AI Article Synopsis

  • The study compares the histopathological and microbiological features of deceased patients with respiratory symptoms related to SARS-CoV-2 versus other causes at a South African hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Out of the deceased adult patients, 75 had COVID-19, and 42 had non-COVID-related causes, with lower HIV and MTB infections found in the COVID+ group.
  • Key findings showed significant differences in lung histopathology, especially in Type-II pneumocytes' conditions, but no significant correlation was found between HIV or MTB infections and COVID-related deaths.

Article Abstract

Comparisons of histopathological features and microbiological findings between decedents with respiratory symptoms due to SARS-CoV-2 infection or other causes, in settings with high prevalence of HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infections have not been reported. Deaths associated with a positive ante-mortem SARS-CoV-2 PCR test and/or respiratory disease symptoms at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, South Africa from 15th April to 2nd November 2020, during the first wave of the South African COVID-19 epidemic, were investigated. Deceased adult patients had post-mortem minimally-invasive tissue sampling (MITS) performed to investigate for SARS-CoV-2 infection and molecular detection of putative pathogens on blood and lung samples, and histopathology examination of lung, liver and heart tissue. During the study period MITS were done in patients displaying symptoms of respiratory disease including 75 COVID-19-related deaths (COVID+) and 42 non-COVID-19-related deaths (COVID-). The prevalence of HIV-infection was lower in COVID+ (27%) than in the COVID- (64%), MTB detection was also less common among COVID+ (3% vs 13%). Lung histopathology findings showed differences between COVID+ and COVID- in the severity of the morphological appearance of Type-II pneumocytes, alveolar injury and repair initiated by SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the liver necrotising granulomatous inflammation was more common among COVID+. No differences were found in heart analyses. The prevalence of bacterial co-infections was higher in COVID+. Most indicators of respiratory distress syndrome were undifferentiated between COVID+ and COVID- except for Type-II pneumocytes. HIV or MTB infection does not appear in these data to have a meaningful correspondence with COVID-related deaths.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8775212PMC
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0262179PLOS

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