wuhan - coronavirus

[Pen]

1 hour ago, RootAnn said:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/health/cdc-guidelines-coronavirus-testing/index.html

CDC changes their testing recommendation to say, "If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one."

And HHS says this change won't hurt contract tracing efforts.

!!

 

That seems to basically be the approach my state has already been taking.  Maybe it has been either deliberately or accidentally an experiment to see if that came out worse than more extensive testing.  

[Pen]

Might have spoken too soon re Spain—though increase hospitalization may be in areas not hard hit during first phase of high cases

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/spain-over-920-covid-19-patients-hospitalized-in-a-day/1954262

[Ausmumof3]

113 cases in vic and 23 deaths.

In Queensland there were two more cases.  One was linked to corrections services so a lot of facilities are locking down.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Ausmumof3

[Ausmumof3]

9 hours ago, RootAnn said:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/health/cdc-guidelines-coronavirus-testing/index.html

CDC changes their testing recommendation to say, "If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one."

And HHS says this change won't hurt contract tracing efforts.

!!

I have been going back and forward about posting this because it might be a bit political.  But now you have.  Apparently dr Fauci has said he was under anaesthetic at the time it was done.

cnn:

"I was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations" at that meeting, Fauci told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. 

"I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact it is," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

[Pen]

57 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I have been going back and forward about posting this because it might be a bit political.  But now you have.  Apparently dr Fauci has said he was under anaesthetic at the time it was done.

cnn:

"I was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations" at that meeting, Fauci told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. 

"I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact it is," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

 

Our state made clear that we are having test resources issues.

Not only the tests themselves, but we don’t have enough people capable of qrunning the tests, so many have to be sent out of state, further slowing results reporting...

Even if not perfect I strongly think we need the diy home test dipsticks. 

 

And it makes maintaining distance and using masks and hygiene etc that much more important. 

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Pen said:

 

Our state made clear that we are having test resources issues.

Not only the tests themselves, but we don’t have enough people capable of qrunning the tests, so many have to be sent out of state, further slowing results reporting...

Even if not perfect I strongly think we need the diy home test dipsticks. 

 

And it makes maintaining distance and using masks and hygiene etc that much more important. 

Test resourcing issues is a valid reason to try to focus testing.  I hope they are doing everything possibly to solve it.  SA have been helping vic with testing and tracing hopefully you guys have that kind of cooperation as well to smooth things out.

[SoCal_Bear]

This was a very helpful chart mapping/assessing covid risk based on four factors from a study from researchers at MIT & Oxford. The referenced study is in the second link.

https://news.yahoo.com/6-feet-may-not-always-124600137.html

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3223

Edited August 27, 2020 by calbear

[SoCal_Bear]

This Korean contact tracing case is very interesting as well which looks at asymptomatic spread on flight.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/health/coronavirus-passenger-toilet-korea/index.html

Edited August 27, 2020 by calbear

[Melissa in Australia]

Victoria has got the turnaround for test results to less than 24 hours, apparently a lot of results are now available within 6 hours

[Pen]

54 minutes ago, calbear said:

This was a very helpful chart mapping/assessing covid risk based on four factors from a study from researchers at MIT & Oxford. The referenced study is in the second link.

https://news.yahoo.com/6-feet-may-not-always-124600137.html

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3223

 

 

This is another I like:

 

“We need to be able to adapt to different environments with different levels of vigilance, so we're not constantly on max alert

A different risk chart, similar to the one that Bourouiba and her co-authors invented for the BMJ, which weighs the relative risks of different activities during the pandemic, based on various criteria. 

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel - University of Pennsylvania, Dr. James Phillips - George Washington University, Saskia Popescu - University of Arizona/George Mason University”

 

[Ausmumof3]

https://amp.theage.com.au/national/victoria/no-increase-to-victorian-suicide-rate-during-covid-19-pandemic-20200827-p55pr9.html?__twitter_impression=true
 

suicide rates in Vic haven’t increased during the lockdown.  There has been an increase in calls to help lines etc.  there has been quite a bit of funding set aside for mental health stuff so hopefully this has helped .

