General Information
Coronavirus Pandemic from Our World in Data
Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University
The New England Journal of Medicine COVID 19 Articles
A collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus
(Covid-19) outbreak, including clinical reports, management guidelines,
and commentary.
COVID-19 Resource Centre (Thr Lancet)
"Welcome to the Lancet COVID-19 Resource Centre, bringing together all COVID-19 research, reviews, commentary, news, and analysis from across the Lancet family of journals as it is published. The resource aims to assist health workers, policy makers, and researchers to bring the COVID-19 pandemic to a close. All of our COVID-19 content is free to access."
CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
(an independent
global health research center at the University of Washington)
In September of 2020 the CDC figures showed that COVID 19 being the only cause of death accounted for 6% of total deaths attributed to COVID. (need to add source) In this video at 13:15 interesting discussion about actual COVID deaths, looking at unexplained deaths, as well as deaths attributed to other causes (such as heart disease, cancer, hypertension) implies COVID deaths in US may be undercoated.
New York Times page about the COVID 19 pandemic
World Health Organization information about Coronavirus
Basic COVID 19 Information:
What the Coronavirus looks like up close
The SARS Cov 2 virus has been found to enter human cells via the ACE2 receptor, which stands for Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2. This receptor is found primarily throughout the respiratory tract and the GI tract. Once inside the cell, the virus releases its RNA which then directs the cell to make proteins for it including ones which keep the immune system at bay and others needed to replicate the virus. Each cell can produce as many as 600,000 new viral particles. The SARS Cov2 virus appears to not kill the infected cells as quickly as many other viruses do which could lead to a longer period of being contagious before showing symptoms and realizing that you are sick. Alcohols and bleach kill the virus by altering the pH or disrupting the cell membrane, making the cell unable to replicate. Higher temperatures make the virus less stable and not able to survive as long.
How does the Coronavirus infection work? link here
The rapid deterioration in the health of COVID-19 patients is caused by an overreaction of the body’s immune system. “The body produces small proteins called cytokines at a much higher rate, which leads to a ‘cytokine storm’ and triggers massive inflammation. Immune cells invade the lungs, where they disrupt gas exchange,”
“The immune responses to the various pneumonias are very similar and
part of the body’s general inflammatory response, as often observed in
patients in intensive care. When it comes to COVID-19, however, T cells
and natural killer cells display a unique behavior and describe a kind
of pattern in the immune system – the immune signature specific to
COVID-19,” explains Becher.
General Updates
AFRICA, continent 6% vaccinated, AVOIDS bad COVID. Scientifically, HOW?
The
vaccination rate for the continent of Africa is around 6%, yet rates of
COVID 19 have generally been low (with some exceptions, such as South
Africa) and are continuing to drop. In some areas the disease seems to
be gone. It's not clear exactly why this is happening, but there is
speculation that a number of factors could be involved, including the
much younger age of many African countries, higher levels of vitamin D,
protection from previous epidemic diseases, much of the population being
outside much of the time, and different approaches to medicine
including widespread use of Ivermectin. COVID 19 rates seem to be lower
(this is not proven) in areas that are more prone to parasitic
infections. Some parasitic infections actually do regulate human immune
function but this also indicates that more people in these areas use
Ivermectin regularly as an anti-parasitic treatment and that is probably
also a factor.
COVID 19 Disease Symptoms and Presentations:
A scoping review of the pathophysiology of COVID-19
"COVID-19 is a highly heterogeneous and complex medical disorder; indeed,
severe COVID-19 is probably amongst the most complex of medical
conditions known to medical science. While enormous strides have been
made in understanding the molecular pathways involved in patients
infected with coronaviruses an overarching and comprehensive
understanding of the pathogenesis of COVID-19 is lacking. Such an
understanding is essential in the formulation of effective prophylactic
and treatment strategies. Based on clinical, proteomic, and genomic
studies as well as autopsy data severe COVID-19 disease can be
considered to be the connection of three basic pathologic processes,
namely a pulmonary macrophage activation syndrome with uncontrolled
inflammation, a complement-mediated endothelialitis together with a
procoagulant state with a thrombotic microangiopathy. In addition,
platelet activation with the release of serotonin and the activation and
degranulation of mast cells contributes to the hyper-inflammatory
state. Auto-antibodies have been demonstrated in a large number of
hospitalized patients which adds to the end-organ damage and
pro-thrombotic state. This paper provides a clinical overview of the
major pathogenetic mechanism leading to severe COVID-19 disease."
COVID-19: Characteristics and Therapeutics
"In this review, we present a succinct overview of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
structure, molecular mechanisms of infection, COVID-19 epidemiology,
diagnosis, and clinical manifestations. We also systematize different
treatment strategies and clinical trials initiated after the pandemic
outbreak, based on viral infection and replication mechanisms.
