Publications - January 2021

Preprint and peer-reviewed publications from RECOVER’s studies

Interleukin-6 Receptor Antagonists in Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19 - Preliminary report (Gordon et al. 2021)

In critically ill patients with Covid-19 receiving organ support in intensive care, treatment with the IL-6 receptor antagonists, tocilizumab and sarilumab, improved outcome, including survival.

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Duration and key determinants of infectious virus shedding in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) (van Kampen et al. 2021)

Key questions in COVID-19 are the duration and determinants of infectious virus shedding. Here, we report that infectious virus shedding is detected by virus cultures in 23 of the 129 patients (17.8%) hospitalized with COVID-19. The median duration of shedding infectious virus is 8 days post onset of symptoms (IQR 5–11) and drops below 5% after 15.2 days post onset of symptoms (95% confidence interval (CI) 13.4–17.2). Multivariate analyses identify viral loads above 7 log10 RNA copies/mL (odds ratio [OR] of 14.7 (CI 3.57-58.1; p < 0.001) as independently associated with isolation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 from the respiratory tract. A serum neutralizing antibody titre of at least 1:20 (OR of 0.01 (CI 0.003-0.08; p < 0.001) is independently associated with non-infectious SARS-CoV-2. We conclude that quantitative viral RNA load assays and serological assays could be used in test-based strategies to discontinue or de-escalate infection prevention and control precautions.

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