[Ausmumof3]

“The following statement is attributable to: 
Susan R. Bailey, M.D.
President, American Medical Association 

“Months into this pandemic, we know COVID-19 is spread by asymptomatic people. Suggesting that people without symptoms, who have known exposure to COVID-positive individuals, do not need testing is a recipe for community spread and more spikes in coronavirus. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updates a guidance the agency should provide a rationale for the change. We urge CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services to release the scientific justification for this change in testing guidelines.”  

https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-statements/ama-statement-cdc-changes-covid-19-testing-guidance

[Ausmumof3]

Chinese news sources are reporting an increase in short sightedness in kids by around 10pc in the first half of this year.  Could just be a statistical anomaly but I’m wondering if this could be something to watch for with more indoor time and online learning?

[Pen]

 

Yesterday’s DrBeen video on Bradykinin Storms and today’s with title like A Flurry of Intriguing News are both worthwhile. 

[Pen]

7 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

“The following statement is attributable to: 
Susan R. Bailey, M.D.
President, American Medical Association 

“Months into this pandemic, we know COVID-19 is spread by asymptomatic people. Suggesting that people without symptoms, who have known exposure to COVID-positive individuals, do not need testing is a recipe for community spread and more spikes in coronavirus. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updates a guidance the agency should provide a rationale for the change. We urge CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services to release the scientific justification for this change in testing guidelines.”  

https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-statements/ama-statement-cdc-changes-covid-19-testing-guidance

 

If people with known exposure quarantine right away for 14 days it would help a lot.  

 

[Pen]

 

https://youtu.be/2uzXHnUViro

https://youtu.be/2uzXHnUViro

John Campbell  - was going along with mainstream negativity toward HCQ, but is starting to come around now to different view. 

 

[Junie]

6 hours ago, Pen said:

 

If people with known exposure quarantine right away for 14 days it would help a lot.  

 

Yes!  Absolutely!

My dd17 was exposed to the virus while working on her college campus this summer.  She was put into full isolation for 2 weeks from the last possible exposure.  (It took a few days for the person to test positive and for the school to be informed.)  Even after she herself tested negative, she was kept in isolation until the full 14 days had expired.  They have been doing this all summer and as of right now they have zero confirmed cases among students (and only two among non-student workers).  I know that number will go up as students arrive, but they have done a good job of managing this so far.  (The college has a dashboard that lists number of cases.  I think I saw the number as high as 15 positive cases, but since they have been doing contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine, they have been able to keep the numbers under control.

[Pen]

2 minutes ago, Junie said:

Yes!  Absolutely!

My dd17 was exposed to the virus while working on her college campus this summer.  She was put into full isolation for 2 weeks from the last possible exposure.  (It took a few days for the person to test positive and for the school to be informed.)  Even after she herself tested negative, she was kept in isolation until the full 14 days had expired.  They have been doing this all summer and as of right now they have zero confirmed cases among students (and only two among non-student workers).  I know that number will go up as students arrive, but they have done a good job of managing this so far.  (The college has a dashboard that lists number of cases.  I think I saw the number as high as 15 positive cases, but since they have been doing contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine, they have been able to keep the numbers under control.

 

Given possible false negatives I think that may go farther than to test and release if there’s a negative test result.   I am glad they are using 14 day isolation .  I hope it may help for a successful opening.  

[Ausmumof3]

Bno: NEW: France reports 6,111 new cases of coronavirus, biggest one-day increase in 5 months. Only 1 day, March 31, was higher. This time, more young people and a lot of asymptomatic cases.

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Plum said:

another case of reinfection
 

According to the researchers’ findings, a 25-year-old patient from Reno tested positive for COVID-19 at a community-based testing event on April 18 held by the Washoe County Health District after developing symptoms consistent with the virus in late March. After his symptoms resolved and two negative tests, he again developed symptoms in late May.

Fever, headache, dizziness, cough, nausea and diarrhea gave way to a lack of hospitalization, and the patient was admitted on June 5. He tested positive for COVID-19 again the following day, 48 days after his first positive test.

University researchers analyzed the patient’s specimens from the April and June tests and concluded that they have “degree of genetic discordance that cannot be explained reasonably through short-term in vivo evolution.” In short, they found that the two specimens were so genetically distinct that the differences were unlikely to be explained by the result of the virus mutating in the patient’s body.

