By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) – The following is a summary of some of the latest scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Some antibodies from the common cold can help fight COVID-19
Antibodies to the six coronaviruses that cause common colds cannot “neutralize” the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but antibodies to two of them can at least help the body avoid serious illnesses caused by the new virus, suggests a small preliminary study. German researchers studied 60 patients with COVID-19, including 25 who were hospitalized but not seriously ill, 19 who needed to be admitted to the intensive care unit and 25 who did not get sick enough to be hospitalized. All patients requiring intensive care had significantly lower levels of antibodies to two seasonal coronaviruses, HCoV OC43 and HCoV HKU1, which the authors said were more closely related to the COVID-19 virus compared to other human coronaviruses. Although the observation does not prove that these antibodies are responsible, “it is notable that the effect of specific levels of HCoV OC43 and HKU1 antibodies reached statistical significance in relation to the need for intensive care” in such a small study, the researchers said in a study. article published on Tuesday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. “Additional studies should validate this finding and explore the potential to identify people at risk for severe disease progression before a SARS-CoV-2 infection,” they said. (https://bit.ly/3aMvaqd)
Side effects of the vaccine can affect mammograms
Routine mammograms should be done before the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or four to six weeks after the second dose, advises the Society for Breast Imaging. The temporary side effects of vaccines can include swollen lymph nodes around the armpits, which can be misinterpreted as a possible sign of breast cancer if it appears on a mammogram. The so-called axillary lymphadenopathy is usually seen in only 0.02% -0.04% of the screening mammograms, according to the guidelines of the Society. In tests with the Modern vaccine, the condition developed in 11.6% of participants after the first dose and in 16% after the second dose. Researchers who tested the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine did not routinely ask participants about armpit sensitivity and lymph node swelling, but some people reported this side effect, which lasted an average of 10 days. More subtle effects on lymph nodes that are evident only on X-rays are likely to last longer, the Society said, although it is still unclear how vaccination-related changes in lymph nodes would be. “As more information about the incidence and appearance of axillary lymphadenopathy after vaccination with COVID-19 becomes available, it may be appropriate to change the duration of the follow-up or the recommendations of the final evaluation,” said the Society. (https://bit.ly/2MmkQvR)
The nursing home team was delayed in COVID-19 vaccinations
Residents of nursing homes are among the most vulnerable to severe COVID-19, but vaccinations appear to be delayed among staff members who care for them. In mid-January, some 714,000 nursing home residents in the United States and 582,000 staff members received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, researchers at the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated. When nursing homes were grouped by state, the average percentage of vaccinated residents ranged from 68% to 100%, while the average proportions of vaccinated employees ranged from only 19% to 67%, said the CDC. In a comment published on Wednesday in JAMA, CDC researchers said that, on average, across the country, no more than about a third of the nursing home staff were vaccinated, which “is worrying because this population is at occupational risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2. “They said barriers to vaccinating staff, including shift work schedules and lack of paid sick leave for side effects of vaccination, should be addressed. “Communication and dissemination strategies are needed to improve vaccination coverage among this priority population”, they said. (https://bit.ly/3soiwns; https://bit.ly/3bBmUsj)
Celiac disease does not increase the risks of COVID-19
Celiac disease does not increase patients’ risk of infection or serious illness with the new coronavirus, new data show. People with celiac disease have defective immune activity and are known to be more vulnerable to a variety of viral infections, raising concerns that they may also be more vulnerable to COVID-19. But when researchers used national databases in Sweden to compare 40,963 people with celiac disease to 183,892 similar people without it, they found no differences in the risks of infection, hospitalization related to COVID-19, a critical illness requiring intensive care or death from cause of the disease. In a report published Thursday in Clinical Epidemiology, the authors note that Sweden has imposed only limited regulations on social distance and “the lack of a generalized blockade has likely increased the number of individuals exposed to COVID-19”. In this scenario, they report, the risk of hospitalization for COVID-19 was about 1 in 1000 and the risk of being diagnosed with COVID-19 was about 1%. “There was no difference in these results when comparing patients with celiac disease to controls.” (https://bit.ly/3qRw9uY)
Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl in an external browser to see a Reuters graph on vaccines under development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)