Below is a summary of some of the latest scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines against COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Experts advise against antibody drugs in pediatric COVID-19
At present, antibody therapies against COVID-19 should not be used to treat new coronavirus infections in children or adolescents, “including those … with a high risk of progression to hospitalization or serious illness, “according to a group of experts from 29 hospitals across North America who reviewed the available evidence.
The antibody drugs – Eli Lilly and Co’s bamlanivimab and the combination of casirivimab plus imdevimab from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. – were licensed in November by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use in certain groups of adolescents and adults with mild to moderate COVID -19.
But in a paper published Sunday in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, the expert group said: “The course of COVID-19 in children and adolescents is usually mild and there is no high-quality evidence to support no high-risk group There is no evidence on the safety and efficacy of monoclonal antibody therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 in children or adolescents, limited evidence of modest benefits in adults, and evidence of potential harm. “
Disinfection during the pandemic puts asthmatics at risk
A new report suggests that increasing the cleanliness of people with asthma during the pandemic may lead to outbreaks of their disease. Researchers who surveyed 795 American adults with asthma between May and September found that the proportion of people who disinfected surfaces with bleach at least five times a week increased by 155% after the start of the pandemic.
The researchers reported in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology: In Practice, that it also increased the use of disinfectant wipes, sprays and other liquids.
After considering other behaviors and risk factors, the higher chances of having uncontrolled asthma were related to increased home use of disinfectant wipes, disinfectant sprays, water and bleach solutions, and other disinfectant fluids.
The study does not show that increasing the frequency of disinfection caused uncontrolled asthma. However, the authors say, people with asthma need safer cleaning options.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises asthmatics to ask another person to clean and disinfect surfaces and stay in another room when cleaning and disinfectants are used and then.
He also said soap and water may be enough for surfaces and objects that are rarely touched.
News reports paint an overly rosy picture of blood treatment
One study suggests that news stories about critically ill patients with COVID-19 treated with a state-of-the-art procedure known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may paint an unrealistic picture of the results.
During ECMO, blood is pumped out of the body through a machine that removes carbon dioxide and adds oxygen before the blood returns to the body. In a review of media reports on ECMO treatment of COVID-19, doctors found that 92% of patients in the stories survived, while average survival rates after ECMO in large studies they ranged from 53% in children to 63% in young and middle-aged people. older adults.
Patients receiving ECMO treatment “continue to have a substantial risk” of complications and deaths, but most news of COVID-19 patients treated with ECMO did not address those risks, researchers told JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday.
They say the recognition of the exaggerated benefit suggested by media reports may help doctors, patients and families in the intensive care unit have more realistic discussions about the prognosis after ECMO.
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