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/unr-researchers-announce-likely-case-of-reinfection-in-reno-man-hospitalized-for-covid-19?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rop

 

dh talked to a doctor who wants him to get tested again. 

That is definitely more worrying if he was symptomatic second time round 

[Pen]

4 hours ago, Plum said:

another case of reinfection
 

According to the researchers’ findings, a 25-year-old patient from Reno tested positive for COVID-19 at a community-based testing event on April 18 held by the Washoe County Health District after developing symptoms consistent with the virus in late March. After his symptoms resolved and two negative tests, he again developed symptoms in late May.

Fever, headache, dizziness, cough, nausea and diarrhea gave way to a lack of hospitalization, and the patient was admitted on June 5. He tested positive for COVID-19 again the following day, 48 days after his first positive test.

University researchers analyzed the patient’s specimens from the April and June tests and concluded that they have “degree of genetic discordance that cannot be explained reasonably through short-term in vivo evolution.” In short, they found that the two specimens were so genetically distinct that the differences were unlikely to be explained by the result of the virus mutating in the patient’s body.

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/unr-researchers-announce-likely-case-of-reinfection-in-reno-man-hospitalized-for-covid-19?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rop

 

dh talked to a doctor who wants him to get tested again. 

 

Interesting.

 

what does “gave way to a lack of hospitalization” mean? 

[Pen]

 

I hope there is not Antibody Dependent Enhancement  . 

 

[EmseB]

I don't understand any of the math here, but it seems that maybe the paper about cardiac inflammation was somewhat flawed? Maybe @square_25 knows the lingo??

 

[EmseB]

30 minutes ago, square_25 said:

I can't really follow that thread, sorry. But he seems to be blowing off the myocarditis with "we can't tell what they saw on those images," so I'm a bit skeptical. He seems to have an agenda. 

He seems to be right that some of the stats were wrong, though. And that's interesting that a comparison group has lots of issues as well. I'll be interested in more information on this either way, since the COVID cases they followed weren't random. 

Anyway, it seems like mildly good news. 

 

An agenda? I'm sure everyone has an angle, I guess, even cardiologist professors at the Imperial College 😂

Also, ETA, sorry, I referenced you because I thought he was talking about the math/stats being wrong, not the images.

This was in the replies, maybe more helpful?

(I don't know that guy either, so he may also have an agenda or could also be a big nobody)

Edited August 28, 2020 by EmseB

[Corraleno]

27 minutes ago, EmseB said:

An agenda? I'm sure everyone has an angle, I guess, even cardiologist professors at the Imperial College 😂

Also, ETA, sorry, I referenced you because I thought he was talking about the math/stats being wrong, not the images.

He was discussing errors in the stats and also claimed that "whether an MRI is abnormal or not is very difficult to decide," implying that it's just a subjective guess whether the MRIs showed damage or not.

His claim that the Big 10 cancelled the fall season purely on the basis of this incorrect paper is false. There were multiple Big 10 football players who had actual, diagnosed heart abnormalities after recovering from Covid. The paper may have reinforced the decision, but it was not the sole basis for it. He also claims that the heart abnormalities found post-covid were equivalent to those found in people with similar risk factors, like high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, etc., and that lack of exercise causes the abnormalities — but they were found in extremely fit athletes who were in the middle of intensive training. So, no, the Big 10 is not going to be reinstating the fall football season any time soon.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Corraleno

[Pen]

6 hours ago, Plum said:

Found the preprint from UNR. It bumped me out before I could finish. 

