Beneficial effect of Arbidol in the management of COVID-19 infection.

This study analyzed the effect of Arbidol, a broad-spectrum antiviral compound, on the outcomes of COVID-19 patients. Records of 252 COVID-19 patients were retrospectively analyzed from February 13 to February 29, 2020 in 4 inpatient wards in the Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. The rate of clinical improvement was significantly greater among patients treated with Arbidol than among those who did not receive Arbidol (86.8% vs. 54.2%). In moderately and severely ill patients, the clinical improvement rates in the Arbidol group were 95.6% and 81.7%, respectively, which was significantly higher than in the no-Arbidol group (66.6% and 53.8%). Among critically ill patients, however, there was no significant difference. The levels of hypersensitive C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, D-dimer, IL-6, and IL-10 were increased in non-improved patients but declined during treatment in the improved patients. This suggests these mediators are associated with the disease severity and could potentially serve as prognostic markers. Moreover, our data demonstrate that Arbidol is effective in the treatment of COVID-19 patients and may serve as a cost-effective antiviral treatment strategy for patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms.

Combined nucleic acid assays for diagnosis of A19 vaccine-caused human brucellosis.

Brucellosis is a common zoonotic disease caused by Brucella and is an epidemic worldwide. Currently, the most effective way to prevent and control the disease in animals is to use live, attenuated vaccines A19 strain. In China, the live attenuated Brucella abortus vaccine is widely used in animal immunization. To detect and confirm which vaccine strain caused the infection, we developed a new method to distinguish A19 strain from non-A19 strains. By comparing the genomic sequences of A19 and wild strain 2,308, we identified signature sequences that are unique to A19. A PCR assay for specific A19 identification was developed based on the genetic marker ABC transporter permease gene. Samples from the outbreak patients were then analysed using the universal quantitative PCR and A19-specific PCR assay, and the A19 strain was successfully identified in them, providing pathogenic evidence of the vaccine-derived infection outbreak. This combined A19-specific differential diagnosis method can provide a means to distinguish between animal vaccine immunization, natural infection and human infection by the vaccine strain. This strategy also has applications in diagnosis, epidemiology and surveillance of A19-related immunizations or infections.