Effect of spirulina on risk of hospitalization among patients with COVID-19: the TOGETHER randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Algae-derived nutraceuticals, such as spirulina, have been reported to have biological activities that may minimize clinical consequences to COVID-19 infections. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine whether spirulina is an effective treatment for high-risk patients with early COVID-19 in an outpatient setting. METHODS: The TOGETHER trial is a placebo-controlled, randomized, platform trial conducted in Brazil. Eligible participants were symptomatic adults with a positive rapid test for SARS-CoV-2 older than 50 y or with a known risk factor for disease severity. Patients were randomly assigned to receive placebo or spirulina (1 g twice daily for 14 d). The primary end point was hospitalization defined as either retention in a COVID-19 emergency setting for >6 h or transfer to tertiary hospital owing to COVID-19 at 28 d. Secondary outcomes included time-to-hospitalization, mortality, and adverse drug reactions. We used a Bayesian framework to compare spirulina with placebo. RESULTS: We recruited 1126 participants, 569 randomly assigned to spirulina and 557 to placebo. The median age was 49.0 y, and 65.3% were female. The primary outcome occurred in 11.2% in the spirulina group and 8.1% in the placebo group (odds ratio [OR]: 1.24; 95% credible interval: 0.84, 1.86). There were no differences in emergency department visit (OR: 1.21; 95% credible interval: 0.81, 1.83), nor time to symptom relief (hazard ratio: 0.90; 95% credible interval: 0.79, 1.03). Spirulina also not demonstrate important treatment effects in the prespecified subgroups defined by age, sex, BMI, days since symptom onset, or vaccination status. CONCLUSIONS: Spirulina has no any clinical benefits as an outpatient therapy for COVID-19 compared with placebo with respect to reducing the retention in an emergency setting or COVID-19-related hospitalization. There are no differences between spirulina and placebo for other secondary outcomes. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04727424.

Minimizing the Risk of Surgical Site Infection Following Hip Fracture Operation.

Introduction: Hip fractures are the most common serious injury in the elderly, associated with disability, morbidity, and mortality. Surgical site infection (SSI) is a serious post-operative complication. This prospective cohort study outlines how our center made cumulative improvements in SSI incidence rates, reaching a 12-month average of 0.5%. Methods: All patients undergoing hip fracture operation between 2016 and 2021 were included. The primary outcome measure was confirmed SSI, according to the Public Health England definition. Results were compared with the baseline recordings by an independent SSI team in 2013. Demographic data were compared with National Hip Fracture Database records. Peri-operative infection control and wound management tactics introduced between 2014 and 2021 were collated to gain an overview care bundle. Results: Baseline recordings identified a 9.0% SSI rate in a three-month observation period. In our study, 3,138 hip fracture operative cases were completed between October 2016 and December 2021. There were 9 superficial and 32 deep infections identified, yielding an overall infection rate of 1.3%. However, when analyzing the 12-month average, there was consistent decline in SSI from the baseline 9.0% in 2013 to 0.5% in 2021 (p < 0.05). A peri-operative care bundle included pre-operative bleeding risk assessment. Intra-operatively, double preparation and draping is used for arthroplasty. Broad-spectrum antibiotic agents and tranexamic acid are administered. Meticulous hemostasis and watertight wound closure are observed. Anti-coagulated patients received negative pressure dressings. Post-operatively, a dedicated senior lead team provided daily inpatient review of patients, with urgent consultant review of all wound healing concerns. Conclusion: Patients with a hip fracture have numerous risk factors for SSI. A dedicated multi-focal tactic, adopted by a multi-disciplinary department, can yield substantial risk reduction. Each intervention is evidence based and contributes to cumulative improvement. By prioritizing infection prevention, we have minimized the need for complex infection management interventions and achieved an annual saving of £860,000 for our trust.

Sustained human outbreak of a new MPXV clade I lineage in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Outbreaks of monkeypox (mpox) have historically resulted from zoonotic spillover of clade I monkeypox virus (MPXV) in Central Africa and clade II MPXV in West Africa. In 2022, subclade IIb caused a global epidemic linked to transmission through sexual contact. Here we describe the epidemiological and genomic features of an mpox outbreak in a mining region in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, caused by clade I MPXV. Surveillance data collected between September 2023 and January 2024 identified 241 suspected cases. Genomic analysis demonstrates a distinct clade I lineage divergent from previously circulating strains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Of the 108 polymerase chain reaction-confirmed mpox cases, the median age of individuals was 22 years, 51.9% were female and 29% were sex workers, suggesting a potential role for sexual transmission. The predominance of APOBEC3-type mutations and the estimated emergence time around mid-September 2023 imply recent sustained human-to-human transmission.

