Protective Effect of Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccines against Progression of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta Variant Infections to Pneumonia in Beijing, China, in 2022.

This real-world study explores the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) inactivated vaccines on the prevention of asymptomatic or mild Delta or Omicron variant infections progressing to pneumonia. Association between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pneumonia cases and vaccination was measured with a multivariable logistic regression, stratified by genotype and age groups. We recruited 265 cases (111 (41.9%) infected with Delta and 154 (58.1%) with Omicron variants). There were 22 asymptomatic infected individuals, 156 mild cases without pneumonia, and 87 moderate cases with pneumonia. There was a markedly increased risk of progression to pneumonia in Delta infected cases, unvaccinated, or partially vaccinated COVID-19 patients with diabetes and those aged ≥60 years. Patients who had completed booster doses of inactivated vaccines had a reduced risk of 81.6% (95% CI: 55.6-92.4%) in progressing to pneumonia over those who were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. The risk of progressing to pneumonia was less reduced by 88.7% (95% CI: 56.6-97%) and 73.9% (95% CI: 1.4-93.1%) among Delta and Omicron-infected patients, and was reduced by 78.5% (95% CI: 45.3-91.6%) and 94.1% (95% CI: 21.5-99.6%) among patients aged <60 and ≥60 years, respectively. Our data indicated that a complete vaccination with a booster reduced the risk of asymptomatic or mild Delta or Omicron variant COVID-19 progressing to pneumonia and, thus, reduced the pressure of severe illness on medical resources.

Etiological and epidemiological features of acute respiratory infections in China.

Nationwide prospective surveillance of all-age patients with acute respiratory infections was conducted in China between 2009‒2019. Here we report the etiological and epidemiological features of the 231,107 eligible patients enrolled in this analysis. Children <5 years old and school-age children have the highest viral positivity rate (46.9%) and bacterial positivity rate (30.9%). Influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus and human rhinovirus are the three leading viral pathogens with proportions of 28.5%, 16.8% and 16.7%, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae are the three leading bacterial pathogens (29.9%, 18.6% and 15.8%). Negative interactions between viruses and positive interactions between viral and bacterial pathogens are common. A Join-Point analysis reveals the age-specific positivity rate and how this varied for individual pathogens. These data indicate that differential priorities for diagnosis, prevention and control should be highlighted in terms of acute respiratory tract infection patients' demography, geographic locations and season of illness in China.

Biosynthesis of Self-Assembled Proteinaceous Nanoparticles for Vaccination.

Recent years have seen enormous advances in nanovaccines for both prophylactic and therapeutic applications, but most of these technologies employ chemical or hybrid semi-biosynthetic production methods. Thus, production of nanovaccines has to date failed to exploit biology-only processes like complex sequential post-translational biochemical modifications and scalability, limiting the realization of the initial promise for offering major performance advantages and improved therapeutic outcomes over conventional vaccines. A Nano-B5 platform for in vivo production of fully protein-based, self-assembling, stable nanovaccines bearing diverse antigens including peptides and polysaccharides is presented here. Combined with the self-assembly capacities of pentamer domains from the bacterial AB5 toxin and unnatural trimer peptides, diverse nanovaccine structures can be produced in common Escherichia coli strains and in attenuated pathogenic strains. Notably, the chassis of these nanovaccines functions as an immunostimulant. After showing excellent lymph node targeting and immunoresponse elicitation and safety performance in both mouse and monkey models, the strong prophylactic effects of these nanovaccines against infection, as well as their efficient therapeutic effects against tumors are further demonstrated. Thus, the Nano-B5 platform can efficiently combine diverse modular components and antigen cargos to efficiently generate a potentially very large diversity of nanovaccine structures using many bacterial species.

The clinical value of high-density lipoprotein in the evaluation of new coronavirus pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: The new coronavirus pneumonia (NCP, COVID-19) outbreak began in Wuhan in December 2019. The new coronavirus (2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)) can cause multiple organ damage, mainly to lung tissue, and induce inflammation in the body. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the changes of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level in patients with COVID-19 and assess its value in the evaluation and prognosis of this disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This paper is a cross-sectional retrospective study. Eighty-six severe COVID-19 patients, 132 non-severe COVID-19 patients and 76 healthy individuals (control group) were recruited to measure triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) using enzyme-coupled colorimetry. RESULTS: The serum HDL-C level in COVID-19 group was 1.02 ±0.28 mmol/L which was significantly lower than in control group (1.52 ±0.55 mmol/L) (p < 0.05). In addition, the serum HDL-C level in severe COVID-19 group was 0.83 ±1.67 mmol/L, which was significantly lower than that in non-severe COVID-19 group (1.15 ±0.27 mmol/L) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Changes in HDL levels in patients with COVID-19 can reflect the severity of the disease and have a clinical significance in establishing the prognosis.

