By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) – The following is a brief summary of some of the latest scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Open https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/yxmvjqywprz/index.html in an external browser to get a Reuters chart of vaccines and treatments under development.
Younger children carry the highest viral loads
While the viral loads of COVID-19 have been shown to be similar in children and adults, a new study finds that younger children, those under the age of five, carry particularly large amounts of coronavirus in the nose and throat. Researchers in Chicago analyzed swab samples from 145 individuals ages 1 month to 65 years with mild to moderate COVID-19. Their analysis suggests that in younger children, the viral load in the upper respiratory tract was 10 to 100 times greater than in adults. The viral load test results did not distinguish between infectious virus particles and non-infectious genetic material of the virus, making it unclear whether younger children are more likely to transmit the virus. However, researchers said Thursday in JAMA Pediatrics that studies suggest that in young children, levels of non-infectious genetic material may be related to levels of active virus, so these youngsters “may be potentially important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 spread in the general population. ” (https://reut.rs/3gkLsam; https://bit.ly/2PcRttE)
The safe reopening of the university is possible but it will be a challenge
If there are 10 out of 5,000 residential college students with undetected coronavirus infection, the 5,000 would need to be tested for the virus every other day to control COVID-19 outbreaks on campus at reasonable cost, the researchers say. Their computer models assumed that students with positive tests or with symptoms of COVID-19 would be transferred to an isolation room. “Obtaining an adequate supply of test equipment will be a challenge,” the researchers acknowledge. “On a university campus with 5,000 enrolled, examining students every other day will require more than 195,000 test kits” during an abbreviated semester, they estimated. The reopening of university campuses imposes risks that extend beyond students to faculty, administrative and facility staff, and the surrounding community, the researchers said in a report Friday at the JAMA Network Open. “We believe there is a safe way for students to return to college in the fall of 2020,” they said. In this study, examination every other day with a rapid, inexpensive, and even insensitive test, coupled with strict interventions, could produce a modest number of contagious infections and be cost-effective, the researchers added. But from a logistical, financial and behavioral point of view, this “may be beyond the reach of many university administrators,” they conclude. (https://bit.ly/3jXBzS3)
J&J Vaccine Candidate Antibody May Hold Promise
A small study of an antibody drug in nursing home patients in Cuba and one of an experimental Johnson & Johnson vaccine in primates were added in hopes that additional effective treatments for COVID-19 are on the horizon. The antibody drug, itolizumab, administered in conjunction with standard therapy, helped reduce inflammation and reduced the risk of intensive care admission and death among 19 nursing home residents with moderate illness. They all had chronic conditions such as hypertension, dementia, heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease, which increases their risk of severe COVID-19. When compared by researchers with similar older COVID-19 patients who did not receive itolizumab, they estimated that treating three of these patients with the drug could prevent admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) and death. The study, which did not directly compare itolizumab with a placebo or other treatments, has not yet been peer-reviewed. Meanwhile, J&J launched human safety trials in the US for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate after data published Thursday in Nature showed that the monkeys treated with the vaccine were heavily protected with a single dose. The drug maker said it has started the first human trials of the vaccine in the United States and Belgium and will test it in more than 1,000 healthy adults ages 18 to 55, as well as adults 65 and older. (https://reut.rs/2XgPuZD; https://reut.rs/319SWX6; https://go.nature.com/2Xez04o; https://bit.ly/2DkbOus)
(Report by Nancy Lapid, Vishwadha Chander, and Julie Steenhuysen; Edited by Bill Berkrot)