Matched vs Nonmatched Placebos in a Randomized Trial of COVID-19 Treatments.

Importance: Matched placebo interventions are complex and resource intensive. Recent evidence suggests matched placebos may not always be necessary. Previous studies have predominantly evaluated potential bias of nonmatched placebos (ie, differing on dose, frequency of administration, or formulation) in pain and mental health, but to date no systematic examination has been conducted in infectious disease. Objective: To test for differences between nonmatched and matched placebo arms with respect to clinical outcome measures across multiple therapeutics for COVID-19. Design, Setting, and Participants: In a comparative effectiveness research study, a post hoc analysis was conducted of data on individual patients enrolled in a large, multiarm, platform randomized clinical trial in symptomatic adult outpatients with COVID-19 between January 15, 2021, to September 28, 2023, in which the outcomes of both matched and nonmatched placebo groups were reported. Bayesian and frequentist covariate-adjusted techniques were compared with 7 intervention-placebo pairs. Exposures: Seven matched and nonmatched placebo pairs (for a total of 7 comparisons) were evaluated throughout the primary platform trial. Comparisons were made between treatment and its associated matched (concurrent) placebo, as well as with nonmatched placebo (alone and in combination) assessed at a similar time point. Main Outcomes and Measures: Outcomes assessed included hospitalizations, EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-level scores, and PROMIS Global-10 scores. Results: A total of 7 intervention-control pairs (N = 2684) were assessed, including 1620 (60.4%) women, with mean (SD) age, 47 (15.2) years; the most common comorbidities were obesity (41.9%) and hypertension (37.9%). In a meta-analysis with decoupled SEs, accounting for overlapping placebo patients, the overall odds ratio (OR) of nonmatched compared with matched placebo was 1.01 (95% credible interval, 0.77-1.32), with posterior probability of equivalence, defined as 0.8 ≤ OR ≤ 1.2 (a deviation from perfect equivalence ie, OR = 1, by no more than 0.2) of 85.4%, implying no significant difference. Unadjusted analysis of the event rate difference between all nonmatched and matched placebo groups did not identify any notable differences across all 7 treatment-placebo combinations assessed. Similar analysis that was conducted for patient-reported quality of life outcomes did not yield statistically significant differences. Conclusions and Relevance: In this post hoc study of a randomized clinical platform trial, pooling matched and nonmatched placebo patient data did not lead to inconsistencies in treatment effect estimation for any of the investigational drugs. These findings may have significant implications for future platform trials, as the use of nonmatched placebo may improve statistical power, or reduce barriers to placebo implementation.

Adaptive designs in public health: Vaccine and cluster randomized trials go Bayesian.

Clinical trials in public health-particularly those conducted in low- and middle-income countries-often involve communicable and non-communicable diseases with high disease burden and unmet needs. Trials conducted in these regions often are faced with resource limitations, so improving the efficiencies of these trials is critical. Adaptive trial designs have the potential to save trial time and resources and reduce the number of patients receiving ineffective interventions. In this paper, we provide a detailed account of the implementation of vaccine and cluster randomized trials within the framework of Bayesian adaptive trials, with emphasis on computational efficiency and flexibility with regard to stopping rules and allocation ratios. We offer an educated approach to selecting prior distributions and a data-driven empirical Bayes method for plug-in estimates for nuisance parameters.

The Human Mpox Global Outbreak: Available Control Tools and the Opportunity to Break a Cycle of Neglect in Endemic Countries.

The 2022 global outbreak of human Mpox (formerly monkeypox) virus (MPXV) infection outside of the usual endemic zones in Africa challenged our understanding of the virus's natural history, transmission dynamics, and risk factors. This outbreak has highlighted the need for diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and implementation research, all of which require more substantial investments in equitable collaborative partnerships. Global multidisciplinary networks need to tackle MPXV and other neglected emerging and reemerging zoonotic pathogens to address them locally and prevent or quickly control their worldwide spread. Political endorsement from individual countries and financial commitments to maintain control efforts will be essential for long-term sustainability.

Global HIV control: is the glass half empty or half full?

