The more contagious Delta variant makes people get sicker; the oral drug shows promise in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia

August 30 (Reuters): The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that justifies a subsequent study to corroborate the findings and has not yet been certified by the peer review.

The Delta variant makes people get sicker

The Delta variant of coronavirus is known to be more easily transmitted than previous versions, and now a large UK study suggests that it also makes people sick. The researchers analyzed data on 43,338 patients infected with the Alpha or Delta variant. Overall, about three-quarters were unvaccinated and half were under 31 years old. After considering patients ’underlying risk factors, the researchers found that unvaccinated patients were 132% more likely to be hospitalized if they were infected with Delta than with Alpha. Vaccinated patients may also be more likely to require hospitalization with a Delta infection, but data from those patients was less clear, according to a report released Friday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The results “suggest that outbreaks of the Delta variant in unvaccinated populations could carry a greater burden on health services than the Alpha variant,” the researchers concluded.

The oral drug shows promise against pneumonia by COVID-19

Patients severely ill with COVID-19 pneumonia who received the oral drug opaganib developed by RedHill Biopharma required less additional oxygen and were able to leave the hospital before patients who received a placebo in a small randomized trial, according to reports Sunday researchers at medRxiv before peer review. At 14 days after enrollment in the study, 50.0% of patients taking opaganib no longer needed oxygen, compared with 22.2% of patients in the placebo group. In addition, 86.4% of opaganib-treated patients had been discharged, compared with 55.6% in the placebo group. On Thursday, RedHill announced that opaganib strongly inhibits the Delta variant of the coronavirus in test tube experiments. The drug is believed to exert its antiviral effect by inhibiting sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2), a key enzyme in cells that the virus can recruit to support its replication, the company said. Based on the initial trial of 42 patients conducted last year, RedHill Biopharma launched a much larger randomized trial in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. The last of the 475 patients in this final-stage study has completed treatment and some of the data should be available soon, the company said last week.

Seizures in children may indicate COVID-19

Seizures may be the only symptom of COVID-19 in some children, a new report warns. Children tend to get COVID-19 much less often than adults, and their symptoms are not usually severe, mainly from fever and mild respiratory problems, although they have become more ill with the onset of COVID-19. variant Delta. Of the 175 children who arrived at an Israeli emergency room and were diagnosed with COVID-19, 11 were taken to hospital due to seizures, investigators told Seizure Medical Journal on Saturday. Only seven had been previously diagnosed with a neurological disorder and only six had fever. All 11 made full recoveries. Although seizures have not been a frequently reported problem in adults with COVID-19, “they may be the leading manifestation of acute COVID-19 in children,” even without fever and no history of epilepsy, according to the authors. of the study. In some hospitals, they point out, only children with flu-like symptoms or close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient are tested for coronavirus. Medical staff should be aware that children with seizures should also be tested.

Click for a Reuters chart on developing vaccines.

Nancy Lapid Reports; Edited by Bill Berkrot

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