/socialshare

Updated Cochrane review assesses how accurate rapid #tests are for detecting #COVID-19 | EurekAlert! Science News
▻https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/w-ucr032421.php

https://www.eurekalert.org/socialshare/EurekAlert-bluebg_Twitter_1200x675.jpg

There are large differences in the accuracy of different brands of test, with very few meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) minimum acceptable performance standards.

[...]

The percentage of people with COVID-19 who were correctly identified varied between brands and also depended on whether manufacturers’ instructions for using the tests were followed. For people with symptoms of COVID-19, correct identification across test brands ranged from 34% (Coris Bioconcept assay), to 58% (Innova assay), and up to 88% (SD Biosensor STANDARD Q assay) of infected people. The WHO have established performance standards for tests that identify infection in people with symptoms. To meet these standards, a test must be able to correctly identify at least 80% of people with infection and correctly exclude infection in 97% of people who are not infected.

To illustrate their results the researchers looked at the effect of two of the better performing brands of test (Abbott Panbio and SD Biosensor STANDARD Q ) in people with symptoms (75% to 88% of COVID-19 cases correctly identified) and in people who did not have symptoms (49% to 69% of COVID-19 cases correctly identified).

In a population of 1000 people with symptoms where there are 50 people with COVID-19, we would expect that about 40 people would be correctly identified as having COVID-19 by rapid tests, and between 6 and 12 cases of COVID-19 would be missed. Between 5 and 9 positive test results would turn out to be false positives.

The true number of cases of COVID-19 is likely to be lower in mass testing of people without symptoms. In a population of 10,000 people with no symptoms, where 50 people really had COVID-19, between 24 and 35 people would be correctly identified as having COVID-19, and between 15 and 26 cases would be missed. We would expect the tests to return between 125 and 213 positive results and between 90 and 189 of those positive results would be false positives.

The drug #aprotinin inhibits entry of #SARS-CoV2 in host cells | EurekAlert ! Science News
▻https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/guf-tda112320.php

https://www.eurekalert.org/socialshare/EurekAlert-bluebg_Twitter_1200x675.jpg

In cell culture experiments with various cell types, the international scientific team led by Professor Jindrich Cinatl, Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt, Professor Martin Michaelis, and Dr Mark Wass (both University of Kent) demonstrated that the protease inhibitor aprotinin can inhibit virus replication by preventing SARS-CoV2 entry into host cells. Moreover, aprotinin appears to compensate for a SARS-CoV2-induced reduction of endogenous protease inhibitors in virus-infected cells.

Influenza viruses require host cell proteases for cell entry in a similar way as coronaviruses. Hence, an aprotinin aerosol is already approved in Russia for the treatment of influenza.

Professor Jindrich Cinatl said: “Our findings show that aprotinin is effective against SARS-CoV2 in concentrations that can be achieved in patients. In aprotinin we have a drug candidate for the treatment of COVID-19 that is already approved for other indications and could readily be tested in patients.”

#inhibiteurs_de_protéase