ABSTRACT
Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic substantially disrupted healthcare globally. Quarantine, travel restrictions, health worker furloughs and institutional mandates to limit non-essential clinical activity significantly impacted upon trials recruitment abroad. The purpose of this review was to compare the demographics and enrolment for patients referred to The Kinghorn Cancer Centre (TKCC) Phase 1 Unit between January 2020 and March 2022, with historical data from the same institution from the twelve months prior to determine the impact of COVID-19 on Phase 1 activity. Method(s): A single institutional retrospective study was performed utilising a purpose-built Phase 1 database. Data extracted from electronic medical records and trials electronic data capture software included patient demographics, date and method of first review, consent date, screen-failure rate, date to enrolment, duration on trial and outcome post-trial. Analyses were performed in SPSS V26.0. Result(s): Four hundred and thirty-four patients were referred/seen in the Phase 1 unit between January 2020 and March 2022 (16/month), of which 341 (79%) were consented/screened onto a Phase 1 trial and 157 (46%) proceeded to treatment. The proportion initial consultations using telehealth increased from 11.3% to 45.3% pre-post pandemic (P < 0.0001). However, the proportion of interstate referrals or regional/remote referrals did not change likely to widespread increase in telehealth utilisation. Pandemic-induced lockdowns decreased absolute numbers of Phase 1 referrals in the short term, however did not influence enrolment or screen failure rates. Further mitigation strategies successfully employed at our Phase 1 unit included treatment-athome, teleconsenting, Phase 1 coordinators/investigators working in split teams, and remote monitoring. Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 pandemic did not impact upon the demographics of Phase 1 referrals to a major metropolitan hospital, however absolute numbers of referrals were influenced by lockdowns/ outbreaks. Telehealth was successful at maintaining access to trials for patients in need and should be continued to allow equity of access to Phase 1 trials.
ABSTRACT
In December 2019, cases of mysterious pneumonia were first reported in Wuhan, Initially, the disease was temporarily named as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), then WHO announced a new name on February 11, 2020, namely Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) which is caused by a virus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). This virus can be transmitted from person to person and has spread widely in China and more than 190 other countries and territories. Meanwhile in Indonesia, up to September 2020, 203 thousand cases of COVID-19 were found and 8336 deaths. Bats act as important disease reservoirs for various etiologic agents of disease that can be transmitted between species, infecting humans and mammals, both domestic and wild. The purpose of this study was to analyze SARS-CoV-2 immunoinformatics in bats in Karst Malang Indonesia as the basis for making SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. This research method is SARS-CoV-2 amino acid bats in Karst Malang, Indonesia analyzed by immunoinformatics. From the research results, it was found that SARS-CoV-2 protein from Malang Karst bats were antigen, non-allergen and non-toxin, so that they could be used as vaccine candidates, diagnostic kits and immunotherapy.