The massive scale-up of HIV treatment and prevention over the past two decades has resulted in important reductions in new infections and mortality globally. Reduction in HIV incidence, however, has been unequal, with worsening epidemics in regions where the reach and scale of HIV control programmes have been insufficient, especially in eastern Europe, central Asia, the Middle East, north Africa, and Latin America where HIV epidemics are concentrated among key populations, including people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, transgender people, and some minority racial and ethnic groups. The global state of the HIV pandemic highlights disparities in HIV control efforts and provides a roadmap for what should be done, including investment to better implement the effective HIV prevention and treatment tools that are available, but whose adoption and scale-up are not yet sufficient to get us close to an AIDS-free generation. To achieve the full potential of global HIV control, we call for urgent, evidence-informed implementation at scale of our existing and novel HIV prevention and treatment strategies in ways that are better, faster, more efficient, and cost-effective, especially in key populations and regions where the HIV pandemic continues to expand.

The effect of group support psychotherapy on adherence to anti-retroviral therapy and viral suppression among HIV positive young people: Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Several studies have demonstrated an association between psychological risk factors and HIV disease progression. However, there is limited information on the use of psychological interventions to improve HIV treatment outcomes in young people living with HIV. Objective: This pilot trial aims to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of group support psychotherapy in improving adherence to anti-retroviral therapy and viral suppression in young people living with HIV in Uganda. Methods: We recruited 120 young people with HIV, aged 10-18 years, who had non-viral suppression 6 months after initiating first-line anti-retroviral therapy (ART) from community based HIV clinics in Kitgum district, northern Uganda. Participants were randomly assigned to receive GSP plus IAC (N = 60) or IAC alone (N = 60). Primary outcomes will be indicators of feasibility and acceptability as well as preliminary effectiveness of GSP in improving ART adherence and viral suppression analysed by intention to treat using cluster-adjusted t tests and permutation tests. Secondary outcomes will be measures of depression, anxiety and cost-effectiveness. Results: The trial has been approved by the Makerere College of Health Sciences School of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee, and the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology. Recruitment began in June 2021 and 120 young people living with HIV with their adult caregivers have been recruited to the trial. An analysis of baseline and 6-month data is in progress. The results of this trial will not only be presented at national and international conferences but also submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and as a report to the funding agencies. Conclusions: This pilot trial will provide critical evidence to support the ongoing mental health integration into routine HIV care in Uganda. Trial Registration: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR): 202006601935462.

Oral Fluvoxamine With Inhaled Budesonide for Treatment of Early-Onset COVID-19 : A Randomized Platform Trial.

BACKGROUND: Previous trials have demonstrated the effects of fluvoxamine alone and inhaled budesonide alone for prevention of disease progression among outpatients with COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the combination of fluvoxamine and inhaled budesonide would increase treatment effects in a highly vaccinated population. DESIGN: Randomized, placebo-controlled, adaptive platform trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04727424). SETTING: 12 clinical sites in Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: Symptomatic adults with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and a known risk factor for progression to severe disease. INTERVENTION: Patients were randomly assigned to either fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily for 10 days) plus inhaled budesonide (800 mcg twice daily for 10 days) or matching placebos. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was a composite of emergency setting retention for COVID-19 for more than 6 hours, hospitalization, and/or suspected complications due to clinical progression of COVID-19 within 28 days of randomization. Secondary outcomes included health care attendance (defined as hospitalization for any cause or emergency department visit lasting >6 hours), time to hospitalization, mortality, patient-reported outcomes, and adverse drug reactions. RESULTS: Randomization occurred from 15 January to 6 July 2022. A total of 738 participants were allocated to oral fluvoxamine plus inhaled budesonide, and 738 received placebo. The proportion of patients observed in an emergency setting for COVID-19 for more than 6 hours or hospitalized due to COVID-19 was lower in the treatment group than the placebo group (1.8% [95% credible interval {CrI}, 1.1% to 3.0%] vs. 3.7% [95% CrI, 2.5% to 5.3%]; relative risk, 0.50 [95% CrI, 0.25 to 0.92]), with a probability of superiority of 98.7%. No relative effects were found between groups for any of the secondary outcomes. More adverse events occurred in the intervention group than the placebo group, but no important differences between the groups were detected. LIMITATION: Low event rate overall, consistent with contemporary trials in vaccinated populations. CONCLUSION: Treatment with oral fluvoxamine plus inhaled budesonide among high-risk outpatients with early COVID-19 reduced the incidence of severe disease requiring advanced care. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Latona Foundation, FastGrants, and Rainwater Charitable Foundation.

