International external quality assessment for SARS-CoV-2 molecular detection and survey on clinical laboratory preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic, April/May 2020

Laboratory preparedness with quality-assured diagnostic assays is essential for controlling the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. We conducted an external quality assessment study with inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) samples to support clinical laboratories with a proficiency testing option for molecular assays. To analyse SARS-CoV-2 testing performance, we used an online questionnaire developed for the European Union project RECOVER to assess molecular testing capacities in clinical diagnostic laboratories.</p

COVID-19 and dengue coinfection in Latin America: A systematic review

"Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally, becoming a long-lasting pandemic. Dengue is the most common arboviral disease in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. COVID-19 and dengue coinfections have been reported, associated with worse outcomes with significant morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this study aims to determine the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 and dengue coinfection in Latin America. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, LILACS, and BVS databases from January 1, 2020, to September 4, 2021. The key search terms used were ""dengue"" and ""COVID-19"". Results: Nineteen published articles were included. The studies were case reports with a detailed description of the coinfection’s clinical, laboratory, diagnostic, and treatment features. Conclusion: Coinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and dengue virus is associated with worse outcomes with significant morbidity and mortality. The similar clinical and laboratory features of each infection are a challenge in accurately diagnosing and treating cases. Establishing an early diagnosis could be the answer to reducing the estimated significant burden of these conditions.

The "Three Italy" of the COVID-19 epidemic and the possible Involvement of SARS-CoV-2 in triggering complications other than pneumonia

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, China, has been associated to a novel coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the SARS-CoV-2 infection a global pandemic. Soon after, the number of cases soared dramatically, spreading across China and worldwide. Italy has had 12,462 confirmed cases according to the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) as of March 11, and after the "lockdown" of the entire territory, by May 4, 209,254 cases of COVID-19 and 26,892 associated deaths have been reported. We performed a review to describe, in particular, the origin and the diffusion of COVID-19 in Italy, underlying how the geographical circulation has been heterogeneous and the importance of pathophysiology in the involvement of cardiovascular and neurological clinical manifestations

Structure and genome of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans (the previous human coronaviruses are HCoV-OC43, HCoV-229E, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-NL63, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV) and the third human coronavirus known to cause severe illness in human after SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. These three coronaviruses have caused three different severe respiratory diseases outbreaks within the last two decades: SARS in 2002-2003, MERS in 2012 and COVID-19 in 2020. The aim of this review was to summarize information on the genome and structure of SARS-CoV-2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus with a crown-like appearance due to the presence of spike glycoprotein on the envelope. The nonsegmented genome of SARS-CoV-2 of approximately 30kb encodes two large polyproteins, four main structural proteins namely spike, membrane, envelope and nucleocapsid proteins as well as several accessory proteins. Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome shows that it is highly related to coronavirus from the bat (96%), pangolin (91%) and SARS-CoV (80%). Variants of SARS-CoV-2 have evolved continuously as a result of genetic mutations and are circulating worldwide. These variants have varying degrees of transmissibility, disease severity, susceptibility to therapeutics and detection by diagnostic tools. Understanding the structure and genome of SARS-CoV-2 is important in the control, management, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 as well as vaccine development

A basic insight into COVID-19 vaccines: an overview

Atypical serious respiratory illnesses were reported in December 2019 from Wuhan, a city of China, which later spread to other places rapidly and became a global pandemic. Soon it was discovered to be caused by a novel corona virus, named as the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease caused by it as corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19). Since COVID-19 is a new viral disease, world is still struggling to find out a permanent remedy to overcome this serious health problem. Developing safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 has become the only way forward to tackle it. Various vaccines have been developed and are approved for mass vaccination on emergency basis. Both classical and next generation vaccine platforms are being used to develop COVID-19 vaccine. It seems interesting to have a look on the various types of vaccines and get an insight into them so that we can get familiarize with the COVID-19 vaccination

A narrative review of alternative transmission routes of COVID 19: what we know so far,

The Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemics, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2, represent an unprecedented public health challenge. Beside person-to-person contagion via airborne droplets and aerosol, which is the main SARSCoV-2’s route of transmission, alternative modes, including transmission via fomites, food and food packaging, have been investigated for their potential impact on SARS-CoV-2 diffsion. In this context, several studies have demonstrated the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and, in some cases, of infectious particles on exposed fomites, food and water samples, confiming their possible role as sources of contamination and transmission. Indeed, fomite-to-human transmission has been demonstrated in a few cases where person-to-person transmission had been excluded. In addition, recent studies supported the possibility of acquiring COVID-19 through the fecal-oro route; the occurrence of COVID-19 gastrointestinal infections, in the absence of respiratory symptoms, also opens the intriguing possibility that these cases could be directly related to the ingestion of contaminated food and water. Overall, most of the studies considered these alternative routes of transmission of low epidemiological relevance; however, it should be considered that they could play an important role, or even be prevalent, in settings characterized by diffrent environmental and socio-economic conditions. In this review, we discuss the most recent fidings regarding SARS-CoV-2 alternative transmission routes, with the aim to disclose what is known about their impact on COVID-19 spread and to stimulate research in this field, which could potentially have a great impact, especially in lowresource contexts