ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has created an emergency globally, and social distancing and isolation are the only solution to prevent its spread. Several countries have announced a full lockdown to tackle this pandemic. The coronavirus family is inclu-sive of pathogens of both-animal species and humans, encapsulating the isolated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Researchers around the globe have been dexterously working to decode this lethal virus. Many mathematical frameworks have also been depicted, which have helped to understand the dynamics of the COVID-19. Method(s): This systematic review highlights the virus genomic composition, preliminary phylogenetic analysis, pathogenesis, symptomatology, diagnosis, and prognosis along with mathematical models of disease transmission and dynamics. Result(s): Our preliminary phylogenetic analysis of the novel coronavirus sequence discerns that al-though shares its lineage with SARS, BAT-CoV, Beta-BAT-SARS, however, this protein is highly dissimilar to its ancestors. The widely prominent amino acid residues found in the protein are ala-nine (ALA), aspartic acid (ASP), phenylalanine (PHE), leucine (LEU), aspartic acid (ASP), threo-nine (THR), valine (VAL), tyrosine (TYR) and asparagine (ASN) that are responsible for its replication process. Conclusion(s): Research on coronaviruses continues towards developing a strong understanding of the rapidly evolving viral replication and its transmission between individuals.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.
ABSTRACT
Objective: We are investigating whether COVID-19 infection increases the propensity of developing Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) or affects the clinical outcome of GBS. Background: During the pandemic, there have been many case reports and case series of GBS following COVID-19 infection. The causality of COVID-19 in these cases is not clear. There are conflicting reports regarding the incidence of GBS during the pandemic. In prior literature, clinical and electrophysiologic characteristics of GBS in COVID-19 associated cases did not differ from the previously described natural history. Design/Methods: Longitudinal electronic health record database for Optum, which included more than 4.4 million patients who underwent testing for COVID-19, was queried in May 2021 for ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes for GBS. Clinical information based on billing codes was acquired. GBS cases within 60 days of the first positive PCR test for COVID-19 were further analyzed. We also evaluated the presence of GBS in patients who tested negative for COVID 19 during the same time frame. Results: There were 725,347 patients in the database with COVID-19 diagnosis. We analyzed 844 patients with GBS, 86 of which occurred within 60 days of COVID-19 diagnosis. The incidence of GBS was not increased among the patients with recent COVID 19 diagnosis, compared to the GBS cases without COVID 19 in the same time frame. In our preliminary analysis, COVID-19 associated cases had higher mortality, intubation rates, and need for posthospital rehabilitation at a facility. Conclusions: Our preliminary analysis of this large database did not show any evidence that COVID-19 increases the propensity for developing GBS. However, when associated with COVID-19 infection, the outcomes for GBS seem to be worse. Further ongoing analyses considering covariates of age, comorbidities, and month of COVID-19 diagnosis is planned.