The importance of appropriate selection of clinical endpoints in outpatient COVID-19 clinical trials.

Clinical trial endpoints must be carefully and intentionally selected so that the results of the trial can be used to inform policy- and decision-making. The relative importance of potential endpoints often depends on the stakeholder, with patients having different preferences to policymakers and regulators. The set up of clinical trials for COVID-19 was problematic, as endpoints that could be reasonably measured did not always match the efficacy endpoints usually required by guideline panels. Thus, different endpoints were used, which made the timely comparison and evaluation of interventions difficult. Here we discuss the evolution of the COVID-19 landscape and the effect this is having on the selection of consistent and measurable clinical trial endpoints. Using appropriate endpoints is crucial for researchers to offer the most reliable, valid, and interpretable results possible.

Developing fit-for-purpose funding models for rural settings: Lessons from the evaluation of a step-up/step-down service in regional Australia.

Introduction: Sub-acute mental health community services provide a bridging service between hospital and community care. There is limited understanding of the local factors that influence success, and of the funding implications of delivering services in rural areas. Methods: This paper draws from quantitative and qualitative evaluation data from a regional Western Australian service to explore these issues. Results: Consumers satisfaction with the service was high and, overall, admission to the service resulted in positive outcomes. High re-admission rates may be linked to limited community support services following discharge. Discussion: Our results suggest that outcomes may be enhanced by implementing flexible approaches that address the resource limitations of the rural context, and that the current funding model for sub-acute mental health services in rural Australian may not be fit for purpose. More needs to be understood about how these services can be better integrated with existing support services, and how they can be better funded.

Early Treatment with Pegylated Interferon Lambda for Covid-19.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of a single dose of pegylated interferon lambda in preventing clinical events among outpatients with acute symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is unclear. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, controlled, adaptive platform trial involving predominantly vaccinated adults with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Brazil and Canada. Outpatients who presented with an acute clinical condition consistent with Covid-19 within 7 days after the onset of symptoms received either pegylated interferon lambda (single subcutaneous injection, 180 µg) or placebo (single injection or oral). The primary composite outcome was hospitalization (or transfer to a tertiary hospital) or an emergency department visit (observation for >6 hours) due to Covid-19 within 28 days after randomization. RESULTS: A total of 933 patients were assigned to receive pegylated interferon lambda (2 were subsequently excluded owing to protocol deviations) and 1018 were assigned to receive placebo. Overall, 83% of the patients had been vaccinated, and during the trial, multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants had emerged. A total of 25 of 931 patients (2.7%) in the interferon group had a primary-outcome event, as compared with 57 of 1018 (5.6%) in the placebo group, a difference of 51% (relative risk, 0.49; 95% Bayesian credible interval, 0.30 to 0.76; posterior probability of superiority to placebo, >99.9%). Results were generally consistent in analyses of secondary outcomes, including time to hospitalization for Covid-19 (hazard ratio, 0.57; 95% Bayesian credible interval, 0.33 to 0.95) and Covid-19-related hospitalization or death (hazard ratio, 0.59; 95% Bayesian credible interval, 0.35 to 0.97). The effects were consistent across dominant variants and independent of vaccination status. Among patients with a high viral load at baseline, those who received pegylated interferon lambda had lower viral loads by day 7 than those who received placebo. The incidence of adverse events was similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among predominantly vaccinated outpatients with Covid-19, the incidence of hospitalization or an emergency department visit (observation for >6 hours) was significantly lower among those who received a single dose of pegylated interferon lambda than among those who received placebo. (Funded by FastGrants and others; TOGETHER ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04727424.).

Early Treatment with Fluvoxamine among Patients with COVID-19: A Cost-Consequence Model.

To date, two published randomized trials have indicated a clinical benefit of early treatment with fluvoxamine versus placebo for adults with symptomatic COVID-19. Using the results of the largest of these trials, the TOGETHER trial, we conducted a cost-consequence analysis to assess the health system benefits of preventing progression to severe COVID-19 in outpatient populations in the United States. A decision-analytic model in the form of a decision tree was constructed to evaluate two treatment strategies for high-risk patients with confirmed, symptomatic COVID-19 in the primary analysis: treatment with a 10-day course of fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily) and current standard-of-care. A secondary analysis comparing a 5-day course of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir was also conducted. We used a time horizon of 28 days. Reported outcomes included cost-savings and hospitalization days avoided. The results of our analysis indicated that administration of fluvoxamine to symptomatic outpatients at high risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 was substantially cost-saving, in the amount of $232 per eligible patient and prevented an average of 0.15 hospital days per patient treated, compared with standard of care. Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir was also shown to be cost-saving despite its higher acquisition cost and provided savings to the healthcare system of $625 per patient treated. These findings suggest that fluvoxamine is likely to be a cost-effective addition to frontline COVID-19 mitigation strategies in many settings, particularly where access to nirmaltrevir-ritonavir or monoclonal antibodies is limited.