A suspected case of COVID-19 turned into a confirmed case: a case report.

COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and discovered in 2019. The clinical manifestations include fever, coughing, difficulty in breathing and even death from multiple organ failure. Nucleic acid test is the golden standard method for confirmation of infection. According to the Chinese 'Seventh Edition of the COVID-19 Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol', suspected patients with negative nucleic acid tests from two consecutive airway specimens can be excluded from diagnosis and released from quarantine. The current report describes a suspected COVID-19 case that had a history of close contact with a COVID-19 patient. The diagnosis was confirmed after the SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid was detected after four sputum sample tests (sampling interval of at least 24 h).

Relationship Between Psychological Responses and the Appraisal of Risk Communication During the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Two-Wave Study of Community Residents in China.

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Data collection in the ascending phase is crucial to address a rapidly evolving crisis by helping us understand the uncertain relationship between risk communication and psychological responses. Data were collected from 26 January 26, 2020, until February 17, 2020, with a mean test-retest interval of 16 days. A total of 846 adults from four residential communities in high-risk areas (Wuhan city) and low-risk areas (Zhengzhou city) were invited to complete a set of Internet-based questionnaires measuring the adoption of preventive behaviors, appraisal of risk communication, anxiety level, and susceptibility to emotional contagion. At the baseline assessment (Wave 1), 58 withdrew from the study, and 788 (433 females) completed the questionnaires. At the Wave 2 survey, 318 (185 females) adults from Wave 1 were retained. The results from cross-lagged models demonstrated reciprocal negative associations between anxiety and risk communication and between the appraisal of risk communication and the adoption of preventive behaviors. In addition, a higher appraisal of risk communication in the initial period of the outbreak mitigated the respondents' susceptibility to emotional contagion later on. Susceptibility to emotional contagion was positively associated with preventive behaviors taken. Furthermore, multiple-group structural equation modeling suggested that risk communication was more likely to affect the susceptibility to emotional contagion of people on the frontline of the outbreak than people living in low-risk areas. This study demonstrated the importance of risk communication aimed at encouraging appropriate countermeasures against virus outbreaks.

Improving the early diagnosis of suspected patients with COVID-19: a retrospective study of 106 patients.

INTRODUCTION: An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. This study aimed to analyze the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of patients with COVID-19 to better differentiate the suspected patients in Beijing, China. METHODOLOGY: This was a retrospective, single-center study. Clinical and epidemiologic data were collected from suspected patients with COVID-19 admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital from January 29 to February 21, 2020. RESULTS: One hundred and six patients (60 males and 46 females, median age 36 years) were enrolled. Thirty-six patients were ultimately laboratory confirmed. Fifty-three were excluded from the diagnosis of COVID-19. The remaining 17 patients were highly suspected, although their nucleic acid tests were repeatedly negative. The confirmed patients and highly suspected patients had a significantly higher proportion of epidemiologic history than the excluded patients (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in clinical symptoms or the underlying diseases among the three groups. The confirmed patients had a higher frequency of lymphopenia and eosinopenia than the highly suspected and excluded patients. Chest computed tomography scans showed bilateral lung involvement, and ground-glass opacity was more likely observed in the confirmed patients. CONCLUSION: The clinical features of the confirmed patients with COVID-19 were insufficient for early diagnosis of COVID-19. The epidemiologic history was of great significance in the early diagnosis of COVID-19. More sensitive diagnostic methods are needed to aid the differential diagnosis of suspected patients with COVID-19.

A family cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections.

Clinical and epidemiological knowledge of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is limited. We reported a family cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases in Beijing, China. This family comprised three laboratory confirmed cases with clinical symptoms. All three patients had close contact with a relative from Wuhan, Hubei Province. Throat swab samples were all positive for SARS-CoV-2 using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assays. Chest computerized tomography revealed ground-glass opacities and consolidation. SARS-CoV-2 infections tend to clusters. Physicians should be aware of contact history so that infected patients can be identified promptly and further spreading prevented.