In April, 2020, a twenty-five year old resident of Reno, NV tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 through a community-based testing event held by the Washoe County Health District (collection date: 4/18/2020). The patient indicated symptoms consistent with viral infection (sore throat, cough, headache, nausea, diarrhea; onset: 3/25/20). During isolation, the patient indicated resolution of symptoms (4/27/20). The patient was subsequently tested by two nucleic acid amplification tests and was found negative for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA for specimens collected on 5/9/2020 (by transcription-mediated amplification (TMA)) and again on 5/26/2020 (by real-time PCR (RT-PCR)). The patient continued to feel well until 5/28/20. On 5/31/20, the patient sought care with self-reported fevers, headache, dizziness, cough, nausea, and diarrhea. A chest x-ray was performed and he was discharged home. Five days later, on 6/5/20, the patient presented to a family care doctor and was found to be hypoxic and was instructed to go to the emergency department after provision of oxygen. The patient was hospitalized that day and was assessed for SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT-PCR testing. The patient required ongoing oxygen support and reported symptoms that included myalgia, cough and shortness of breath. A chest
x-ray was performed on 6/5/20 and compared to that of 5/31/20 with the development of new patchy
bilateral interstitial opacities suggestive of a viral or atypical pneumonia. RT-PCR results were positive for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. On 6/6/20, the patient was tested for IgG/IgM for SARS-CoV-2 and was positive. A summary of specimens tested with result details is shown in Table 1. With consideration of two episodes of symptoms consistent with COVID-19, and two specimens found
 reactive for SARS-CoV-2 specimens separated by: symptomatic recovery; a period of 48 days, and two non-reactive (negative) SARS-CoV-2 test results, we performed nucleic acid sequencing of the viruses associated with the positive cases.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3681489

 

 

Besides it making me strongly wonder about antibody dependent dependent enhancement (which it sounds suspiciously like it could be), Iwish  it would give something like titre levels.  Usually the idea is that positive is positive and negative is negative, but I think the numbers may actually have relevance.  Did he perhaps have a mild infection with low viral load the first time and a whopper the second?  Maybe after getting it once he thought he would be safe and took no precautions of distance, masks, etc thereafter? 

 

I wonder what the circumstances were for the patient.  It sounds like they think he was possibly exposed via a parent the second time.  

 

“ The secondary positive case (B) occurred simultaneously to a
5 positive case of a co-habitant (parent), also positive by NAAT (TMA) on 6/5/2020. “

 

But would simultaneous mean getting it from

the parent? Or both getting it at the same time from

someone else?   Or could the parent have gotten it from the 25yo? 

 

Other than exposure to the parent was he keeping isolated from others? 

 

It says IgM/IgG done and showed positive, though I am not sure if that means both were positive. I guess so. 

 

 

[Corraleno]

15 minutes ago, square_25 said:

Yeah, I was wondering about that. I had the impression there were athletes whose actual doctors found issues with their hearts. Any idea what those issues were or how common they are? 

Most articles I've seen about the athletes with post-covid heart issues just refer to "myocarditis." I think the factors that cause extra concern for myocarditis with regard to both Covid and athletes are that (1) the doctor quoted below says that half the cases of post-covid myocarditis they are seeing are in athletes who were asymptomatic, and (2) 9% of cases of sudden death in athletes are linked to myocarditis. Also, note that this doctor says that exercise can be a trigger for cardiac arrest in patients who've had myocarditis, in contrast to the twitter doctor who suggested that "benching athletes [with post-covid heart damage] is the absolute worst thing to do." 

 

The concern has "made the bar higher" for returning to fall sports, said Dr. Jonathan Drezner, director of the University of Washington Medicine Center for Sports Cardiology and a sports medicine physician who advises the NCAA on cardiac issues, "and it could be we don't get there."
.....

Dr. Matthew Martinez, director of sports cardiology for Atlantic Health System in New Jersey, said he has received calls from physicians from at least a dozen Power 5 schools who have identified more than a dozen athletes with some post-COVID-19 myocardial injury. He said about half of them had symptoms.

"Initially we thought if you didn't have significant symptoms that you are probably at less risk. We are now finding that that may not be true," he said.

Martinez, who is the league cardiologist for Major League Soccer, team cardiologist for the New York Jets and a consultant for the National Basketball Players Association, said based on what he's seen so far among professional athletes who have had COVID-19, "I'm hopeful the number is under 5%" who have heart-related issues.

Even though the percentage is likely small, Martinez said there is still so much unknown that it is wise to take a conservative approach in returning athletes to play.

"We're listening to doctors and scientists and continuing to prepare our schedule and prepare for the season," Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told The Dallas Morning News on Sunday. "And yet the last two or three weeks have not been good to us. You'd be less than forthright if you didn't acknowledge between the myocarditis and some of the other things that are new, it hasn't raised the concern level. But nothing has been decided at this point."

