Burtonkok7093

COVID-19 in children poses a significant challenge due to the atypical/asymptomatic presentations. The study is aimed to help understand clinical characteristics in Indonesian children for better management and control of transmission.

clinical characteristics of children with confirmed COVID-19 were retrospectively analysed from the database dating from March to November 2020.

the study revealed a high prevalence (67.3%) of asymptomatic cases from contact tracing population. The most common symptoms in children with confirmed COVID-19 were cough and fatigue. Among symptomatic patients, 14/21 (66.7%) had either radiological and/or clinical evidence of pneumonia.

children with respiratory symptoms especially those with contact history should be screened for possible COVID-19 infection regardless of disease severity.

children with respiratory symptoms especially those with contact history should be screened for possible COVID-19 infection regardless of disease severity.

Children infected with SARS-CoV-2 are often asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms, leading to underestimation of disease prevalence in symptom-based testing strategies.

This study sought to determine pediatric SARS-CoV-2 disease burden during local mitigation efforts by using antibody testing to compare seroprevalence estimates to cumulative PCR prevalence estimates.

In this cross-sectional study, we collected 1142 strict phase and 1196 relaxed phase remnant blood specimens from patients less than 19-years-old in southwestern Pennsylvania (SWPA). Patients were excluded if their residential zip code was outside the region of interest, if they were under 6-months-old, or they had recently received antibody-modifying treatments. Demographic, encounter, and laboratory electronic medical record information was extracted. Samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein IgG using an EUA ELISA, and PCR results were recorded from county health department data. Seroprevalence and Clopper-Pearson exact 95% confto SARS-CoV-2 may make serosurvey interpretation challenging and these differences warrant further study.A new variant of SARS-CoV-2 (Lineage B.1.1.7) was identified in the UK in December 2020 which was associated with higher transmissibility of COVID-19. The AusDiagnostics SARS-CoV-2, Influenza and RSV 8-well assay is used at sixteen UK hospitals and detects part of the ORF8 gene (together with a segment from the ORF1a gene). The objective of this study was to determine if the recently identified mutation in ORF8 (G28048T) in the B.1.1.7. lineage could be used to identify the new variant quickly in clinical cases with PCR positive results. The melt data from SARS-CoV-2 positives from two hospitals (October through December 2020) were reviewed, and distribution over time and location was evaluated. A low melt variant of the ORF8 amplicon started to appear in samples from Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Trust, London, at the start of November, and grew as a proportion of the total positives during the subsequent two months. These low melt variants were very rare during the same period at the Northern Care Alliance, Greater Manchester, North West of UK. It was confirmed that these carried the G28048T mutation. The geographic and temporal distribution of the low melt amplicons makes it very likely that these are lineage B.1.1.7 strains. The melt temperature of this amplicon could be used to discriminate between the original and new variants in advance of the full sequencing of the isolate. However, the appearance of other mutations in the same amplicon means that this approach would be of diminishing value over time.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) recently emerged and is responsible for coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). Diagnostic tests have been developed, mainly based on reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). Most RT-PCR assays target at least two SARS-CoV-2 genes. In some cases, only one target gene is detected; the interpretation of such cases remains unclear.

Our objective was to analyse one target positive (OPT) RT-PCR results, using two RT-PCR assays the Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2 (Cepheid diagnosis, "Cepheid") and the Cobas® 6800 SARS-CoV-2 Test (Roche Molecular Diagnostics, "Roche").

All SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results performed on respiratory samples with the Roche or the Cepheid tests, from 23rd March to 6th August 2020 were collected. A patient with an OPT result was classified as "probable COVID-19" if they met at least one of the three following criteria (i) history of a two gene-positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR result, (ii) anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody (IgG) detection or (iii) compatible chest computed tomography scan (CT-scan).

A total of 18,630 and 1189 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests were performed with the Roche and Cepheid tests, respectively. Among the positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR, 293 samples - corresponding to 264 patients - were OPT (11% of the positive samples). Of these patients, 180 (68%) had at least one of the three criteria listed above and were classified as probable COVID-19.

Sixty-eight percent of the patients with an OPT result were classified as probable COVID-19 and are probably at a late stage of infection. Serology and imaging can be helpful to confirm diagnosis.

Sixty-eight percent of the patients with an OPT result were classified as probable COVID-19 and are probably at a late stage of infection. Serology and imaging can be helpful to confirm diagnosis.

The most sensitive method to detect SARS-CoV-2 relies on rRT-PCR; however, viral RNA can be detected weeks/months after clinical resolution. Since rRT-PCR cannot discern between non- and infectious virus, it is unclear whether the presence of viral RNA after recovery reflects infectious SARS-CoV-2. However, recent studies suggest a positive correlation between antigen rapid tests (Ag-RDT) and virus isolation that is more suited to assess contagiousness.

