Background: The impact of the infecting SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern (VOC) and the vaccination status was determined on the magnitude, breadth, and durability of the neutralizing antibody (nAb) profile in a longitudinal multicentre cohort study.
Methods: 173 vaccinated and 56 non-vaccinated individuals were enrolled after SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Delta, or Omicron infection and visited four times within 6 months and nAbs were measured for D614G, Alpha, Delta, BA.1, BA.
Purpose: A host-protein signature score, consisting of serum-concentrations of C-reactive protein, tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, and interferon gamma-induced protein 10, was validated for distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections as an antimicrobial stewardship measure for routine clinical practice among adult patients in a German tertiary hospital.
Methods: This single-centre, explorative study prospectively assessed the host-protein signature score, comparing it with serum procalcitonin (PCT) in patients with blood stream infections (BSI) and evaluating its efficacy in patients with viral infections against the standard of care (SOC) to assess the need for antibiotics due to suspected bacterial super/coinfection. Manufacturer-specified threshold scores were used to differentiate viral (< 35) and bacterial (> 65) infections.
Patients with hematologic malignancies still face a significant risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-neutralizing monoclonal antibody combination tixagevimab/cilgavimab (TIX/CGB) could be administered to immunocompromised patients for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) before the emergence of TIX/CGB-resistant COVID-19 Omicron variants. TIX/CGB application could be carried out regardless of the host's immune response to previous active SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations or infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Economic restrictions and workforce cuts have continually challenged conventional autopsies. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has added tissue quality and safety requirements to the investigation of this disease, thereby launching efforts to upgrade autopsy strategies.
Methods: In this proof-of-concept study, we performed bedside ultrasound-guided minimally invasive autopsy (US-MIA) in the ICU of critically ill COVID-19 patients using a structured protocol to obtain non-autolyzed tissue.