People can get myocardial inflammation, feel fine and never know it, Drezner said. He said most athletes who get myocarditis will be able to safely return to sports after a restriction of activity for three to six months. But he said that in some cases, the inflammation can turn to scar tissue and put the patient at risk for an irregular heartbeat that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest, which can be triggered by exercise.

 

[Pen]

19 minutes ago, Plum said:

Wow! Day 43 and the contact tracer just called. 🤯 He was a super cool person and apologized for just now contacting us. He said they’ve been hiring and training like crazy. He was happy we had already contacted everyone. It’s easy when dh goes two places, work and home. 

He talks to people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 all day and he has friends and family that believe it’s a hoax. Like, where do you go with that? 

Anyway, keep track of who you hung out with and where you have been because you never know about your degrees of separation and you can’t rely on the health department to contact you in a timely manner.

 

 

43 days , hmmm.   

 

[kbutton]

We're keeping receipts for 2-3 weeks in a casual pile, and we're trying to write in person appointments that would not generate a receipt in our calendars to help with contact tracing. It won't be perfect, but it will be a good start. 

[TCB]

33 minutes ago, kbutton said:

We're keeping receipts for 2-3 weeks in a casual pile, and we're trying to write in person appointments that would not generate a receipt in our calendars to help with contact tracing. It won't be perfect, but it will be a good start. 

Good idea!

[EmseB]

As a follow up to my pp.

 

[vonfirmath]

3 hours ago, kbutton said:

We're keeping receipts for 2-3 weeks in a casual pile, and we're trying to write in person appointments that would not generate a receipt in our calendars to help with contact tracing. It won't be perfect, but it will be a good start. 

I've been trying to write down where i went everyday since March.  (You know all those memes about "What is this thing good for now" with a 2020 planner?)

It's not perfect (I don't always write it down) But I figure It'd make a good memory jog if necessary

Edited August 29, 2020 by vonfirmath

[Ausmumof3]

https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/08/covid-19-reinfection-tracker/

 

bno have created a reinfection tracker chart.  This might be helpful.

[Ausmumof3]

US cases have been trending down for about a month now but it feels like 7 day rolling average for deaths is only very slightly trending down if at all?  Should we expect to see that go down more by now?  

[maize]

3 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

US cases have been trending down for about a month now but it feels like 7 day rolling average for deaths is only very slightly trending down if at all?  Should we expect to see that go down more by now?  

Some of the downward trend in cases may unfortunately be due to less testing.

I wish hospitalization numbers were more readily accessible, I see that as a better measure of actual case trends 

[freesia]

2 hours ago, maize said:

Some of the downward trend in cases may unfortunately be due to less testing.

I wish hospitalization numbers were more readily accessible, I see that as a better measure of actual case trends 

Gov Cuomo publishes hospitalizations for NY daily on his Twitter. But, yeah, it’s more hunting them down rather than one place which would be handy. 

[Pen]

4 hours ago, maize said:

Some of the downward trend in cases may unfortunately be due to less testing.

I wish hospitalization numbers were more readily accessible, I see that as a better measure of actual case trends 

 

Don’t know how accurate- daily hospitalizations graphs for USA and its states 

https://www.investigatetv.com/coronavirus-hospitalizations/

Edited August 29, 2020 by Pen

[Pen]

 

I agree.

 

I think hospitalizations are very important right now.

 A lot of us are very concerned about serious cases requiring hospitalization .   

It is an important matter in terms of medical system being able to cope.

 

It also concerns many of us for our own family’s lives. 

And sickness requiring hospital is a significant matter, not just deaths. And much more so than Asymptomatic and “mild” cases unless the Asymptomatic and mild cases have long term sequelae .  

 

I thi k the link I gave above is easy to use.  

 

8 hours ago, maize said:

Some of the downward trend in cases may unfortunately be due to less testing.

