A nivel mundial, del 10 de septiembre al 10 de octubre de 2022, se compartieron 101 538 secuencias de SARS-CoV-2 a través de GISAID. Entre estas, 101 441 secuencias eran la variante preocupante (VOC) de Omicron, lo que representa el 99,9 % de las secuencias. informado en los últimos 30 días. Continúa habiendo una serie de linajes descendientes de Omicron bajo supervisión.

Durante la semana epidemiológica 37 (12 al 18 de septiembre de 2022), los linajes descendientes de Omicron BA.5 continuaron siendo dominante que representa el 76,2% de las secuencias enviadas a GISAID; seguido por BA.4 linajes descendientes (incluyendo BA.4.6), que representó el 7,0%; y linajes descendientes BA.2 (incluido BA.2.75), que representaron el 3,9% de secuencias. Durante la misma semana (del 12 al 18 de septiembre), se contabilizaron secuencias no asignadas (presuntamente de Omicron) para el 12,8% de las secuencias enviadas a GISAID.

A nivel mundial, el número de nuevos casos semanales disminuyó un 10% durante la semana del 3 al 9 de octubre de 2022 como en comparación con la semana anterior, con más de 2,8 millones de casos nuevos notificados. El número de las nuevas muertes semanales se mantuvieron estables (-1%) en comparación con la semana anterior, con alrededor de 9000 muertes informado. Hasta el 9 de octubre de 2022, se han notificado más de 618 millones de casos confirmados y más de 6,5 millones de muertes. globalmente.

A nivel regional, el número de nuevos casos semanales notificados disminuyó o se mantuvo estable en los seis Regiones de la OMS: la Región de África (-41 %), la Región de Asia Sudoriental (-25 %), la Región del Pacífico Occidental (-21 %), la Región del Mediterráneo Oriental (-14 %), la Región de las Américas (-10 %) y la Región de Europa (-3 %). El número de nuevas muertes semanales disminuyó o se mantuvo estable en cinco regiones: la Región de África (-53%), la Región de Asia Sudoriental (-23 %), la Región de Europa (-12 %), la Región del Mediterráneo Oriental (similar a la semana anterior) y la Región del Pacífico Occidental (+1%); mientras que el número de muertes aumentó en la Región de las Américas (+11%). 

A nivel de país, el mayor número de nuevos casos semanales se notificó en Alemania (508 749 nuevos casos). casos; +12 %), China (333 830 casos nuevos; +10 %), Francia (323 787 casos nuevos; +4 %), Estados Unidos de América (283 220 casos nuevos; -9%) e Italia (280 947 casos nuevos; +30%). Los números más altos de nuevas muertes semanales fueron reportados desde los Estados Unidos de América (2817 nuevas muertes; +3%), Brasil (767 nuevas muertes; +168%), el Federación de Rusia (731 nuevas muertes; +3 %), Japón (567 nuevas muertes; +1 %) y China (412 nuevas muertes; +12 %).

BACKGROUND: Asthma can manifest in a variety of clinical phenotypes like cough variant asthma, chest tightness variant asthma (CTVA), and masked asthma. Patients with CTVA usually have a singular or primary complaint of chest tightness, which is often overlooked or misdiagnosed due to the lack of characteristic asthma symptoms. We hereby report a case of CTVA managed by omalizumab.

CASE REPORT: A 15-year-old female patient reported to us with repeated coughing persisting for 3 weeks. Initial treatment with standard asthma drugs had minimal effect. Later during the disease, chest tightness became the primary symptom, and she was managed with steroids, β2 receptor agonists, and leukotriene receptor agonists but without complete relief. Based on clinical signs and symptoms, the response to baseline drugs, and results of bronchial provocation test, the diagnosis was revised to CTVA, and the patient was started on Omalizumab in addition to baseline drugs, which significantly improved her condition.

CONCLUSIONS: CTVA is difficult to diagnose due to its insidious symptoms and poor characteristics. Improper treatment can lead to uncontrolled disease, negative psychological issues, and reduced quality of life. Comprehensive assessment of children's airway inflammation level, lung function, bronchial provocation test, and responsiveness to drug therapy should be performed for accurate diagnosis. Omalizumab in combination with standard drugs can significantly improve the outcomes of CTVA.

In this study involving a cohort of employees of the National Airline company in Lebanon, we assessed humoral immunity levels and the effectiveness of two COVID-19 vaccines, Gam-COVID-Vac versus BNT162b2, after two doses and after a homologous and heterologous BNT162b2 booster, in addition to the impact of hybrid immunity. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) was retrospectively determined against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during the periods of Delta and Omicron variants' predominance, separately, and was calculated based on a case–control study design.

The humoral immune response, measured by a SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) IgG titer, was prospectively assessed after the aforementioned vaccination schemes at different time points. This study showed higher effectiveness of BNT162b2 after two doses (81%) compared to two doses of Gam-COVID-Vac (41.8%) against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which correlated with anti-spike antibody levels. Regarding the Omicron variant, protection against infection and antibody levels were severely compromised and the correlation between an anti-spike IgG titer and effectiveness was lost, unlike the situation during the Delta wave. Considering the booster vaccination schemes, a homologous BNT162b2 booster after a BNT162b2 primary vaccination induced a higher humoral immune response when compared to that induced by a heterologous BNT162b2 booster after a Gam-COVID-Vac primary vaccination.

