Efficacy of COVID convalescent plasma therapy in hospitalized moderate coronavirus disease 2019 patients.

INTRODUCTION: Covid Convalescent Plasma (CCP) failed to demonstrate its efficacy in severe and life-threatening coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. However, the role of CCP in hospitalized moderate cases is unclear. This study aims to examine the efficacy of administering CCP to hospitalized moderate coronavirus disease 2019 patients. METHODOLOGY: An open-label randomized controlled clinical trial design was used from November 2020 - August 2021 at two referral hospitals in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the primary outcome was mortality at 14 days. The secondary outcomes were mortality at 28 days, the time-to-discontinuation of supplemental oxygen, and the time-to-hospital discharge. RESULTS: This study recruited 44 subjects, and the intervention arm consisted of 21 respondents who received CCP. The control arm consisted of 23 subjects who received standard-of-care treatment. All subjects survived during the fourteen-day follow-up period, and the 28-day mortality rate in the intervention group was lower than the control (4.8% vs 13.0%; p = 0.16, HR = 4.39 (95% CI = 0.45-42.71). There was no statistically significant difference in the time-to-discontinuation of supplemental oxygen and time-to-hospital discharge. During the total follow-up period (41 days), the mortality rate in the intervention group was also lower than the control (4.8% vs 17.4%, p = 0.13, HR = 5.47, 95% CI = 0.60-49.55). CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that in hospitalized moderate COVID-19 patients, CCP did not reduce 14-day mortality compared to the control. Mortality during 28 days and total length of stay (41 days) were lower in the CCP group compared to the control, although they did not reach statistical significance.

The value of anal swab RT-PCR for COVID-19 diagnosis in adult Indonesian patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study will test the performance of the anal swab PCR test when compared with the nasopharyngeal swab PCR test as a diagnostic tool for COVID-19. DESIGN: An observational descriptive study which included hospitalised suspected, or probable cases of hopitalised COVID-19 patients, conducted in Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National Hospital, Ciputra Hospital, Mitra Keluarga Depok Hospital and Mitra Keluarga Kelapa Gading Hospital, Indonesia. Epidemiological, clinical, laboratory and radiology data were obtained. Nasopharyngeal and anal swabs specimens were collected for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection. RESULTS: We analysed 136 subjects as part of this study. The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 manifesation in this study was typical of hospitalised patients, with 25% classified as mild cases, 14.7% in severe condition and 12.5% of subjects classified as having acute respiratory distress syndrome. When compared with nasopharyngeal swab as the standard specimen for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen, the sensitivity and specificity of the anal swab was 36.7% and 93.8%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive value were 97.8% and 16.5 %, respectively. The performance of the anal swab remained similar when only the subgroup of patients with gastrointestinal symptoms (n=92, 67.6%) was analysed (sensitivity 40% and specificity 91.7%). Out of all the subjects included in analysis, 67.6% had gastrointestinal symptoms. Similarly, 73.3% of patients in the anal swab-positive group had gastrointestinal symptoms. The two most common gastrointestinal symptoms in the subjects' population were nausea and anorexia. CONCLUSION: Anal swab specimen has low sensitivity (36.7%) but high specificity (93.8%) for detecting SARS-CoV-2 antigen by RT-PCR. Only one additional positive result was found by anal swab among the nasopharyngeal swab-negative group. Anal swab may not be needed as an additional test at the beginning of a patient's diagnostic investigation and nasopharyngeal swab RT-PCR remains as the standard diagnostic test for COVID-19.

Coronavirus Disease 2019: Tinjauan Literatur Terkini

Pada awal 2020, dunia dikejutkan dengan mewabahnya pneumonia baru yang bermula dari Wuhan, Provinsi Hubei yang kemudian menyebar dengan cepat ke lebih dari 190 negara dan teritori. Wabah ini diberi nama coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) yang disebabkan oleh Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Penyebaran penyakit ini telah memberikan dampak luas secara sosial dan ekonomi. Masih banyak kontroversi seputar penyakit ini, termasuk dalam aspek penegakkan diagnosis, tata laksana, hingga pencegahan. Oleh karena itu, kami melakukan telaah terhadap studi-studi terkait COVID-19 yang telah banyak dipublikasikan sejak awal 2020 lalu sampai dengan akhir Maret 2020. Kata Kunci: COVID-19, pandemi, SARS-CoV-2, Wuhan Coronavirus Disease 2019: Review of Current Literatures

Misleading Diagnosis of Radiological Imaging of COVID-19 Pneumonia During Pandemic Era: Risk on the Existence of CMV Infection.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory disease which rapidly disseminated due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Clinical presentations of COVID-19 are fever, non-productive cough, and dyspnea. Although the diagnosis establishment is done by detecting the viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, CT scan has an important role in detection and treatment of COVID-19 especially in high prevalence regions. Chest CT scan has high sensitivity yet low specificity because there are a lot of other pathological spectrums that also present features of COVID-19 such as ground glass opacities (GGO) and consolidation, one of them is CMV infection. The objective of this case report is to raise vigilance towards other diseases that have radiological image similarities with COVID-19, especially in the immunocompromised patients who are susceptible to viral infections like CMV infection so that the delay in the disease treatment can be prevented.

The Importance of Chest CT Scan in COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly transmissible acute respiratory disease that is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a beta coronavirus first discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. COVID-19 has been spreading swiftly globally, and as of March 2020, has been officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the challenges in managing COVID-19 is the identification of a swift, accessible, and reliable diagnostic modality that could serve as an alternative to a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). As of the writing of this paper, RT-PCR is still the recommended tool in diagnosing COVID-19, but the notion of a more prompt and accurate diagnostic tool is a possibility worth looking into. The objective of this case study is to investigate the importance and utility of chest computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis of COVID-19, as increasing pieces of evidence suggest that chest CT could prove useful in the clinical pathway in diagnosing COVID-19.