Ebola outbreak in Guinea, 2021: Clinical care of patients with Ebola virus disease

Background: Experience from the Zaire Ebolavirus epidemic in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (2018­2020) demonstrates that early initiation of essential critical care and administration of Zaire Ebolavirus specific monoclonal antibodies may be associated with improved outcomes among patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD). Objectives: This series describes 13 EVD patients and 276 patients with suspected EVD treated during a Zaire Ebolavirus outbreak in Guinea in 2021. Method: Patients with confirmed or suspected EVD were treated in two Ebola treatment centres (ETC) in the region of N'zérékoré. Data were reviewed from all patients with suspected or confirmed EVD hospitalised in these two ETCs during the outbreak (14 February 2021 ­ 19 June 2021). Ebola-specific monoclonal antibodies, were available 2 weeks after onset of the outbreak. Results: Nine of the 13 EVD patients (age range: 22­70 years) survived. The four EVD patients who died, including one pregnant woman, presented with multi-organ dysfunction and died within 48 h of admission. All eight patients who received Ebola-specific monoclonal antibodies survived. Four of the 13 EVD patients were health workers. Improvement of ETC design facilitated implementation of WHO-recommended 'optimized supportive care for EVD'. In this context, pragmatic clinical training was integrated in routine ETC activities. Initial clinical manifestations of 13 confirmed EVD patients were similar to those of 276 patients with suspected, but subsequently non confirmed EVD. These patients suffered from other acute infections (e.g. malaria in 183 of 276 patients; 66%). Five of the 276 patients with suspected EVD died. One of these five patients had Lassa virus disease and a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) co-infection. Conclusion: Multidisciplinary outbreak response teams can rapidly optimise ETC design. Trained clinical teams can provide WHO-recommended optimised supportive care, including safe administration of Ebola-specific monoclonal antibodies. Pragmatic training in essential critical care can be integrated in routine ETC activities. Contribution: This article describes clinical realities associated with implementation of WHO-recommended standards of 'optimized supportive care' and administration of Ebola virus specific treatments. In this context, the importance of essential design principles of ETCs is underlined, which allow continuous visual contact and verbal interaction of health workers and families with their patients. Elements that may contribute to further quality of care improvements for patients with confirmed or suspected EVD are discussed.

A living WHO guideline on drugs for covid-19

Updates: This is the fourteenth version (thirteenth update) of the living guideline, replacing earlier versions (available as data supplements). New recommendations will be published as updates to this guideline. Clinical question: What is the role of drugs in the treatment of patients with covid-19? Context: The evidence base for therapeutics for covid-19 is evolving with numerous randomised controlled trials (RCTs) recently completed and underway. Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and subvariants are changing the role of therapeutics. What is new?: The guideline development group (GDG) defined 1.5% as a new threshold for an important reduction in risk of hospitalisation in patients with non-severe covid-19. Combined with updated baseline risk estimates, this resulted in stratification into patients at low, moderate, and high risk for hospitalisation. New recommendations were added for moderate risk of hospitalisation for nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, and for moderate and low risk of hospitalisation for molnupiravir and remdesivir. New pharmacokinetic evidence was included for nirmatrelvir/ritonavir and molnupiravir, supporting existing recommendations for patients at high risk of hospitalisation. The recommendation for ivermectin in patients with non-severe illness was updated in light of additional trial evidence which reduced the high degree of uncertainty informing previous guidance. A new recommendation was made against the antiviral agent VV116 for patients with non-severe and with severe or critical illness outside of randomised clinical trials based on one RCT comparing the drug with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir. The structure of the guideline publication has also been changed; recommendations are now ordered by severity of covid-19. About this guideline: This living guideline from the World Health Organization (WHO) incorporates new evidence to dynamically update recommendations for covid-19 therapeutics. The GDG typically evaluates a therapy when the WHO judges sufficient evidence is available to make a recommendation. While the GDG takes an individual patient perspective in making recommendations, it also considers resource implications, acceptability, feasibility, equity, and human rights. This guideline was developed according to standards and methods for trustworthy guidelines, making use of an innovative process to achieve efficiency in dynamic updating of recommendations. The methods are aligned with the WHO Handbook for Guideline Development and according to a pre-approved protocol (planning proposal) by the Guideline Review Committee (GRC). A box at the end of the article outlines key methodological aspects of the guideline process. MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation provides methodological support, including the coordination of living systematic reviews with network meta-analyses to inform the recommendations. The full version of the guideline is available online in MAGICapp and in PDF on the WHO website, with a summary version here in The BMJ. These formats should facilitate adaptation, which is strongly encouraged by WHO to contextualise recommendations in a healthcare system to maximise impact. Future recommendations: Recommendations on anticoagulation are planned for the next update to this guideline. Updated data regarding systemic corticosteroids, azithromycin, favipiravir and umefenovir for non-severe illness, and convalescent plasma and statin therapy for severe or critical illness, are planned for review in upcoming guideline iterations.

