Effect of liushen capsules (pill) on antiviral activity of COVID-19 in vitro and in patients with positive nucleic acid for more than 14 days

Objective To observe the efficacy and safety Liushen Capsules(Pill,LSP) combined with basic therapy on patients with coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) and positive nucleic acid for more than 14 days, and to test the in vitro antiviral effect of LSP. Methods To test the in vitro antiviral effect against the omicron(B.1.1.529) variant, its half-maximal inhibitory concentration(IC50) was determined by cytopathic effect test. The protocol was registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry(No. ChiCTR2200057532). Totally 50 patients who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARSCoV-2), who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, were randomly divided into experimental group(26 cases) and control group(24 cases). The control group was given a basic treatment, and the experimental group was given LSP in conjunction with the basis treatment. The average negative time, negative conversion rate, immunological indices(IgG,IgM), and adverse events during treatment were compared between the two groups. Results The IC50 of LSP against SARS-CoV-2(omicron strain)was 0.194 8 g/mL. The average negative time of the virus in the experimental group [(5.03+or-2.41)d] was significantly lower than that in the control group [(6.46 +or-2.32)d,P<0.05]. After five days treatment, the negative conversion rate of the experimental group [57.36%(15/26)] was significantly lower than that of the control group [57.36%(15/26),P<0.05]. During the treatment, the negative conversion rate of the experimental group was always higher than that of the control group(P< 0.05). There was no significant difference in adverse reactions between the two groups(P>0.05). Conclusions LSP have an antiviral effect on SARS-CoV-2 in vitro, combined with basic therapy has certain curative effects on patients with positive nucleic acid for more than 14 days, and it can significantly shorten the negative conversion time of nucleic acid and negative rate, and improve the immune function of patients.

Household Clusters of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection in Suzhou, China.

OBJECTIVES: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emerging virus causing substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. We performed a cross-sectional investigation of SARS-CoV-2 clusters in Suzhou to determine the transmissibility of the virus among close contacts and to assess the demographic and clinical characteristics between index and secondary cases. METHODS: We review the clustered patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections in Suzhou between 22 January and 29 February 2020. The demographic and clinical characteristics were compared between index and secondary cases. We calculated the basic reproduction number (R 0) among close contacts with SLI model. RESULTS: By 22 February, 87 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported, including 50 sporadic and 37 clustered cases, who were generated from 13 clusters. On admission, 5 (20.8%) out of 24 secondary cases were asymptomatic. The male ratio of index cases was significantly higher than that of secondary cases. Additionally, the index cases were more likely to have fever and increased CRP levels than the secondary cases. The R 0 values of clusters displayed a significantly declining trend over time for all clusters. The relative risk of infection in blood-related contacts of cases versus unrelated contacts was 1.60 for SARS-CoV-2 (95% CI: 0.42-2.95). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, SARS-CoV-2 has great person-to-person transmission capability among close contacts. The secondary cases are more prone to have mild symptoms than index cases. There is no increased RR of secondary infection in blood relatives versus unrelated contacts. The high rate of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections highlights the urgent need to enhance active case finding strategy for early detection of infectious patients.

Clinical characteristics and laboratory indicator analysis of 67 COVID-19 pneumonia patients in Suzhou, China.

BACKGROUND: Sudden exacerbations and respiratory failure are major causes of death in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pneumonia, but indicators for the prediction and treatment of severe patients are still lacking. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 67 collected cases was conducted and included approximately 67 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who were admitted to the Suzhou Fifth People's Hospital from January 1, 2020 to February 8, 2020. The epidemiological, clinical and imaging characteristics as well as laboratory data of the 67 patients were analyzed. RESULTS: The study found that fibrinogen (FIB) was increased in 45 (65.2%) patients, and when FIB reached a critical value of 4.805 g/L, the sensitivity and specificity、DA, helping to distinguish general and severe cases, were 100 and 14%、92.9%, respectively, which were significantly better than those for lymphocyte count and myoglobin. Chest CT images indicated that the cumulative number of lung lobes with lesions in severe patients was significantly higher than that in general patients (P < 0.05), and the cumulative number of lung lobes with lesions was negatively correlated with lymphocyte count and positively correlated with myoglobin and FIB. Our study also found that there was no obvious effect of hormone therapy in patients with severe COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the retrospective analysis, FIB was found to be increased in severe patients and was better than lymphocyte count and myoglobin in distinguishing general and severe patients. The study also suggested that hormone treatment has no significant effect on COVID-19.

Clinical evaluation of potential usefulness of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: There was much evidence suggesting that the serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels reflect the extent of various pathophysiological processes. However, the current information about dynamic change of LDH in COVID-19 pneumonia has not been well investigated. METHODS: Study was performed in 87 cases confirmed by COVID-19 infection. The serum LDH levels were determined at diagnosis and follow-up visits. The evaluation of clinical response to therapy was based on chest CT scan. We selected the value of LDH around the data of chest CT scan (- 1 ~ + 1 day). RESULTS: At diagnosis, significant differences in LDH levels were found between non-severe and severe group (P < 0.05). It was demonstrated that increase or decrease of LDH was indicative of radiographic progress or improvement (P < 0.05). The time to LDH normalization (5.67 ± 0.55, days) was positively correlated with the time to radiographic absorption (5.57 ± 0.65 days, r = 0.53, P < 0.05). Applying the cut-off value of the increase in LDH has good specificity to predict disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: Serum LDH was validated for its potential usefulness as markers for evaluating clinical severity and monitoring treatment response in COVID-19 pneumonia.