Effects of Lianhuaqingwen Capsules in adults with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019: an international, multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: In a randomized trial, Lianhuaqingwen (LHQW) capsule was effective for accelerating symptom recovery among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the lack of blinding and limited sample sizes decreased the level of clinical evidence. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of LHQW capsule in adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. METHODS: We conducted a double-blind randomized controlled trial in adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 (17 sites from China, Thailand, Philippine and Vietnam). Patients received standard-of-care alone or plus LHQW capsules (4 capsules, thrice daily) for 14 days. The primary endpoint was the median time to sustained clinical improvement or resolution of nine major symptoms. RESULTS: The full-analysis set consisted of 410 patients in LHQW capsules and 405 in placebo group. LHQW significantly shortened the primary endpoint in the full-analysis set (4.0 vs. 6.7 days, hazards ratio: 1.63, 95% confidence interval: 1.39-1.90). LHQW capsules shortened the median time to sustained clinical improvement or resolution of stuffy or runny nose (2.8 vs. 3.7 days), sore throat (2.0 vs. 2.6 days), cough (3.2 vs. 4.9 days), feeling hot or feverish (1.0 vs. 1.3 days), low energy or tiredness (1.3 vs. 1.9 days), and myalgia (1.5 vs. 2.0 days). The duration to sustained clinical improvement or resolution of shortness of breath, headache, and chills or shivering did not differ significantly between the two groups. Safety was comparable between the two groups. No serious adverse events were reported. INTERPRETATION: LHQW capsules promote recovery of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 via accelerating symptom resolution and were well tolerated. Trial registration ChiCTR2200056727 .

Diagnosis and treatment of 4 cases imported severe malaria and COVID-19 co-infection / 中国热带医学

@#Abstract: To explore the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of imported severe malaria and COVID-19 co-infection cases, and to provide scientific basis for epidemic prevention and control measures. The epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, treatment process and prognosis of 4 cases of severe malaria and COVID-19 co-infection with confirmed diagnosis were analyzed retrospectively. Four cases of severe malaria were African returnees of the same batch, male, aged 40-54 years old, with the same journey track. They all had African work and life history and acute onset. The main clinical manifestations were fever (4/4), chills (3/4), chills (3/4), nausea and vomiting (3/4), diarrhea (4/4), fatigue and anorexia (4/4). Two cases had headache and dizziness, confusion, muscle aches, two cases had cough, one cases had sputum, sore throat and runny urine. All 4 cases were confirmed by positive nucleic acid detection of the new coronavirus (2019-nCOV) in throat swabs. Plasmodium falciparum was found by microscopic examination of peripheral blood smears of all patients, and all of them were consistent with high altitude helminthiasis. All cases were accompanied by abnormal liver function and severe hypoproteinemia, two cases were hyperbilirubinemia, three cases were dyslipidemia, three cases were involved in abnormal tertiary hemogram with different degrees of elevation of procalcitonin, two cases were lactic acid poisoning, and one case was hypoglycemia. One case showed viral pneumonia on chest CT. All cases were treated individually according to the different conditions and were discharged after improvement, and were rechecked for 2019-nCOV nucleic acid and microscopic examination of blood smear negative for Plasmodium.During the global COVID-19 epidemic, the emergence of coinfection cases of con-infection of imported malaria parasites and severe acuterespiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) makes the clinical diagnosis and treatment more complicated. It is important to establish the awareness of simultaneous prevention and diagnosis of COVID-19 and malaria for local prevention and control and early warning of severe cases, and timely and effective formulation of treatment plan to improve the comprehensive treatment efficiency.