Respiratory Infections News

A team of researchers from around the world have identified 69 different drugs and compounds, including FDA-approved agents, compounds in clinical trials and preclinical compounds, that they are examining for potential effectiveness in SARS-CoV-2 infection assays.

Experts said they were “troubled” by President Trump’s suggestion that the United States could lift pandemic-related restrictions on gathering and travel by Easter Sunday — April 12 — calling it an arbitrary date not based on evidence.

According to findings published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine, common signs or symptoms of COVID-19 in children include fever, cough and pharyngeal erythema.

AlloVir, a clinical stage T-cell immunotherapy company, will work with Baylor College of Medicine to develop allogeneic, virus-specific T-cell therapy to combat COVID-19, according to a news release.

WHO has issued updated guidance meant to decrease the development and transmission of tuberculosis in conjunction with World TB Day, which is observed every year on March 24.

Gilead Sciences said it cannot accept new compassionate use requests for its investigational antiviral remdesivir due to “overwhelming demand” from physicians hoping to repurpose the drug as a potential therapy for patients with COVID-19, but there are still ways to get access to the medication, according to a news release issued by the company.

Aspiration pneumonia is a common diagnosis among patients seen in and out of the hospital. Aspiration pneumonia is estimated to occur in 5% to 15% of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP); however, standard diagnostic criteria for aspiration pneumonia are lacking. Aspiration is the result of impaired swallowing, allowing oral or gastric contents — or both — to enter the lungs. Following an aspiration event, the pathology varies from pneumonitis to pneumonia, lung abscesses or empyema.

Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung disease is a chronic and debilitating condition, and although considered rare, some studies have estimated that prevalence is increasing about 8% each year in the United States. In 2019, it was estimated that 98,000 to 113,000 patients were diagnosed with the condition, according to unpublished data.

Botulism is a rare, life-threatening toxemia caused by the toxin of Clostridium botulinum and rarely Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium baratii. Botulinum toxin is listed as a Class A biological weapon and is toxic when ingested or inhaled. The CDC lists five types of botulism: foodborne, wound, infant and iatrogenic botulism and the very rare disease called infant-type botulism in adults (adult intestinal botulism).

Physicians around the world are repurposing old drugs as potential therapies for critically ill patients with COVID-19, including the HIV combination therapy lopinavir-ritonavir and the antimalarial chloroquine. WHO announced this week that it will test some of these treatments in an international trial, and other studies are underway or have been announced. Results of a study published this week showed no benefit from lopinavir-ritonavir in hospitalized adults with severe COVID-19.