Current evidence suggests that most patients may not need to receive specific treatment. The number of days spent in hospital and the number of people who required surgical operations also varied considerably in the studies.
Fever is the most important initial finding in patients with severe disease. People with a non-obvious history or with no underlying disease should be observed for 14 days for flu symptoms, and then tested to eliminate the risk of false positives.
A small proportion of patients will require no treatment but is unlikely to derive any benefit from antivirals. Treatment options for most patients will be similar to that recommended for other infections.
Results from a recent clinical trial confirms that a small proportion of people are affected by what appears to be a highly virulent strain of a novel coronavirus that has resulted in massive circulating and epidemic disease.
This case illustrates the need for greater awareness of the relationship of viruses to chronic diseases and how different viruses can affect the immune system leading to different symptoms of pneumonia and possibly other systemic complications.
In a recent study, findings is the first to demonstrate that a small reduction in SARS-CoV-2 load can be achieved with anti-coronavirus monoclonal treatment. The mechanism of action of the monoclonal antibody may be associated with direct binding to SARS-CoV-2, as well as to the other SARS-CoV isolates.
We calculated that in the United States, more than 6,000 individuals with co-morbidities are infected each year with 1,000 being hospitalized and 3,500 dying from this disease. The overall hospitalizations and deaths due to this disease and the number of individuals infected in the US have the potential to be extraordinarily high. In order to prevent such epidemics, it will be crucial to implement measures to prevent the spread of the disease and treatment of already infected individuals in a timely fashion.
COVID-19 and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome were two pandemics started at the same time around the world, but the reason for the spread of the virus remains unknown. After a quick outbreak of SARS (several countries, July 2003 - June 2004), Hong Kong was the last country in which SARS-like cases was reported until December 2003 (two months after Hong Kong began to be hit by the outbreak of SARS) which were diagnosed in Hong Kong patients who underwent treatment for a common cold or a flu. In these two countries, the disease was called by several different names.
In a recent study, findings of this study indicate that, after controlling for the potential confounding covariates, age, and race in the case-fatality model, male gender is associated with a lower risk for clinical case fatality in persons with non-critical diagnoses who are admitted to the emergency department. Female gender was strongly associated with higher rates of the severe disease and, in particular, mechanical ventilation and ICU admission.
Most clinicians and patients will not be affected by therapeutics or treatments associated with potential harm. Many patients have concerns about antiviral therapies, especially for acute infections. Current guidelines and guidelines from national societies emphasize the use of non-invasive therapies. Effective non-invasive therapies will evolve; antivirals or other therapeutics aimed at chronic infections such as tuberculosis may not be necessary in the long run. There are reports of new therapeutics in development of therapeutic antiviral/antimalarial drugs to reduce the number of infections caused by viruses and malaria parasites as well as reducing mortality for patients with these infections.
In this cohort, no evidence was found that the incidence of covid-19 in young children was influenced by a parents or sibling's infection. Children with no exposure to any other infections were at significantly higher risk.
Clinically, it has been theorised that antiviral agents induce a cytopenic state, which leads to the clearance of the virus. In the context of a post-exposure immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), this may cause tissue injury/damage but the benefits of treatment are likely to outweigh this risk. However, the possibility of IRIS should be considered when deciding whether to treat patients in the early stages of an infection.