Severe Myocarditis in a Female Following mRNA-1273 Vaccine: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Myocarditis was recently described as one of the complications secondary to COVID-19 vaccination. We present a 38-year-old lady diagnosed with vaccine-related myocarditis a few days after receiving the mRNA-1273 vaccine. We also summarize what is reported in the literature about the association between COVID-19 vaccination and myocarditis. In conclusion, COVID-19 immunization appears to be associated with significantly fewer adverse outcomes than COVID-19 infection among all age groups.

Complement C5a and Clinical Markers as Predictors of COVID-19 Disease Severity and Mortality in a Multi-Ethnic Population.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was declared as a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. SARS-CoV-2 causes a wide range of illness from asymptomatic to life-threatening. There is an essential need to identify biomarkers to predict disease severity and mortality during the earlier stages of the disease, aiding treatment and allocation of resources to improve survival. The aim of this study was to identify at the time of SARS-COV-2 infection patients at high risk of developing severe disease associated with low survival using blood parameters, including inflammation and coagulation mediators, vital signs, and pre-existing comorbidities. This cohort included 89 multi-ethnic COVID-19 patients recruited between July 14th and October 20th 2020 in Doha, Qatar. According to clinical severity, patients were grouped into severe (n=33), mild (n=33) and asymptomatic (n=23). Common routine tests such as complete blood count (CBC), glucose, electrolytes, liver and kidney function parameters and markers of inflammation, thrombosis and endothelial dysfunction including complement component split product C5a, Interleukin-6, ferritin and C-reactive protein were measured at the time COVID-19 infection was confirmed. Correlation tests suggest that C5a is a predictive marker of disease severity and mortality, in addition to 40 biological and physiological parameters that were found statistically significant between survivors and non-survivors. Survival analysis showed that high C5a levels, hypoalbuminemia, lymphopenia, elevated procalcitonin, neutrophilic leukocytosis, acute anemia along with increased acute kidney and hepatocellular injury markers were associated with a higher risk of death in COVID-19 patients. Altogether, we created a prognostic classification model, the CAL model (C5a, Albumin, and Lymphocyte count) to predict severity with significant accuracy. Stratification of patients using the CAL model could help in the identification of patients likely to develop severe symptoms in advance so that treatments can be targeted accordingly.

COVID-19 infection presented as Guillain-Barre Syndrome: Report of two new cases and review of 116 reported cases and case series.

BACKGROUND: /Aims: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is a pandemic infectious disease of 2020, which often presents with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms. The behavior of the virus and its full clinical picture has not been fully studied yet. Many case reports and case series have been running in order to elaborate different presentations and associations. Pulmonary and gastrointestinal features of COVID-19 infection are well outlined; however, neurological manifestations are less defined. CASE PRESENTATION: We report two adult cases of COVID-19 infection presented with acute Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), and a literature review on the causal association between COVID-19 and GBS. CONCLUSION: Our two case reports in addition to literature review of 116 published cases may help offer insight into the clinical course of COVID-19 infection. Our two COVID-19 patients presented with neurological manifestations of GBS which were not preceded with any respiratory, gastrointestinal or other systemic infection. This leads us to raise the possibility of establish direct causal association between COVID-19 infection and GBS. Physicians should have high clinical suspicions when encounter GBS patient during the current COVID-19 pandemic and consider co-existence of COVID-19 infection that may warrant SARS-CoV-2 testing, isolation precautions, and specific treatment for Covid-19 infection.

SnoRNAs and miRNAs Networks Underlying COVID-19 Disease Severity.

There is a lack of predictive markers for early and rapid identification of disease progression in COVID-19 patients. Our study aims at identifying microRNAs (miRNAs)/small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) as potential biomarkers of COVID-19 severity. Using differential expression analysis of microarray data (n = 29), we identified hsa-miR-1246, ACA40, hsa-miR-4532, hsa-miR-145-5p, and ACA18 as the top five differentially expressed transcripts in severe versus asymptomatic, and ACA40, hsa-miR-3609, ENSG00000212378 (SNORD78), hsa-miR-1231, hsa-miR-885-3p as the most significant five in severe versus mild cases. Moreover, we found that white blood cell (WBC) count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), neutrophil (%), lymphocyte (%), red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, D-Dimer, and albumin are significantly correlated with the identified differentially expressed miRNAs and snoRNAs. We report a unique miRNA and snoRNA profile that is associated with a higher risk of severity in a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Altogether, we present a differential expression analysis of COVID-19-associated microRNA (miRNA)/small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) signature, highlighting their importance in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A challenging case of COVID-19 infection presented with isolated acute abdominal pain: A case report and literature review.

COVID-19 is an infectious disease, which often presents with fever and respiratory symptoms. However, gastrointestinal symptoms have also been reported to occur in patients with COVID-19. Although abdominal pain was described in some reports of COVID-19, it was uncommon and often associated with other symptoms. We describe a challenging case of a COVID-19 patient who presented with severe isolated abdominal pain initially, then developed pneumonia symptoms which led to the diagnosis of COVID-19 thereafter.

D-Dimer, Fibrinogen, and IL-6 in COVID-19 Patients with Suspected Venous Thromboembolism: A Narrative Review.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged from the West District of Southern China Seafood Wholesale Market in late December 2019 and has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) presents with upper respiratory symptoms like cough, fever, and lethargy. At the same time, in later stages, critical COVID-19 patients develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), venous thromboembolism (VTE), and multiple organ failure from cytokine storm and coagulation hyperactivity. Primary manifestations of thrombotic events include deep vein thrombosis (DVT), disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Initial coagulopathy in COVID-19 patients presents with elevated fibrin degradation products, especially D-dimers. In contrast, late presentations show evidence of prolonged prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin (aPTT), increased platelets, and fibrinogen levels. Diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression are done by regular screening of laboratory parameters, including D-dimer and fibrinogen. Management of coagulopathy in COVID-19 patients is like that of critically ill patients, including thromboprophylaxis. Coagulopathy is a poor prognostic factor, and optimum strategies should be developed for early diagnosis, prevention, and prompt treatment of VTE in COVID-19 patients. Thrombosis prophylaxis with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) has shown beneficial results in preventing coagulopathy a reducing risk of mortality due to thrombotic events. We will discuss VTE in COVID-19 patients highlighting the role of D-dimer, fibrinogen, and interleukin-6 (IL-6).