Respiratory Infections News

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected immigrants in the United States, and the disease causing even more difficulty for this population to access quality health care, according to the authors of a JAMA Internal Medicine paper.

As of Thursday, New York said it was investigating 110 cases and three deaths among children experiencing a syndrome that has features similar to atypical Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome. New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has said that 60% of children with the syndrome tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the other 40% had antibodies specific to the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.

COVID-19 has had a “disparate impact” on members of the black and Hispanic/Latinx communities in the United States, according to data presented by the Infectious Disease Society of America during a press briefing on Friday.

Nosocomial superinfections, including ones that are resistant to antimicrobials, will likely develop in “an appreciable minority” of patients with severe COVID-19 infections, according to a commentary in Clinical Infectious Diseases, which notes that stewardship is “crucial” to reduce broad-spectrum antimicrobial use in patients who are hospitalized.

Impairment of lung diffusion capacity, which correlated with severity of disease, appeared to be the most common lung function abnormality among a series of patients who recovered from COVID-19 in China, according to a research letter published in the European Respiratory Journal.

Screening only for cough, shortness of breath, fever or sore throat may have missed 17% of symptomatic health care personnel, or HCP, with COVID-19, according to a JAMA study — suggesting a need to expand symptom-based screening criteria for HCP.

As health care workers begin to understand the scope of COVID-19 in their areas and how to respond to it, a new anxiety has set in: How long will the pandemic last?

Investigators recently launched the CHASING COVID Cohort study to help physicians and policymakers understand the impact of our public health response to the pandemic on clinical outcomes, and to prepare for future health crises.

Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have increased, with the biggest gains observed in low-income countries, according to the WHO’s World Health Statistics report that was released today. However, the increases in both measures has been unequal, according to the report, and the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to hinder progress toward global development goals.

In this episode, Dr. Pai answers questions specific to HIV in the context of COVID-19, including parallels between the two pandemics, repercussions of COVID-19 on patients with HIV and guidance for handling potential changes to antiretroviral regimens.