Category: Symptoms
UK: AstraZeneca #coronavirus vaccine blood clot cases double to 168 in two weeks, 32 deaths reported
The risk of a serious blood clot from AstraZeneca jab has doubled in a fortnight, new data show. Cases have gone up from 79 to 168 and deaths from 19 to 32. The chance of having a clot following vaccination has gone from one in 250,000 to one in 126,582.
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India: Doctors discuss the diagnosis and treatment of B.1.617 double mutant #coronavirus patients
“Death of fully vaccinated people”, “Increased incidence of reinfections”, “Very infectious. Almost all near contacts are positive if traced”, “RT-PCR reports are 67-70% positive and RAT around 89%”, “RT-PCR was positive around 60% of cases”
Dr Nishith Kumar, Pulmonologist, Ranchi
I have seen 100s of cases where the patient is maintaining normal oxygen saturation & more than 2-40% lung is affected on CT scan
Dr T Rekha, MD med, Kolkata
So far, in the admitted cases, most of the age groups are between 30-40
One whole family (4 members) admitted post vaccination following 1st dose vaccination
RT-PCR was positive around 60% of cases
Dr Bijay Patni, Bhagaipur
D-Dimer is found to be elevated in most cases
Very infectious. Almost all near contacts are positive if traced
Dr Rajkamal Chaudhary, Delhi
Age group 1yrs to 30yrs
RT-PCR reports are 67-70% positive and RAT around 89%
Dr H Sharan, Ranchi
Recent samples (~300) showed B.1.617 in 30% of samples
Increased incidence of reinfections
Death of fully vaccinated people
HRCt chest should be advised to all
CMEIndia.in discussions Please read the entire article here
India: Gujurat doctors seeing an increasing number of #coronavirus cases where patients have negative RT-PCR tests but CT scans reveal significant infection in the lungs
The medical fraternity in Gujarat have come across an increasing number of cases where patients test negative in RT-PCR report but a high-resolution CT (HRCT) reveals significant infection in the lungs.
Vadodara Municipal Corporation has issued a notification stating that “the new strain of (novel) coronavirus [B.1.617] is highly contagious and the virus does not necessarily show a positive test on RT-PCR. In cases where RT-PCR is negative but findings in HRCT and lab investigations are suggestive of viral etiology, the claim should be treated as that of Covid unless proved otherwise,” states VMC’s order issued under the Epidemic Act.
According to Infectious disease specialist Dr Hiten Kareliya,”Covid-19 suspects should undergo RT-PCR tests and HRCT chest early instead of earlier practice where a patient would be asked to undergo CT scan only a couple of days after the test.
“We are seeing many cases where the patient has no symptoms or just mild fever and weakness but the infection spread to lungs rapidly,” he further said.
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UK: 100 blood clot cases and 22 deaths following vaccination with AstraZeneca #coronavirus vaccination
“Up to 5 April 2021, the MHRA had received Yellow Card reports of 100 cases of major thromboembolic events (blood clots) with concurrent thrombocytopenia (low platelet counts) in the UK following vaccination with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. These events occurred in 61 women and 39 men aged from 18 to 85 years and the overall case fatality rate was 22% with 22 deaths.
Of these, 99 reports were associated with the first dose of the vaccine and a single report followed a second dose, although this individual had medical conditions that could have caused the events. Fifty individuals had cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (average age 46 years) and 50 had other major thromboembolic events (average age 52 years) with concurrent thrombocytopenia.”
UK.gov: Coronavirus vaccine – weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting
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USA: about 60 household pets confirmed positive for #coronavirus in Texas study
Researchers at Texas A&M’s Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences department have confirmed a cat and dog living in the same house have contracted the UK variant of COVID-19 B.1.1.7. All of the animals enrolled in their study, about 450 so far, live in Brazos County and live inside homes where a human tested positive for COVID-19. About 60 animals have been confirmed with COVID-19, and a quarter of those animals showed mild symptoms like lack of energy, sneezing and diarrhea. All of the pets infected have recovered.
How can the UK variant of COVID-19 affect our pets? @TAMU has confirmed a cat & dog in #Texas contracted the variant. More details at 6:30 a.m. on @abc13houston
Also, Lulu is with me for my live shot & says this is a *very* important story got pet owners! 🐶 🙂 pic.twitter.com/ZOP16QJ1sh
— Charly Edsitty (@CharlyABC13) April 14, 2021
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USA: 2 Malayan tigers at Norfolk, Virginia zoo test positive for #coronavirus
Two tigers at a zoo in Virginia have tested positive for the coronavirus. The Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday that the Malayan tigers live at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk.The zoo said it doesn’t know how its tigers were infected. It’s working with health officials and other experts to find out.