I wish hospitalization numbers were more readily accessible, I see that as a better measure of actual case trends 

 

[Ausmumof3]

38 minutes ago, Plum said:

Grrr contact tracer somehow entered yesterday’s phone call as a fresh positive and the whole family is finally being told by the health district that we’ve come into contact with a positive person and need to quarantine for 14 days. It’s the weekend and no one seems to be able to clear things up until Monday. He got the official health district contact tracer yesterday and today we got tracers from a call center that can’t seem to access anything. Oldest is supposed to work tomorrow. Dh’s stomach was just starting to feel better and now he’s all stressed out and it’s hurting again. And now I have a headache.  🤬
 

His retest was yesterday morning and no one has the results for those yet. I can’t think straight right now, even if the retest comes back positive, there’s no reason for all of us to be still on quarantine since his original positive was now 44 days ago. 

How frustrating!  Hopefully you can get it sorted out quickly.  

[ktgrok]

10 hours ago, Bagels McGruffikin said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html#click=https://t.co/jJsusi1DI5
 

May explain some of the disparity between positivity rate and actual complications and death, if we are using too sensitive a threshold for detection compared to what actually might be prudent for communicability and harm.

The only problem is that the article says that someone may have a low viral load simply because they are newly infected. So if we lower the cut off and we label them as negativ, but don't retest them the next day or so, they could then have a much higher viral load and be spreading it. 

Also, how the sample is collected would impact how much virus is collected, I'd think. 

[JennyD]

2 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

The only problem is that the article says that someone may have a low viral load simply because they are newly infected. So if we lower the cut off and we label them as negativ, but don't retest them the next day or so, they could then have a much higher viral load and be spreading it. 

 

The very frequent testing is key, as I understand it.  

[Ausmumof3]

seems like a good thread on when and whether an emergency approval for a vaccine is a good idea.  In short after phase 3 trials maybe it but we definitely shouldn’t skip phase 3

[Ausmumof3]

73 cases in vic today.  Still trending down though bouncing around a bit.  41 deaths.  Highest daily figure for Aus but includes a 22 aged care deaths from previous weeks that were just reported so roughly in line with what we’ve already seen.  

[BeachGal]

Part of a preprint explaining the heart damage they're finding even in some asymptomatic people. Pretty serious stuff. You definitely don't want to get this.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/new-insights-into-how-covid-19-causes-heart-damage/

Quote

New Insights into How COVID-19 Causes Heart Damage

Published: Aug 26, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- COVID-19 was initially identified as a respiratory disease, but scientists now appreciate that it also affects several other organs in the body, including the heart. Heart damage is a major determinant of COVID-19 related deaths, and even patients who experience only mild COVID-19 symptoms exhibit signs of cardiac dysfunction several months after recovery.

A new study by scientists at Gladstone Institutes helps explain how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, inflicts damage on heart cells. The team's findings, shared publicly on bioRxiv, show the virus's unexpected effects on the structure of heart cells in the lab, as well as in heart tissue from COVID-19 patients.

The team, led by Gladstone Senior Investigators Todd C. McDevitt, PhD,and Bruce R. Conklin, MD, was uniquely positioned to tackle this work, due to their experience in deriving various types of cardiac cells in the lab from induced pluripotent stem cells.

In collaboration with Director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology Melanie Ott, MD, PhD, they exposed the cells to varying doses of SARS-CoV-2. The virus only productively infected the cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells, meaning that the virus could enter those cells and make new copies of itself.

"Early on in our experiments, we noticed that many of the cardiomyocytes were exhibiting some very strange features," says McDevitt, who is also a professor of bioengineering and therapeutic sciences at UC San Francisco (UCSF). "What we were seeing was completely abnormal; in my years of looking at cardiomyocytes, I had never seen anything like it before."

The team observed that when they exposed cardiomyocytes to SARS-CoV-2, the sarcomeres in some of the cells appeared to be diced into small, regularly sized fragments. Typically, sarcomeres—units of the muscle fibers in heart cells—are organized into long filaments aligned in the same direction. These sarcomeres control the coordinated contraction of heart cells to produce the normal heartbeat.

"The sarcomere disruptions we discovered would make it impossible for the heart muscle cells to beat properly," explains Conklin, who is also a professor of medicine, cellular and molecular pharmacology, and ophthalmology at UCSF.

The scientists also noted that the nuclear DNA seemed to be missing from many of the heart cells. Without DNA, cells can no longer perform any normal functions.

