Coronavirus Infection

Millions of Americans have been ordered by state health officials to stay home until further notice except for essential needs, such as food and health care.

The situation with COVID-19, or the currently circulating coronavirus, is developing so rapidly that new information may likely be available by the time you reach the end of this paragraph. But along with factual information, misinformation also abounds on social media, on cable news channels and in print publications. Healio Rheumatology will attempt to set the record straight for health care providers looking to sort out fact from fiction.

With rising infection rates in the United States and numerous institutional shutdowns, the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak has been compounded by inaccurate medical information that has stoked fear and anxiety among adults and children alike.

The American College of Cardiology today announced it has canceled its annual Scientific Session together with the World Congress of Cardiology due to the increasing number of U.S. and worldwide travel advisories and restrictions placed on institutions and health care providers in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Last week, WHO officially declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Although few cases have been reported thus far in the United States, the virus’ impact may be reaching beyond the physical scope and affecting the mental health of children and adolescents by stoking anxiety, according to Robin Gurwitch, PhD, psychologist at Duke University Medical Center.

The first U.S. patient identified as being infected with the novel coronavirus presented at an urgent care clinic with mild symptoms that were indistinguishable clinically from common infections, especially respiratory illnesses seen during the winter, according to a case report published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

As the novel coronavirus at the center of the ongoing outbreak in China continues to spread, officials have decided to expand heightened health screenings among travelers from China to 20 Unites States airports.

WHO is not yet ready to decide if the Chinese coronavirus outbreak is a global public health emergency.

WHO has called an emergency committee meeting to determine if the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China should be considered a global public health emergency.

Data from a phase 1, open-label, single-arm, dose-escalation trial demonstrated the tolerability, safety and immunogenicity of a vaccine against Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, researchers reported.