February 12, 2021
by Julie Parry
Blood clots, through venous thromboembolism and arterial thromboses, have been shown to be one of the causes of death in individuals with COVID-19. Medications that prevent blood clots, or anticoagulants, may be effective in treating patients with the disease. New research published in
The BMJ shows that patients put on preventative doses of anticoagulants within the first 24 hours of being hospitalized with COVID-19 are about 30 percent less likely to die compared to those not put on anticoagulant medication.
Led by researchers at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Yale School of Medicine (YSM), Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the observational cohort study found that early initiation of prophylactic anticoagulation was safe and effective in treating patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
Peer-reviewed / Review, Survey and Opinion piece
To ensure an effective global immunisation strategy against COVID-19, vaccines need to be produced at scale, priced affordably, and allocated globally so that they are available where needed, and successfully rolled out.
Review of evidence includes a comparison of 26 leading vaccines on their potential contribution to achieving global vaccine immunity, and a new survey of COVID-19 vaccine confidence in 32 countries.
Having new COVID-19 vaccines will mean little if people around the world are unable to get vaccinated in a timely manner. Vaccines have to be affordable and available to all countries, and governments must have the administrative and political capacities to deliver them locally to ensure an effective global immunisation strategy against COVID-19, say the authors of a Health Policy piece published in
Vaccines must be affordable and available to all countries say the authors of a Health Policy piece published in The Lancet.
The authors also stress that governments must have the administrative and political capacities to deliver them locally to ensure an effective global immunisation strategy against COVID-19.
HIV self-testing increases testing uptake and frequency in trans people
HIV self-testing could reduce the time between HIV infection and HIV diagnosis amongst trans people when compared to standard testing services, suggests new research in
EClinicalMedicine.
The project was a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University College London (UCL), and the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit. It involved more than 100 trans men and trans women in England and Wales, and is the largest HIV self-testing trial in this community to be reported.
Participants were first randomized into two groups, one was given one self-test for HIV, the other group was offered a link to find standard testing services, and no self-tests. Some of the self-testing arm were randomized a second time and offered either repeat self-testing (an additional self-test every three months) or standard testing services. They were then followed up for two years.