patients had longer hospital LOS and LOS increased with positive culture. Sources of infection and pathogens varied based on a positive or negative SARS-CoV-2 result. Identifying likely causative pathogens of co-infections in the era of SARS-CoV-2 is critical for treatment optimization.

Suggested precautions for those under COVID-19 home quarantine/lockdown

The article presents some guidelines we should abide while on lockdown due to COVID-19: (1) make a list of what is likely to be required for the whole week: Vegetables, medicines, milk, bread, etc. Put down on the list alternatives/plan B. For instance, if fresh milk is not available, get Tetra-Pack milk or even milk powder. Minimize the number of times you need to step out of the house. (2) know your neighborhood facilities that are open and/deliver to your home. For instance, Big Bazaar has publicized phone number of their home delivery service, their locations, and what they will/will not deliver. If your needs can be ordered for delivery do not step out. (3) when items are delivered to you (4) for items where you need to step out and (5) on returning home.

COVID-19 testing in India in comparison to the rest of the world. if Indian testing strategy was replicated in the other top 15 COVID-19 affected countries in the world, the status would be startlingly different

In terms of the absolute number of COVID-19 positive cases, India is among the top four countries in the world. There is a lot of unwarranted criticism about the alleged inadequacy of COVID-19 testing in India. The facts available from international and publicly available online non-government source covering the entire world show otherwise. While India is fourth in terms of an absolute number of cases, its rank is 132nd in terms of cases per million population and 107th for deaths per million population. These are indications that India is doing much better in the battle against COVID-19 than it is getting credit for. The correct benchmark for the adequacy of testing is the percentage of COVID-19 positive results as compared to the total number of tests performed. India ranks 5th (out of 215) in this respect - being better than some western countries such as the USA, Spain, and France. Thus, the Indian strategy for COVID-19 testing is better and more appropriate than the majority of other countries with the large absolute number of positive cases.

Prophylactic potential of indian medicinal plants in the management of influenza like illness especially covid-19

DownoadedFromP12517Influenza viruses are one of the main causes of respiratory tract diseases. There is a need to identify novel natural occurring antiviral molecules due to the startling emergence of resistance to anti-influenza drugs. Several hundred plants have been investigated as potential source of antiviral agents. Phytochemicals from these plants have exhibited antiviral properties either by inhibiting the formation of viral DNA or RNA or inhibiting the activity of viral replication. Influenza viruses and COVID-19 have a similar disease profile collectively known as influenza like illnesses. Prophylactic potential and anti-influenza properties of phytochemicals from twenty one medicinal plants have been briefly described in the present review. These medicinal plants could be used as a part of safe treatment as well as economically viable strategy for the management of infections against influenza like illness during endemic times.