The big cats are named Stubbley and Osceola. They started showing mild symptoms such as dry cough and wheezing last week. Testing later confirmed they have COVID. Test results for a third tiger are pending. Zoo officials expect them to fully recover as tigers have at other zoos.
Genetic Evidence and Host Immune Response in Persons Reinfected with SARS-CoV-2 #coronavirus in Brazil
A paper to be published in May in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC/US) journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) shows that a first exposure to COVID-19 in mild or asymptomatic cases may not produce an immune response, and that a person can reinfect himself or herself with the same variant. The second infection can cause stronger symptoms than the first, the study indicates.
The data shows that for a portion of the population that has the disease in the mild form (in which hospitalization is not required) this does not mean that they will be immune or that a reinfection will evolve in a benign way. The study also indicates that reinfection may be more frequent than assumed.
The case of being infected by the same variant happens because the patient would not have built up an immunological memory. In the case of another strain, it would “escape” surveillance, it would not be recognized by the previously generated memory because it is a little different.
To reach these conclusions, the researchers followed a group of 30 people on a weekly basis from March 2020, at the pandemic start, until the end of the year. Of these, four contracted Sars-CoV-2, and some were infected with the same variant. The researchers then sequenced the virus genome in the case of the first infection and then in the second infection to be able to compare them.
“The gene sequencing method developed by MGI allowed us to detect the virus even in samples with low viral load. Today, Bio-Manguinhos [the Immunobiological Technology Institute] has some of these machines,” says Moreno.
In all four cases, the first infection occurred with mild symptoms. In the second, the symptoms were more frequent and stronger, but did not require hospitalization. “These people didn’t actually have detectable immunity until after the second infection. This leads us to believe that for a population part that had the disease in a mild form, one exposure to the virus is not enough, but more than one, to have a degree of immunity,” says Moreno. “This allows a portion of the population that has already been exposed to sustain a new epidemic.”
Fiocruz Institute, Brazil report
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Boris Johnson: “many more people will lose loved ones to #coronavirus”
12th March 2020 – Boris Johnson: “many more people will lose loved ones to coronavirus” (Guardian).
13th April 2021 – Boris Johnson: “sadly we will see more hospitalisation and deaths” (Guardian)
16th December 2020: Jacinda Ardern reveals the moment she chose her Covid-19 elimination strategy for New Zealand
12% of US children with COVID-19 #coronavirus are hospitalized
Among a cohort of 20,714 US children with COVID-19, more than 1 in 10 were hospitalized, of whom 31.1% (756) had severe COVID-19, defined as requiring admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), mechanical ventilation, or comparable treatment. The study found that 2,430 (11.7%) of the 20,714 children who had an emergency department or inpatient encounter were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Discharge data from 869 US medical facilities from Mar 1 to Oct 31, 2020 showed that most hospitalized COVID pediatric patients were girls (52.8%) and 12 to 18 years of age (53.8%); 29.2% had at least one chronic condition. Similar to COVID studies in adult populations, Hispanic and Black populations were overrepresented at 39.3% and 24.4%, respectively. However, when the researchers looked at factors for severe COVID-19, race did not have any significant associations, and neither did insurance type.
The likelihood for severe COVID-19 increased if the patient had at least one chronic condition (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 3.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.44 to 4.37) or male (aOR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.26 to 1.83). Likelihood also increased if the child was 2 to 5 or 6 to 11 years of age versus a teenager (aORs, 1.53 for both; 95% CIs, 1.11 to 2.13 and 1.04 to 2.23, respectively).
“Although admission to an intensive care unit for younger children may indicate an abundance of caution by clinicians or facility and administrative requirements rather than disease severity, this finding has important clinical and resource planning implications for facilities and clinicians,” the researchers write. “Understanding factors associated with severe COVID-19 disease among children could help inform prevention and control strategies.”
Italian study: 66.6% of children of had at least one persisting #coronavirus symptom between 60 & 120 days after infection (13 had one or two symptoms, 7 had three or more)
Twenty out of 30 children (66.6%) assessed between 60 and 120 days after initial COVID-19 had at least one persisting symptom (13 had one or two symptoms, 7 had three or more); 35 of 68 children (27.1%) had at least one symptom 120 days or more after diagnosis (21 had one or two symptoms, 14 had three or more). 29 out of the 68 (42.6%) children assessed >120 days days from diagnosis were still distressed by these symptoms.