"It's the cell equivalent of being brain dead," adds Conklin. "Even after scouring scientific literature and conferring with colleagues, we cannot find these abnormal cell features in any other cardiac disease model. We believe they are unique to SARS-CoV-2 and could explain the prolonged heart damage seen in many COVID-19 patients."

Discoveries in a Dish Predict Changes in Human Tissue

To understand whether these changes to cells in culture were relevant to COVID-19 in humans, the researchers sought out heart tissue from COVID-19 patients. However, patient tissue was hard to find.

"Most people don't appreciate how difficult it has been to access patient samples," says McDevitt. "Since this virus is so contagious, many hospitals lack the special equipment they need to safely perform autopsies on COVID-19 patients."

When the team was able to receive patient samples, what they saw corroborated the structural changes they saw in the lab. Remarkably, even in patients who had not been diagnosed with COVID-19 related heart disease, there was evidence of structural abnormalities in the heart muscle cells. Additional testing needs to be done to validate these findings further, but the immediate similarities are striking.

"These abnormalities haven't been identified in patients before, so they may have been overlooked," says McDevitt. "I hope our work motivates doctors to review their patients' samples to start looking for these features at a higher magnification, which will be the true test of our hypotheses."

 

[BeachGal]

20 hours ago, JennyD said:

 

The very frequent testing is key, as I understand it.  

 

Yes, very important. Abbott Labs in Gurnee, Illinois, is hiring 2,000 temp employees to make its new $5, 15-minute BinaxNOW antigen test which will begin rolling out in September. An antigen test looks for particular proteins on the virus.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-abbott-hiring-gurnee-covid-19-tests-20200827-bckqmk3avjenney72iii4tj5li-story.html

Quote

According to Abbott, the test accurately gets a positive result 97.1% of the time and accurately gets a negative result 98.5% of the time in patients suspected by their health care providers of having COVID-19, within the first seven days of symptom onset.

 

Abbott's press release about their test:

https://abbott.mediaroom.com/2020-08-26-Abbotts-Fast-5-15-Minute-Easy-to-Use-COVID-19-Antigen-Test-Receives-FDA-Emergency-Use-Authorization-Mobile-App-Displays-Test-Results-to-Help-Our-Return-to-Daily-Life-Ramping-Production-to-50-Million-Tests-a-Month

Edited August 31, 2020 by BeachGal
added more info

[BeachGal]

6 minutes ago, square_25 said:

OK, this sounds terrible. And the problem is that we don't have any idea how much heart disease the asymptomatic people are going to have later. We haven't even known about this virus for a year! 

Hopefully one's body can just fix these things if you don't, you know, die?? (Since the tissue samples were obviously from people who did die.) 

 

Heart tissue is notoriously slow to repair itself, unfortunately. Usually it forms scar tissue which is not ideal. People could have lifelong heart problems or problems that crop up as they age.

A senolytic drug could possibly help. They're showing a lot of promise. This one, seno-7284, is being studied for cardiometabolic disorders. Very early stages. So maybe something similar could be used eventually.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/res.125.suppl_1.752

 

 

[BeachGal]

9 minutes ago, square_25 said:

Cue me hiding in my apartment until a vaccine, I guess. I was already more or less planning to do that, but this isn't making me feel better. 

 

Nothing to mess around with, that's for sure.

[Pen]

4 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

seems like a good thread on when and whether an emergency approval for a vaccine is a good idea.  In short after phase 3 trials maybe it but we definitely shouldn’t skip phase 3

 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-astrazeneca-track-virus-vaccine-september.html

 

It looks like AstraZeneca Oxford is expected  to finish expedited phase 3 shortly.

 

(i don’t know if I see the same twitter thread you do.  What I see seems like a bunch of conspiracy theory and politics and nothing about virus trials. )

Edited August 31, 2020 by Pen

[EmseB]

1 hour ago, BeachGal said:

Part of a preprint explaining the heart damage they're finding even in some asymptomatic people. Pretty serious stuff. You definitely don't want to get this.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/new-insights-into-how-covid-19-causes-heart-damage/

 

Is this the in vitro study?

[Ausmumof3]

the latest conspiracy apparently is that the cdc updated data and the latest data shows only 6pc of the deaths were really from Covid (because the other 94 pc include other causes or co morbidities)

just putting this here in case anyone needs some more information or a quick link if it comes up.