Severe undercounting of Covid cases worldwide: Study
February 09, 2021
Over 20 per cent of UK, US population already infected
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center used a new machine learning technique to estimate the actual number of coronavirus cases within 50 US States and 50 countries.
The study, published in the journal
PLOS One, revealed that during the ongoing pandemic, US States and many countries have reported daily counts of Covid-19 infections and deaths confirmed by testing.
However, many infections have gone undetected, resulting in under-counting of the total number of people currently infected at any given point in time. The authors of the study believe that this is an important metric to guide public health efforts.
Racial minorities more likely to become infected with COVID-19
An analysis of Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California early in the COVID-19 pandemic found that racial minorities were more likely than white patients to test positive for COVID-19. The findings are published in
Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers from Kaiser Permanente, The Permanente Medical Group, and Stanford Cancer Institute studied health records for 3.5 million patients in the Kaiser Health system, more than 91,000 of whom received a COVID-19 test between Feb. 1 and May 31, 2020. That data showed that Latino patients were nearly 4 times as likely as white patients to become infected with the virus, while Asian and Black patients were 2 times as likely to test positive for COVID-19 compared to white patients. The odds of hospitalization were also higher for Latino, Asian, and Black patients with COVID-19 than for white patients. However, the study did not find racial disparities in mortality amon
Pregnant women with severe or critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection are at increased risk for preterm birth and pregnancy loss. In studies of hospitalized pregnant women with COVID-19, which have included between 240 and 427 infected women, the risk for preterm delivery (both iatrogenic and spontaneous) has ranged from 10% to 25%, with rates as high as 60% among women with critical illness.
1 The primary risk to a pregnancy appears to be from maternal illness. In addition, pregnant women may be at higher risk for severe illness and death caused by COVID-19 compared with nonpregnant women. In an analysis of national surveillance data that included pregnancy status of 409 462 women with symptomatic COVID-19 illness through October 3, 2020, the adjusted risk ratio in pregnant women (vs those of similar age and not pregnant) was 3.0 for intensive care unit admission, 2.9 for mechanical ventilation, and 1.7 for death.
A new machine-learning framework uses reported test results and death rates to calculate estimates of the actual number of current COVID-19 infections within all 50 U.S. states and 50 countries. Jungsik Noh and Gaudenz Danuser of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center present these findings in the open-access journal
Gina Kolata, The New York Times
Published: 06 Feb 2021 04:40 PM BdST
Updated: 06 Feb 2021 04:40 PM BdST Cancer cells. www.en.wikipedia.org
After 40 years of effort, researchers have finally succeeded in switching off one of the most common cancer-causing genetic mutations in the human body. The finding promises to improve treatment for thousands of patients with lung and colorectal cancer, and may point the way to a new generation of drugs for cancers that resist treatment. );
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The finding has already led to a new medication, sotorasib, by drugmaker Amgen. Other companies are close behind with their own versions.
Amgen tested its drug in patients with the most common type of lung cancer, called non-small cell cancer. The disease is diagnosed in 228,000 Americans a year, and for most patients in the advanced stages, there is no cure.