Coronavirus-related syndrome surfaces in older adults; stillbirths cause
worry
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[July 14, 2020]
By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) - The following is a brief
roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel
coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19,
the illness caused by the virus.
COVID-19 inflammatory syndrome now seen in adults
A rare and life-threatening condition seen in some children and young
adults after exposure to the novel coronavirus is being reported in
older adults now as well. The condition, known as Multisystem
Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), can attack multiple organs,
impair heart function and weaken heart arteries. Children initially
experience fever, rash, conjunctivitis, lower-limb swelling, pain in
arms and legs, and significant gastrointestinal symptoms. Doctors at New
York University, in a report on Saturday in the Lancet medical journal,
reported a similar case in a 45-year-old man. Doctors at Maimonides
Medical Center in Brooklyn reported last month in the American Journal
of Emergency Medicine a case in a 36-year-old woman. While both research
teams cautioned against drawing conclusions from these isolated cases,
they said they want to "heighten awareness" of the possibility that the
syndrome can occur in adults.
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London hospital reports rise in stillbirths during pandemic
The number of stillbirths at one large London hospital has jumped
significantly during the pandemic. In the four months preceding the
pandemic, there were roughly two stillbirths among every 1,000 births at
St George's University Hospital. From February through mid-June, there
were roughly nine stillbirths per 1,000 births. The research appeared on
Friday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. None of the
women with stillbirths during the pandemic period had been diagnosed
with COVID-19, the researchers said. But they noted that the coronavirus
still may have been responsible given that previous research showed that
up to 90% of infected pregnant women in Britain had no symptoms and
therefore could not get tested for the virus. The increase in
stillbirths also may be an indirect effect of the pandemic, they said.
If women avoided visiting a doctor or hospital for fear of infection,
serious problems might have been missed such as reduced fetal movements
or dangerous pregnancy-related high blood pressure.
Milder coronavirus infections generate fewer antibodies
Any immunity to coronavirus reinfection among people who already have
had COVID-19 might wane after a few months, particularly if their
infection was mild, two studies suggest. Researchers at Kings College
London tracked 65 COVID-19 patients for up to 94 days. All but two
developed neutralizing antibodies that defend against future virus
attacks, the researchers reported on Saturday on the website medRxiv in
advance of peer review. People with more severe infections had more
neutralizing antibodies, but in everyone, levels of such antibodies
peaked after three to four weeks and then declined. Antibodies are
protective proteins generated by the immune system in response to an
invading pathogen. "If the person had a high peak antibody level, then
the neutralizing antibody level was still high after two to three
months," study leader Katie Doores told Reuters. But in people with
milder infections, who developed fewer neutralizing antibodies, those
antibodies started to disappear after two to three months, similar to
what is seen in patients who recover from seasonal coronaviruses that
cause common colds. "We are not trying to say that immunity is gone
after three months. There are still many unknowns that need to be
addressed, especially the level of antibody that would be needed for
protection from infection," Doores said. "In terms of vaccine, this
study suggests that a booster vaccination may be required," Doores
added. In a separate study published on Monday in the journal Nature
Medicine, Australian researchers reported that 41 people who had
experienced mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 had inconsistent and
"generally modest" neutralizing antibody responses. This adds to
evidence that milder infections in most people do not provoke a full
immune response that might provide some future protection.
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The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel
Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an
outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is
seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 29, 2020.
Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC/Handout via REUTERS
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Fast walkers may have lower risk for severe COVID-19
How quickly people generally walk may be linked to their risk of
developing severe COVID-19, a new study suggested. Researchers
analyzed data on more than 400,000 participants in the UK Biobank, a
British registry that closely tracks people's health over many
years. Overall, 973 participants developed a coronavirus infection
severe enough to require hospitalization. Compared to normal-weight
individuals, people with obesity had a 49% higher risk for severe
COVID-19. But slow walkers had the highest risk of severe COVID-19
regardless of obesity status. For example, normal-weight people who
usually walked at a slow pace - less than 3 miles per hour (4.8 km
per hour) - had more than double the odds of developing severe
COVID-19 compared to normal-weight people who typically walked more
briskly - more than 4 miles per hour (6.4 km per hour). People with
slow walking speed often have other underlying conditions that
contribute to poor health. Gait speed is often used to test the
physical capacity of adults and to predict risk of future disease,
disability and death. "Self-reported walking pace, a simple measure
of functional fitness, appears to be a risk factor for severe
COVID-19 that is independent of obesity," the authors of the current
study wrote in a paper posted on Saturday on medRxiv, ahead of peer
review.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Will Dunham)
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