Advancing detection and response capacities for emerging and re-emerging pathogens in Africa.

Recurrent disease outbreaks caused by a range of emerging and resurging pathogens over the past decade reveal major gaps in public health preparedness, detection, and response systems in Africa. Underlying causes of recurrent disease outbreaks include inadequacies in the detection of new infectious disease outbreaks in the community, in rapid pathogen identification, and in proactive surveillance systems. In sub-Saharan Africa, where 70% of zoonotic outbreaks occur, there remains the perennial risk of outbreaks of new or re-emerging pathogens for which no vaccines or treatments are available. As the Ebola virus disease, COVID-19, and mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) outbreaks highlight, a major paradigm shift is required to establish an effective infrastructure and common frameworks for preparedness and to prompt national and regional public health responses to mitigate the effects of future pandemics in Africa.

Use of trained scent dogs for detection of COVID-19 and evidence of cost-saving.

Background: One of the lessons learned from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the importance of early, flexible, and rapidly deployable disease detection methods. Currently, diagnosis of COVID-19 requires the collection of oro/nasopharyngal swabs, nasal turbinate, anterior nares and saliva but as the pandemic continues, disease detection methods that can identify infected individuals earlier and more quickly will be crucial for slowing the spread of the virus. Previous studies have indicated that dogs can be trained to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced during respiratory infections. We sought to determine whether this approach could be applied for detection of COVID-19 in Rwanda and measured its cost-saving. Methods: Over a period of 5 months, four dogs were trained to detect VOCs in sweat samples collected from human subjects confirmed positive or negative for COVID-19 by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing. Dogs were trained using a detection dog training system (DDTS) and in vivo diagnosis. Samples were collected from 5,253 participants using a cotton pad swiped in the underarm to collect sweat samples. Statistical analysis was conducted using R statistical software. Findings: From August to September 2021 during the Delta wave, the sensitivity of the dogs' COVID-19 detection ranged from 75.0 to 89.9% for the lowest- and highest-performing dogs, respectively. Specificity ranged from 96.1 to 98.4%, respectively. In the second phase coinciding with the Omicron wave (January-March 2022), the sensitivity decreased substantially from 36.6 to 41.5%, while specificity remained above 95% for all four dogs. The sensitivity and specificity by any positive sample detected by at least one dog was 83.9, 95% CI: 75.8-90.2 and 94.9%; 95% CI: 93.9-95.8, respectively. The use of scent detection dogs was also found to be cost-saving compared to antigen rapid diagnostic tests, based on a marginal cost of approximately $14,000 USD for testing of the 5,253 samples which makes 2.67 USD per sample. Testing turnaround time was also faster with the scent detection dogs, at 3 h compared to 11 h with routine diagnostic testing. Conclusion: The findings from this study indicate that trained dogs can accurately identify respiratory secretion samples from asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 patients timely and cost-effectively. Our findings recommend further uptake of this approach for COVID-19 detection.

Toward a New Paradigm of North-South and South-South Partnerships for Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 and Other Outbreaks.

COVID-19 underscores the need to reimagine North-South partnerships and redefine best practices for building public health and research capacity to address emergent health threats and pandemic preparedness in low- and-middle income countries (LMICs). Historically, outbreak and emergency responses have failed to ensure that the Global South has the autonomy and capacity to respond to public health threats in a timely and equitable manner. The COVID-19 response, however, has demonstrated that innovations and solutions in the Global South can not only fill resource and capacity gaps in LMICs but can also provide solutions to challenges globally. These innovations offer valuable lessons about strengthening local manufacturing capacity to produce essential diagnostic, treatment, and prevention tools; implementing high-quality research studies; expanding laboratory and research capacity; and promoting effective cooperation and governance. We discuss specific examples of capacity-building from Rwanda, South Africa, and Senegal. To fulfill promises made to the Global South during the COVID-19 pandemic, restore and resume health service delivery, and effectively prevent and respond to the next health threat, we need to prioritize equitable access to local manufacturing of basic health tools while building health systems capacities in the Global South.