To assess the utility of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests in different settings we evaluated the performance of Ag-RDT-based and a cell culture-based SARS-CoV-2 assay in comparison to rRT-PCR.

A total of 61 Nasopharyngeal-Swabs tested positive by cobas

SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR were in parallel evaluated with the Roche Ag-RDT and a cell culture-based assay to detect SARS-CoV-2.

SARS-CoV-2 was successfully isolated in 51/61 samples corresponding to 83.6%, which was 97.3% or 96.2% when considering samples with E-gene Ct-value <25 and <28, respectively. In comparison, the Ag-RDT showed an overall sensitivity of 85.2%, that increased to 100% and 96.2% using an E-gene Ct-value cut-off of <25 and <28, respectively. There was an overall good agreement between the commercial Ag-RDT and our in-house cell culture-based SARS-CoV-2 detection assay. However, SARS-CoV-2 could be isolated from two samples that tested negative by Ag-RDT.

Our results support the use of the Roche Ag-RDT to detect SARS-CoV-2 exposure in large scale populations. However, it is recommended to use rRT-PCR, potentially in conjunction with cell culture-based SARS-CoV-2 assay, to support clinicians in making decisions regarding fragile patient groups.

Our results support the use of the Roche Ag-RDT to detect SARS-CoV-2 exposure in large scale populations. However, it is recommended to use rRT-PCR, potentially in conjunction with cell culture-based SARS-CoV-2 assay, to support clinicians in making decisions regarding fragile patient groups.

Since the start of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, attention was called on the potential risk of COVID-19 outbreaks occurring inside prisons. In detention facilities, timely and accurate diagnosis is essential for allowing case isolation and contact tracing to avoid the spread of the infection. Until recently, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) was the recommended method to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (ag-RDT) have emerged as point-of-care testing techniques.

Here, we evaluate the use of ag-RDT for screening of individuals newly admitted to San Vittore prison (SV), a pre-trial prison, in Milan (Lombardy region, Italy), during the second SARS-CoV2 epidemic peak.

During the period 1 October-31 December 2020, ag-RDT and rt-PCR were performed individuals newly admitted to SV.

Among 504 detained individuals tested, 21 (4,2%) resulted positive to rt-PCR. Of these, 10 had tested negative with ag-RDT and 11 had concordant results. Rt-PCR cycle threshold (CT) values were above 35 for the individuals with ag-RDT negative test, therefore the cases missed by the ag-RDT are unlikely to transmit disease. For all the individuals with ag-RDT positive results, CT values were below or equal to 27. In our study population, ag-RDT sensitivity was 52.4% (29.8%-74.3%), positive predictive value (PPV) was 100% and negative predictive value was 98.0% (96.8%-98.7%).

Our study showed that ag-RDT is a promising and useful component of serial testing strategies in prison settings to perform SARS-CoV2 screening at admission based to its high PPV, ease of use, lower costs and resource needs.

Our study showed that ag-RDT is a promising and useful component of serial testing strategies in prison settings to perform SARS-CoV2 screening at admission based to its high PPV, ease of use, lower costs and resource needs.Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged as a global pandemic. Seroprevalence surveillance is urgently needed to estimate and monitor the growing burden of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study is to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among worker population residing in areas under lockdown in Kuwait and investigated their risk factors associated with a positive status. From April 18 to May 10, 2020 a randomly sampled, worker-based survey was conducted in 7 governorate in Kuwait (Ahmadi, Farwaniya, Hawali, Asma, Jahra, and Mubarak Alkabeer) among 10,256 workers. SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies was assessed using a commercially point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay (Biozek medical COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Cassette). We estimated an overall seroprevalence (IgG or IgM positive) of 5.9% (95% CI 5.4-6.3). Notably, SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity was significantly higher in males (6.2%) than females (1.9%) ( p less then 0.001). Furthermore, the seroprevalence was significantly different by age group, governorate, and nationality of the workers. These results highlighted that the relatively low prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in hotspot areas in a specific population. Thus, we emphasize to repeat the serosurvey in the general population to assess the magnitude of viral spread and monitor the growing burden of COVID-19 in Kuwait.COVID19 convalescent patient plasma units with high titer neutralizing antibody can be used to treat patients with severe disease. Therefore, in order to select suitable donors, neutralizing antibody titer against SARS CoV-2 needs to be determined. Because the neutralization assay is highly demanding from several points of view, a pre-selection of sera would be desirable to minimize the number of sera to be tested. In this study, a total of 140 serum samples that had been titrated for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody by microneutralization assay were also tested for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV2 antibody using 5 different tests Architect® immunoassay (Abbott Diagnostics), detecting IgG against the nucleocapsid protein, LIAISON XL® (Diasorin) detecting IgG against a recombinant form of the S1/S2 subunits of the spike protein, VITROS® (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics), detecting IgG against a recombinant form of the spike protein, and ELISA (Euroimmun AG), detecting IgA or IgG against a recombinant form of the S1 subunit.