Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/06/news-scan-jun-05-2020
News Scan for Jun 05, 2020
Brain involvement in COVID-19; Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in China; Polio cases in 4 nations
Filed Under:
COVID-19; Polio
Autopsies show brain damage in COVID-19 patients
A study yesterday in The Lancet presents the clinical findings of autopsies conducted on six German patients (four men and two women, aged 58 to 82 years) who died from COVID-19 in April. All six had evidence of extensive brain pathologies at the time of death.
Each patient had severe viral pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and required mechanical intubation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
For the three patients over 65, the cause of death was determined to be cardiorespiratory failure. The three patients younger than 65 died of either f massive intracranial hemorrhage or pulmonary embolism, consistent with COVID-19–associated coagulopathy, the authors said.
Both groups showed lymphocytic pan-encephalitis and meningitis. "A pronounced [central nervous system] involvement with pan-encephalitis, meningitis, and brainstem neuronal cell damage were key events in all our cases," the authors said.
The authors said they do not associate damage to the brains with COVID-19-related hypoxia. "Whether the observed lesions were a direct consequence of virus infiltration or resulted from an immune response could not be established definitively in this autopsy study and requires further investigations," they concluded.
Jun 4 Lancet study
Studies show low seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, Hong Kong
New serology studies published in Nature Medicine and The Lancet Microbe show low population prevalence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—in Wuhan, greater China, and Hong Kong. Both studies were an attempt to assess subclinical and asymptomatic infected individuals who may have been undetected.
In the Nature Medicine study, researchers measured the levels of immunoglobulins M and G in 17,368 individuals, in the city of Wuhan, the site of the first COVID-19 outbreak, and geographic regions in the country, between Mar 9 and Apr 10. The seropositivity in Wuhan varied between 3.2% and 3.8% in different subcohorts, with healthcare workers having some of the highest levels of seroprevalence, as well as hotel staff members.
To measure seroprevalence outside of Wuhan, the researchers looked at cohorts in Jinzhou and Honghu cities, both in outer Hubei province. They estimated a seroprevalence of 1.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0% to 1.8%) in 3,091 healthcare workers and 3.6% (95% CI, 2.0% to 4.9%) in 979 patients who visited the hospital for routine maintenance hemodialysis but did not present symptoms of COVID-19, the authors said. Other cities also had varying prevalence rates, with none more than 3.8%.
In the The Lancet Microbe study, the authors found that, among the general Hong Kong population tested between Feb 26 and Mar 18, 2.7% were enzyme-immunoassay positive, and among Hong Kong residents who had fled Hubei province during the initial weeks of the pandemic, 4% were seropositive.
"The low seroprevalence suggests that most of the Hong Kong and Hubei population remain susceptible to COVID-19," the authors concluded. "Future waves of the outbreak are inevitable without a vaccine or antiviral prophylaxis."
Jun 5 Nat Med study
Jun 3 Lancet Microb study
Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast report polio cases
Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Ivory Coast have each reported circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases, according to this week's Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) update.
Afghanistan has confirmed 6 new cVDPV2 cases, all in Nangarhar province, bringing the country's cVDPV2 cases for the year to 13. The country has also recorded 12 wild poliovirus type 1 cases so far in 2020.
Burkina Faso officials confirmed 2 new cVDPV2 cases, 1 each in Centre-Nord and Ouagadougou province, bringing its 2020 total to 5. All are linked to an outbreak in Jigawa, Nigeria.
Ethiopia has 1 new cVDPV2 case, in SNNP province, and 27 total cases for the year. Ivory Coast has 4 new cases, 3 in Gbokle-Nawa-San-Pedro province and 1 in Goh province. Ivory Coast now has 7 cVDPV2 cases for the year.
Jun 4 GPEI update
News Scan for Jun 05, 2020
Brain involvement in COVID-19; Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in China; Polio cases in 4 nations
Filed Under:
COVID-19; Polio
Autopsies show brain damage in COVID-19 patients
A study yesterday in The Lancet presents the clinical findings of autopsies conducted on six German patients (four men and two women, aged 58 to 82 years) who died from COVID-19 in April. All six had evidence of extensive brain pathologies at the time of death.
Each patient had severe viral pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and required mechanical intubation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
For the three patients over 65, the cause of death was determined to be cardiorespiratory failure. The three patients younger than 65 died of either f massive intracranial hemorrhage or pulmonary embolism, consistent with COVID-19–associated coagulopathy, the authors said.
Both groups showed lymphocytic pan-encephalitis and meningitis. "A pronounced [central nervous system] involvement with pan-encephalitis, meningitis, and brainstem neuronal cell damage were key events in all our cases," the authors said.
The authors said they do not associate damage to the brains with COVID-19-related hypoxia. "Whether the observed lesions were a direct consequence of virus infiltration or resulted from an immune response could not be established definitively in this autopsy study and requires further investigations," they concluded.
Jun 4 Lancet study
Studies show low seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, Hong Kong
New serology studies published in Nature Medicine and The Lancet Microbe show low population prevalence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—in Wuhan, greater China, and Hong Kong. Both studies were an attempt to assess subclinical and asymptomatic infected individuals who may have been undetected.
In the Nature Medicine study, researchers measured the levels of immunoglobulins M and G in 17,368 individuals, in the city of Wuhan, the site of the first COVID-19 outbreak, and geographic regions in the country, between Mar 9 and Apr 10. The seropositivity in Wuhan varied between 3.2% and 3.8% in different subcohorts, with healthcare workers having some of the highest levels of seroprevalence, as well as hotel staff members.
To measure seroprevalence outside of Wuhan, the researchers looked at cohorts in Jinzhou and Honghu cities, both in outer Hubei province. They estimated a seroprevalence of 1.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0% to 1.8%) in 3,091 healthcare workers and 3.6% (95% CI, 2.0% to 4.9%) in 979 patients who visited the hospital for routine maintenance hemodialysis but did not present symptoms of COVID-19, the authors said. Other cities also had varying prevalence rates, with none more than 3.8%.
In the The Lancet Microbe study, the authors found that, among the general Hong Kong population tested between Feb 26 and Mar 18, 2.7% were enzyme-immunoassay positive, and among Hong Kong residents who had fled Hubei province during the initial weeks of the pandemic, 4% were seropositive.
"The low seroprevalence suggests that most of the Hong Kong and Hubei population remain susceptible to COVID-19," the authors concluded. "Future waves of the outbreak are inevitable without a vaccine or antiviral prophylaxis."
Jun 5 Nat Med study
Jun 3 Lancet Microb study
Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast report polio cases
Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Ivory Coast have each reported circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases, according to this week's Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) update.
Afghanistan has confirmed 6 new cVDPV2 cases, all in Nangarhar province, bringing the country's cVDPV2 cases for the year to 13. The country has also recorded 12 wild poliovirus type 1 cases so far in 2020.
Burkina Faso officials confirmed 2 new cVDPV2 cases, 1 each in Centre-Nord and Ouagadougou province, bringing its 2020 total to 5. All are linked to an outbreak in Jigawa, Nigeria.
Ethiopia has 1 new cVDPV2 case, in SNNP province, and 27 total cases for the year. Ivory Coast has 4 new cases, 3 in Gbokle-Nawa-San-Pedro province and 1 in Goh province. Ivory Coast now has 7 cVDPV2 cases for the year.
Jun 4 GPEI update