2020

Investigators in the Bergamo province of northern Italy found a 30-fold increased incidence of Kawasaki disease and they report in The Lancet that children diagnosed after the SARS-CoV-2 had a higher rate of cardiac involvement and features of Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS). They concluded that young children infected with SARS-CoV-2, rather than develop respiratory illness, progress to a severe form of Kawasaki-like disease...

A research letter published in JAMA network showed that BCG vaccination in childhood had no protective effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection in adulthood. The authors report on a cohort of Israeli adults aged 35 to 41 years who received BCG vaccination in childhood compared with no vaccination and then tested for SARS-CoV-2. There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of positive tests...

A recently published article in Cell showed the presence of SARS-CoV-2−reactive CD4+ T cells in up to 60% of unexposed individuals – suggesting the presence of cross-reactive T cells. The authors used a set of peptide ‘megapools’, derived from predicted peptides restricted by several HLA class I and II, and found that 70-100% of COVID-19 convalescent patients had reactive...

A recent pre-peer reviewed article in medRxiv reports on the dynamics of neutralizing antibody responses to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein. Investigators examined 44 COVID-19 patients and found that class-switching occurred early during infection and was by RBD-specific IgG1 and IgG3 responses. They also detected both RBD-specific IgM ...

A recent tour de force of our current knowledge of immunity elicited by SARS-CoV-2 and progression to COVID-19 severe disease is given in a recent Immunity article. The authors review what we currently know about the involvement of innate immunity, T and B cell anti-viral responses, including the hyper-inflammation that often accompanies these responses in some infected people.

Mihai Netea gave a brilliant seminar on “Trained immunity and BCG vaccination: a tool against COVID-19?” BCG a vaccine designed to combat Tuberculosis, has been shown to provide beneficial non-specific responses against unrelated pathogens, including respiratory viruses. During his talk, he highlighted studies, including a systematic review...

Chloroquine and it’s analogue hydrochloroquine were proposed as candidate therapeutics against COVID-19, and were one of the drug regiments tested in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Solidarity Trial. However, on the 26th May 2020 the WHO announced the suspension of chloroquine/hydrochloroquine trials for COVID-19.

A cohort study published in JAMA Network Open found that SARS-CoV-2 can be present in the semen of patients with COVID-19 and may still be detected in the semen of recovering patients. It is proposed that because the imperfect blood-testes/deferens/epididymis barrier, SARS-CoV-2 could seed to the male reproductive tract, especially in the presence of systemic local inflammation.

Results of a randomised, controlled, open-label trial involving hospitalised adult patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported in a recent article in NEJM. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either lopinavir–ritonavir twice a day for 14 days in addition to standard care, or standard care alone.

Recent pre-peer manuscript, a study examined 10 terminally-ill, critical COVID-19 patients treated with to identify which cytokines and potential therapies could be applied to prevent this cytokine release syndrome (CRS). The authors report that these patients all had elevated IL-6 and CCL5 (RANTES)...