Asthma Patients Appear Less Likely to Die From COVID-19

Womenscorner Desk
October 10, 2020

The following may be a roundup of a number of the newest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to seek out treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Patients with asthma who become infected with the new coronavirus appear to possess no higher risk of hospitalization or need for mechanical breathing assistance compared to COVID-19 patients without asthma and therefore the asthma patients are less likely to die from the disease, a replacement study suggests. Researchers at a Boston healthcare system studied 562 asthma patients with COVID-19 and a couple of ,686 similarly-aged COVID-19 patients without asthma. the 2 groups were hospitalized at similar rates (18% to 21%) and had similar need for mechanical ventilation (3% within the asthma group vs 4%).

But the asthma patients were 70% less likely to die from the virus, researchers reported. None of the 44 patients with severe asthma died. "Although the factors underlying these findings aren't yet known, important considerations include: possible biologic mechanisms and possible protective effects of asthma medications (such as corticosteroids)," the researchers said during a report posted on Monday on medRxiv before referee.

Read More : Some Reasons to Love Zucchini

New test better at identifying who remains infectious :

Becton Dickenson and Co's BD Veritor System for rapid detection of the novel coronavirus is best than gold standard RT-PCR lab tests at distinguishing between infectious and non-infectious virus in swab samples obtained within every week of symptom onset, consistent with a replacement study. One drawback of the RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) is that patients can test positive even after they're not infectious, because the tests detect small amounts of viral RNA that most likely represent infected cells that have died. Newer "antigen-based" tests search for viral proteins rather than RNA.

The antigen-based approach could potentially "be wont to identify and isolate contagious individuals more effectively than current RNA-based (RT-PCR) testing," coauthor Celine Roger-Dalbert of BD. Life Sciences told Reuters. "Although it's going to not replace RNA-based testing, because we still got to identify anyone who was infected so as to trace the spread of the virus, it should help make isolation more efficient and effective as a public health intervention wont to hamper the spread of COVID-19," she added. The study
results were published on Monday on medRxiv before referee.

Placing a tube during a patient's airway, or removing it, is assumed to be one among the highest-risk procedures for medical staff, due to the very close proximity to air being expelled through the mouth of a potentially infected person. But in operating rooms, at least, these procedures might present less of a risk of virus transmission than has been feared. In OR experiments in anesthetized patients, intubation and extubation produced far fewer potentially virus-carrying aerosols than expected.

Read More : Choose the Right Hand Sanitizers

Overall, 19 tube insertions generated about one thousandth of the aerosol generated by one cough, the researchers reported on Tuesday in the journal Anesthesia. Fourteen tube removals produced more aerosols, but still but 25% of that produced by a voluntary cough. an equivalent won't be true in an ER setting. Surgical teams presently wear respirators and high level personal protective equipment to avoid aerosols. After each case, special cleaning is undertaken, which reduces OR turnover and increases waiting times for operations, the authors say. The findings involve "reappraisal of what constitutes an aerosol-generating procedure and therefore the associated precautions for routine anesthetic airway management," they said.

Frontline healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients must wear respirator face masks that form a decent seal with the skin, but full beards can make that impossible. Doctors within the UK have come up with an answer . the solution , outlined during a report published on Saturday within the Journal of Hospital Infection, involves covering the beard over the chin and cheeks with an under-mask elastic rubber sheet (as is employed in yoga and pilates) and tying it during a knot at the highest of the top.

The technique was pioneered by a transplant surgeon and adopted by 32 bearded British healthcare providers, 30 of whom passed respirator fit tests, consistent with the report. "Bearded individuals who are unable to shave may have a replacement innovative technique to be ready to wear respirator masks," the authors write. While noting it had been tested during a small number of individuals , the authors said, "it provides encouraging results to pave way for larger scale studies."