However, the VE of both booster regimens against the Omicron variant was almost equal (64% in the homologous regimen and 57% in heterologous regimen). Hybrid immunity evidenced a better humoral response and a greater and longer protection against Delta and Omicron infections compared to vaccination-induced immunity in COVID-19-naïve individuals. Finally, the findings show that VE waned with time during the same wave, highlighting the importance of reinforcing primary and booster COVID-19 vaccination mainly at the beginning of each wave during the surge of a new variant of concern.

The recent surge of COVID-19 related to the Omicron variant emergence has thrown a harsh light upon epidemic control in the near future. This should lead the scientific and medical community to question the long-term vaccine strategy for SARS-CoV-2 control. We provide here a critical point of view regarding the virological evolution, epidemiological aspects, and immunological drivers for COVID-19 control, including a vaccination strategy.

Overall, we need more innovations in vaccine development to reduce the COVID-19 burden long term. The most adequate answer might be better cooperation between universities, biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Introduction: Venous thrombosis is a well-known complication of cancer disease, especially in Urology. However, even though proper antithrombotic prophylaxis is crucial in most urological procedures, we have insufficient high-quality studies on this topic. The European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines are outdated and lack data on COVID-19 increased risk of thrombosis. This review aimed to summarize data on thromboprophylaxis after radical prostatectomy, cystectomy, and nephrectomy during COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods: A thorough analysis of the EAU Guidelines of Thromboprophylaxis was performed and compared to PubMed search, considering updated literature on thromboprophylaxis of radical prostatectomy, cystectomy, nephrectomy, as well as COVID-19 influence on venous thrombosis and urological practice.

Results: Each patient should be evaluated individually to balance bleeding and venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk. There is still much uncertainty in low and medium-risk patients and all endoscopic procedures, where thromboprophylaxis could be omitted. Patients with COVID infection bear a significantly higher risk of VTE. All patients should be tested for COVID infection prior to a planned surgery during bursts of infections, undependably of vaccination status. Efforts to maintain early cancer diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic should be maintained.

Conclusions: The quality of evidence is inadequate, and when deciding on thromboprophylaxis, we need to base it on individual risk, cancer advancement, procedure type, and our own experience.

Introduction: To date, little is known about the real-world protective role of Chinese inactivated and recombinant coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines under the background of the long-term "Dynamic Zero COVID-19 Case" (i.e., no infection source) in China, especially when facing the widespread Omicron severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant infection. Methods: In this prospective, single-center cohort study, the clinical characteristics of post-vaccination Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant infection were investigated in the initial largest outbreak of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant infection that occurred between the 8 January, 2022 and 29 January, 2022 in Anyang City, Henan Province, China. The primary endpoints were the rates of severe and critical diseases or death. The secondary endpoints were the SARS-CoV-2 shedding duration and length of hospitalization. Results: A total of 380 post-vaccination patients infected with the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant were enrolled. The median age was 18 (interquartile range [IQR] 17-35) years, 219 (57.6%) cases were female, and 247 (65.0%) cases were students. Before confirmation of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant infection, patients had 3 (IQR 2-4) days of dry cough (40.3%), nasal congestion (26.3%), and sore throat (26.3%). On admission, 294 (77.4%) cases had normal chest computerized tomography (CT) imaging. Additionally, only 5 (1.3%), 30 (7.9%), 4 (4/342, 1.2%), and 7 (7/379, 0.2%) patients had lymphocyte counts <800 per mm3, C-reactive protein levels >10 mg/L, lactate dehydrogenase levels ≥250 U/L, and D-dimer levels ≥0.5 mg/L on admission, respectively. During hospitalization, 308 (81.1%) and 72 (18.9%) were identified as mild and moderate cases, respectively, and no one progressed to severe and critical types, with a SARS-CoV-2 shedding period and length of hospital stay of 17 (IQR 12-22) and 19 (IQR 15-24) days, respectively.

Conclusion: The current study found that approximately 80% of individuals infected with the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant were mild, approximately 20% of patients were moderate, and no severe, critical, or fatal cases were identified in a prospective cohort including 380 participants vaccinated with non-mRNA-based vaccines. Discussion: This study supports the consideration of policy adjustments and changes to prevent and control the Omicron-predominant COVID-19 in China and other regions with high SARS-CoV-2 vaccination rates.

À lire aussi: COVID-19: baisse des hospitalisations après de fortes hausses. «La capacité (du vaccin) à protéger diminue avec le temps, alors, pour l’instant, on est pris à devoir répéter la vaccination», explique-t-elle.

Voici pourquoi la vaccination contre la COVID-19 demeure un outil important.

Avec l'arrivée d'une 8e vague, les autorités sanitaires et les gouvernements ont lancé cette semaine un nouvel appel à la vaccination, principal outil contre la COVID-19. Ils estiment que trop peu de Canadiens sont adéquatement vaccinés.

Findings show that myocarditis rates among those who received the COVID-19 vaccine were only two times higher than those of uninfected individuals.

A new subvariant of the omicron variant of the coronavirus is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

BQ.1 COVID-19 variant becomes increasingly prevalent in US infections: CDC  (The Hill)

A new subvariant of the omicron variant of the coronavirus is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).