Wiley.com: Preliminary Evidence on Long Covid in children
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UK hospitals ‘swamped’ with patients seeking help for AstraZeneca side effects
People who have had the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine are seeking help at A&E despite having only mild side-effects such as headaches, in the wake of the controversy over whether the jab causes blood clots.
Emergency medicine doctors in England told the Health Service Journal that a growing but unspecified number of people who were anxious after having the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab were coming to A&E units, some apparently after being advised to do so by a GP.
Dr Katherine Henderson, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, confirmed the trend to the Guardian.
“It’s definitely a thing. Colleagues across England are reporting this. All A&E departments are seeing an increase in the number of people reporting concerns after having the AstraZeneca vaccine. We are seeing people with mild headaches and persistent headaches but who are otherwise alright.
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Breton #Coronavirus Variant: 26 confirmed cases, 12 deaths
This Thursday, a 26th case of the Breton variant was confirmed at the Guingamp hospital center. The spread of this new form of covid-19 seems to be limited to Trégor. To date, 12 patients have died from it. Frail, elderly and / or people with co-morbidities.
However, it is impossible to conclude that there is a higher mortality caused by this variant compared to the others. The problem lies in the difficulty of detecting this mutant which often nestles deep in the respiratory system, rendering conventional nasopharyngeal PCR tests negative. “We have a surveillance bias. We have the results where we are able to find the virus. That is to say in the hospital, in people intubated in intensive care, for whom we can perform effective deep samples,” explains Alain Le Tertre, head of the Brittany unit of Public Health France.
Image by Brigitte makes custom works from your photos, thanks a lot from Pixabay
Imperial College: Lung damage occurs in approximately 20% of #coronavirus patients discharged from hospital
Early evidence indicates that lung damage occurs in approximately 20% of patients discharged from hospital, but the effects on people who experience long-Covid in the community are currently unclear.
A new study, called the UK Interstitial Lung Disease Long-COVID19 (UKILD-Long COVID) study, will investigate whether post-COVID-19 lung damage will improve or worsen over time, how long it will last, and the best strategies for developing treatments.
Matthew Gordon, 44, from Bristol, who was hospitalised with COVID-19 in January 2020, said of his experience: “Nearly two months on, I’m slowly recovering. The coughing has stopped, which is the greatest relief, and it’s no longer a struggle to breathe. However, my muscle strength is still very weak and doing mild exercise such as jogging, or even walking while talking, can make me short of breath. My latest review with the respiratory consultant a couple of weeks ago found there was still some slight crackling on my lungs and my lung capacity was reduced but had improved since January.
ONS: Prevalence of Long Haul symptoms following #coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK
Among a sample of over 20,000 study participants who tested positive for COVID-19 between 26 April 2020 and 6 March 2021, 13.7% continued to experience symptoms for at least 12 weeks. This was eight times higher than in a control group of participants who are unlikely to have had COVID-19, suggesting that the prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus infection is higher than in the general population.
Over the four-week period ending 6 March 2021, an estimated 1.1 million people in private households in the UK reported experiencing long COVID (symptoms persisting more than four weeks after the first suspected coronavirus (COVID-19) episode that are not explained by something else).
The estimates presented in this analysis relate to self-reported long COVID, as experienced by study participants, rather than clinically diagnosed ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 syndrome. There is no universally agreed definition of long COVID, but it covers a broad range of symptoms such as fatigue, muscle pain, and difficulty concentrating.
Self-reported long COVID symptoms were adversely affecting the day-to-day activities of 674,000 people in private households in the UK, with 196,000 of these individuals reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been limited a lot.
Of people with self-reported long COVID, 697,000 first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 weeks previously, and 70,000 first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least one year previously.
Prevalence rates of self-reported long COVID were greatest in people aged 35 to 69 years, females, those living in the most deprived areas, those working in health or social care, and those with a pre-existing, activity-limiting health condition; however, it is not possible to say whether these patterns are because of differences in the risk of coronavirus infection or susceptibility to experiencing long COVID following infection.
These estimates provide a measure of the prevalence of self-reported long COVID across the whole population, and reflect both the risk of being infected with coronavirus and the risk of developing long COVID following infection; to investigate the second of these components, we examined the duration of self-reported symptoms following confirmed infection.
Of study participants who tested positive for COVID-19, symptom prevalence at 12 weeks post-infection was higher for female participants (14.7%) than male participants (12.7%) and was highest among those aged 25 to 34 years (18.2%).