Risultati per: Ipotesi sull’origine di Omicron e sua evoluzione

I lost sleep—                a flock of it—           dreams extant,   alive;       breaths of blood on white sheets—                            black terns    in their eyes—

Objectives
The aim of this study was to first assess the knowledge and perception of first-year university students in Iraq about COVID-19 in general and SARS-CoV-2 latest variant of concern, and to evaluate the attitudes towards protection measures including vaccination.

Study design
A cross-sectional study was conducted among newly enrolled students at the American University of Iraq-Baghdad. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to test an association between the outcomes measured on a 5-point Likert scale and the binary and the categorical independent variables, respectively. 2 test was used to test the association between nominal categorical variables, while Kendall’s -b was used for ordinal variables.

Participants
Students (n=432) were invited to fill out a survey specifically tailored to assess their knowledge, perception and attitude towards Omicron variant and COVID-19 vaccines acceptance. 363 students enrolled in various majors participated in this study.

Results
Assessment of COVID-19 knowledge and perception revealed that students still lack reliable info and data about FDA-approved treatment options (70.5%), SARS-CoV-2 variants (96.5%) and approved vaccines. Students’ attitude and practices towards recommended safety measures should be reassessed to better manage the pandemic. Adherence level was shown to be associated with the belief in its capacity to effectively manage the new variant. Interestingly, 85% of the students have received at least one dose of approved vaccine. A significant positive correlation was detected between the level of adherence to recommended precautions and the intention to take a third booster shot if proven effective.

Conclusions
Students’ reliable knowledge about COVID-19 pandemic including the various strains and approved vaccines should be improved to better manage the pandemic and set foundations for a more appropriate approach when another pandemic occurs. Special workshops should be organised to ensure that students and the public have a more trusted source of information about COVID-19.

New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 387, Issue 20, Page 1911-1912, November 2022.

New England Journal of Medicine, Ahead of Print.

In Reply Our recent Research Letter showed that all-cause excess mortality in Massachusetts was higher during the Omicron wave than the Delta wave of COVID-19. One potential explanation was a higher “mortality product” during Omicron—a greater number of infections offset a possibly lower infection fatality rate, owing to higher vaccination and booster rates, immunity derived from infections, or both.

To the Editor A recent study reported an increase in excess mortality during the Omicron vs Delta waves of COVID-19 in Massachusetts. The authors postulated that this finding may have been explained by Omicron’s high infectivity outweighing its lower virulence (yielding a higher mortality product) relative to Delta. However, this conclusion hinges on the following key assumptions: (1) that most excess deaths occurred in patients with (vs without) COVID-19, (2) that hospital case mix remained constant during the 2 waves, and (3) that deaths during each wave occurred independent of prior waves.

Objective
Two COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in Henan province in early 2022—one was a Delta variant outbreak and the other was an Omicron variant outbreak. COVID-19 vaccines used at the time of the outbreak were inactivated, 91.8%; protein subunit, 7.5%; and adenovirus5-vectored, 0.7% vaccines. The outbreaks provided an opportunity to evaluate variant-specific breakthrough infection rates and relative protective effectiveness of homologous inactivated COVID-19 vaccine booster doses against symptomatic infection and pneumonia.
Design
Retrospective cohort study

Methods
We evaluated relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) with a retrospective cohort study of close contacts of infected individuals using a time-dependent Cox regression model. Demographic and epidemiologic data were obtained from the local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; clinical and laboratory data were obtained from COVID-19-designated hospitals. Vaccination histories were obtained from the national COVID-19 vaccination dataset. All data were linked by national identification number.

Results
Among 784 SARS-CoV-2 infections, 379 (48.3%) were caused by Delta and 405 (51.7%) were caused by Omicron, with breakthrough rates of 9.9% and 17.8%, respectively. Breakthrough rates among boosted individuals were 8.1% and 4.9%. Compared with subjects who received primary vaccination series ≥180 days before infection, Cox regression modelling showed that homologous inactivated booster vaccination was statistically significantly associated with protection from symptomatic infection caused by Omicron (rVE 59%; 95% CI 13% to 80%) and pneumonia caused by Delta (rVE 62%; 95% CI 34% to 77%) and Omicron (rVE 87%; 95% CI 3% to 98%).

Conclusions
COVID-19 vaccination in China provided good protection against symptomatic COVID-19 and COVID-19 pneumonia caused by Delta and Omicron variants. Protection declined 6 months after primary series vaccination but was restored by homologous inactivated booster doses given 6 months after the primary series.

This cohort study assesses the capacity of passive immunization and tixagevimab and cilgavimab to inhibit interaction between receptor-binding domains and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in patients with hemato-oncologic diseases.

Circulation, Volume 146, Issue Suppl_1, Page A10255-A10255, November 8, 2022. Introduction:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with evidence of myocardial injury, defined as troponin elevation, has been demonstrated to be associated with worse outcomes. The temporal changes in outcomes in these patients during various phases of the pandemic remain unclear.Hypothesis:We sought to evaluate outcomes during the Omicron phase compared to previous phases of the pandemic.Methods:We analyzed COVID-19-positive patients with myocardial injury who presented to the MedStar Health system (11 hospitals in Washington, DC and Maryland) during Phase 1 of the pandemic (March 1 – June 30, 2020), Phase 2 (October 1, 2020 – January 31, 2021) and Phase 3 (Omicron) (December 1, 2021 – March 31, 2022) comparing their characteristics and outcomes. The primary end point was in-hospital mortality.Results:The cohort included 2079 COVID-19-positive admitted patients for whom troponin-I or high-sensitive troponin was elevated (Phase 1: n=150, Phase 2: n=854, Phase 3 [Omicron]: n=1075). Baseline characteristics were overall similar. Inflammatory markers were significantly elevated in Phase 1 as compared to Phase 2 and the Omicron Phase. The use of remdesivir and dexamethasone was most seen in Phase 2. In the Omicron Phase, 52.6% of patients were fully vaccinated. In-hospital mortality although high was lower in the Omicron Phase as compared to Phase 1 and Phase 2 (23.3% vs. 59.3% vs. 28.1%; p

New England Journal of Medicine, Ahead of Print.

Mutazioni su proteina Spike frutto dell’adattamento nei roditori

New England Journal of Medicine, Ahead of Print.

Annals of Internal Medicine, Volume 175, Issue 10, Page W119, October 2022.

Annals of Internal Medicine, Volume 175, Issue 10, Page W119, October 2022.

I ricercatori stanno monitorando le varianti che potranno essere responsabili di una nuova ondata di Sars-CoV2 nella stagione invernale