Additionally, we reviewed the novel pharmacological intervention
approaches and vaccine development strategies against COVID-19. We
speculate that the current pandemic emergency will trigger detailed
studies of coronaviruses, their mechanism of infection, development of
systematic drug repurposing approaches, and novel drug discoveries for
current and future pandemic outbreaks.
"
Type I Interferons in COVID-19 Pathogenesis
"Among the many activities attributed to the type I interferon (IFN)
multigene family, their roles as mediators of the antiviral immune
response have emerged as important components of the host response to
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.
Viruses likewise have evolved multiple immune evasion strategies to
circumvent the host immune response and promote virus propagation and
dissemination. Therefore, a thorough characterization of host-virus
interactions is essential to understand SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Here,
we summarize the virus-mediated evasion of the IFN responses and the
viral functions involved, the genetic basis of IFN production in
SARS-CoV-2 infection and the progress of clinical trials designed to
utilize type I IFN as a potential therapeutic tool."
"The syndrome of Covid-19 infection includes myalgias and elevated creatine kinase levels in at least a third of patients. Whether the elevation in creatine kinase level is caused by viral infection of muscle, toxic effects of cytokines, or another mechanism is unclear. There are few reports of muscle-biopsy findings in patients with Covid-19. We describe a patient with Covid-19 infection and myopathy who had a muscle-biopsy specimen showing evidence of virus-induced type I interferonopathy."
Potential association of mast cells with coronavirus disease 2019
"The pulmonary pathological findings associated with COVID-19 seems to
result from the release of multiple proinflammatory cytokines,
especially interleukin (IL)-6, that can damage the lungs.
A key source of such cytokines and chemokines is the mast cells, which
are ubiquitous in the body, especially the lungs, and are critical for
allergic and pulmonary diseases.
In fact, activated mast cells were recently detected in the lungs of
deceased patients with COVID-19 and were linked to pulmonary edema,
inflammation, and thromboses."
Neurologic and Radiographic Findings Associated With COVID-19 Infection in Children
" In a case series of 4 children with COVID-19 and neurological
symptoms, all 4 patients had signal changes in the splenium of the
corpus callosum on neuroimaging and required intensive care admission
for the treatment of COVID-19 pediatric multisystem inflammatory
syndrome."
The emerging spectrum of COVID-19 neurology: clinical, radiological and laboratory findings
"SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a wide spectrum of neurological
syndromes affecting the whole neuraxis, including the cerebral
vasculature and, in some cases, responding to immunotherapies. The high
incidence of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, particularly with
haemorrhagic change, is striking. This complication was not related to
the severity of the respiratory COVID-19 disease."
Microvascular Injury in the Brains of Patients with Covid-19
"In a convenience sample of patients who had died from Covid-19,
multifocal microvascular injury was observed in the brain and olfactory
bulbs by means of magnetic resonance microscopy, histopathological
evaluation, and immunohistochemical analysis of corresponding sections,
without evidence of viral infection. These findings may inform the
interpretation of changes observed on magnetic resonance imaging of
punctate hyperintensities and linear hypointensities in patients with
Covid-19. Because of the limited clinical information that was
available, no conclusions can be drawn in relation to neurologic
features of Covid-19."
Akt-Fas to Quell Aberrant T Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis in Covid-19
"These facets depict SARS-Cov-2 as a lympho-manipulative pathogen; it
distorts T cell function, numbers, and death, and creates a
dysfunctional immune response. Whether preservation of T cells,
prevention of their aberrant differentiation, and expansion of their
population may alter disease course is unknown. Its investigation
requires experimental interrogation of the linked differentiation and
death pathway by agents known to uncouple T cell proliferation and
differentiation in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells."
A network medicine approach to investigation and population-based validation of disease manifestations and drug repurposing for COVID-19
"Network proximity measurement revealed underlying pathogenesis for broad
COVID-19-associated disease manifestations. Analyses of single-cell RNA
sequencing data show that co-expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2
is elevated in absorptive enterocytes from the inflamed ileal tissues
of Crohn's disease patients compared to uninflamed tissues, revealing
shared pathobiology between COVID-19 and inflammatory bowel disease.
Integrative analyses of metabolomics and transcriptomics (bulk and
single-cell) data from asthma patients indicate that COVID-19 shares an
intermediate inflammatory molecular profile with asthma (including IRAK3 and ADRB2)."
"Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the exacerbation of various chronic diseases. Due to the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mast cells, we aimed to analyze the relevance of COVID-19 disease on chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) clinical presentation and biological profile.
An increased rate of exacerbation of CSU was observed in moderate-severe COVID-19 infection. (4) Conclusions: COVID-19 disease can result in the exacerbation of chronic spontaneous urticaria, more likely in moderate to severe forms of infection."
