Kokwang3619

lic health need to be contemplated, and appropriate measures should be initiated to contain its spread.

We aimed to estimate the time-varying transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in China, Wuhan City, and Guangdong province, and compare to that of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Data on COVID-19 cases in China up to 20 March 2020 was collected from epidemiological investigations or official websites. Data on SARS cases in Guangdong Province, Beijing, and Hong Kong during 2002-3 was also obtained. We estimated the doubling time, basic reproduction number (R

), and time-varying reproduction number (R

) of COVID-19 and SARS.

As of 20 March 2020, 80,739 locally acquired COVID-19 cases were identified in mainland China, with most cases reported between 20 January and 29 February 2020. The R

value of COVID-19 in China and Wuhan was 5.0 and 4.8, respectively, which was greater than the R

value of SARS in Guangdong (R

= 2.3), Hong Kong (R

= 2.3), and Beijing (R

= 2.6). At the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, the R

value in China peaked at 8.4 and then declined quickly to below 1.0 in one month. With SARS, the R

curve saw fluctuations with more than one peak, the highest peak was lower than that for COVID-19.

COVID-19 has much higher transmissibility than SARS, however, a series of prevention and control interventions to suppress the outbreak were effective. Sustained efforts are needed to prevent the rebound of the epidemic in the context of the global pandemic.

COVID-19 has much higher transmissibility than SARS, however, a series of prevention and control interventions to suppress the outbreak were effective. Sustained efforts are needed to prevent the rebound of the epidemic in the context of the global pandemic.An epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus diseases (C0VID-19) initially reported in Wuhan, China has rapidly emerged into a global pandemic affecting millions of people worldwide. Molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) forms the mainstay in screening, diagnosis and epidemiology of the disease. Since the virus evolves by accumulating base substitutions, mutations in the viral genome could possibly affect the accuracy of RT-PCR-based detection assays. The recent availability of genomes of SARS-CoV-2 isolates motivated us to assess the presence and potential impact of variations in target sites of the oligonucleotide primers and probes used in molecular diagnosis. We catalogued a total of 132 primer or probe sequences from literature and data available in the public domain. Our analysis revealed that a total of 5862 unique genetic variants mapped to at least one of the 132 primer or probe binding sites in the genome. A total of 29 unique variants were present in ≥ 1% of genomes from at least one of the continents (Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America) that mapped to 36 unique primers or probes binding sites. Similarly, a total of 27 primer or probe binding sites had cumulative variants frequency of ≥ 1% in the global SARS-CoV-2 genomes. These included primers or probes sites which are used worldwide for molecular diagnosis as well as approved by national and international agencies. We also found 286 SARS-CoV-2 genomic regions with low variability at a continuous stretch of ≥ 20bps that could be potentially used for primer designing. This highlights the need for sequencing genomes of emerging pathogens to enable evidence-based policies for development and approval of diagnostics.

To evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of favipiravir combined with inhaled interferon beta-1b in adult patients hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

A randomized, open-label controlled trial of oral favipiravir in adults hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia from June 22nd 2020 to August 13th 2020 was conducted. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either a combination of favipiravir with interferon beta-1b by inhalation aerosol or hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). The outcome endpoints included improvement in inflammatory markers, lower length of hospital stay (LOS), discharges and lower overall 14-day mortality.

A total of 89 patients underwent randomization with 49% (n = 44) assigned to favipiravir and 51% (n = 45) assigned HCQ. The overall mean age was 55 ± 14 years and 58% (n = 52) were males. There were no significant differences in the inflammatory biomarkers at hospital discharge between the two groups; C-reactive protein (p = 0.413), ferritin (p = 0.968), lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.259) and interleukin 6 (p = 0.410). There were also no significant differences between the two groups with regards to the overall LOS (7 vs 7 days; p = 0.948), transfers to the ICU (18.2% vs 17.8%; p = 0.960), discharges (65.9% vs 68.9%; p = 0.764) and overall mortality (11.4% vs 13.3%; p = 0.778).

No differences in clinical outcomes were found between favipiravir plus inhaled interferon beta-1b and hydroxychloroquine in adults hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

No differences in clinical outcomes were found between favipiravir plus inhaled interferon beta-1b and hydroxychloroquine in adults hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

The resistance to first-line drugs can increase the risk of treatment failure and development of resistance to other anti-TB drugs. Pyrvinium Parasite inhibitor In TB endemic settings, a considerable rate of recurrence cases exhibited each, year which adds significant burden to the prevalence of disease worldwide.

A total of 562 sputum samples were collected from presumptive positive clinical cases of MDR tuberculosis. Treatment history and demographic data of the patients were obtained after informed consent. Xpert MTB/RIF assay was performed for simultaneous detection of MTB and rifampicin resistance. The mutation patterns of isoniazid and rifampicin were observed after multiplex PCR and reverse hybridization by Genotype® MTBDRplus version 2.0 assay.

A total of 73 of 97 cases (75.2%) of treatment failure were found positive for MDR-TB, whereas 79.6% newly diagnosed and 72.9% default cases were MDR in our isolates. The mutation of rpoB S531L was slightly higher in new treatment cases (89.3%) as compared to the default (80.4%) and failure cases (84.