[Alcoholism prevention and alcohol advertising investment in Spain: David versus Goliath]. / Prevención del alcoholismo e inversiones publicitarias en España: una lucha de David contra Goliath.

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol advertising correlates with consumption, particularly in young people. We studied the evolution of the amounts spent on alcoholic beverages advertising and on advertising as a whole in conventional media in Spain during the period 1995-2005. METHODS: We analyzed the amounts spent on advertising in total and on alcoholic beverages advertising by studying the annual INFOADEX Survey on Advertising Investment in Spain in conventional media (TV, radio, the press, billboards and Internet). The results were subdivided into the periods 1995-2000 and 2001-2005. RESULTS: In the period 1995-2000 there was an increase (Delta) in alcoholic beverages advertising expenditure, from 268 to 347 million euro (Delta=29.5%), but a decrease in its percentage of advertising as a whole (from 7.6% to 6.1%). In the period 2001-2005 there was a rise in alcohol advertising expenditure from 145 to 186 million euro(Delta=28.0%), and also in its percentage of total advertising (from 2.7% to 2.8%). In 2001-2005, spending by Regional governments on preventive advertising increased from 22 to 52 million euro (Delta=136%). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol advertising expenditure remains high in Spain, with young people as a primary target. In contrast, there is only modest investment in preventive advertising. Regulatory measures are necessary with a view to protecting populations especially susceptible to uncontrolled consumption.

[Current diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in Spain: ventilation-perfusion lung scan versus helical CT. Findings from the National Health Service and RIETE Registry]. / Gammagrafía pulmonar y tomografía computarizada helicoidal en el diagnóstico de embolia pulmonar en España. Datos del Sistema Nacional de Salud y el Registro RIETE.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To analyze the trends in the utilization of ventilation/perfusion pulmonary scintigraphy (V/QSc), spiral CT (sCT) and pulmonary angiography for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) in Spain, taking in account the information from the National System of Health (NSH) and RIETE Registry. To examine the diagnostic conformities of V/QSc and sCT in RIETE, with special reference to V/QSc of intermediate/indeterminate probability (V/QScIP). MATERIAL AND METHOD: We examined annual trends of diagnostic imaging for PE in 5,678 Spanish patients included in RIETE (period 2001-2005) and in those of the NHS Databases (1999-2003 period). In RIETE the agreement between diagnostics was compared in cases with both V/QSc and sCT and angiography and V/QSc or sCT. RESULTS: We observed an increasing trend in sTC use, which overcame to V/QSc in 2002 (RIETE) and 2003 (NHS). In 732 cases with both techniques there was a diagnostic conformity of 53%. In 116 cases with V/QScIP a concomitant sTC was + for PE in 87%. If clinical signs of PE were present, then sTC was + in 95% of cases. In 29 cases with sCT and angiography agreement was 83% and in 31 cases with angiography and V/QSc was 77%. CONCLUSIONS: Nowadays in Spain the sTC is the most utilized method to diagnose EP. However, V/QSc studies are also broadly used. In studies V/QScIP it is advisable to look for deep venous thrombosis and, if present, the results of RIETE allow to assure EP coexistence in 87-95% of cases.