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High-dose anticoagulation can reduce deaths by 30 percent and intubations by 25 percent in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who are not critically ill when compared to the standard treatment, which is low-dose anticoagulation. These are the significant findings from the large-scale international "FREEDOM" trial, led by Valentin Fuster, MD, Ph.D. Patients were not in the ICU or intubated, and approximately half of them had signs of COVID-19 impacting their lungs with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Patients were randomized to receive doses of three different types of anticoagulants within 24-48 hours of being admitted to the hospital and followed for 30...

A team discovered disulfiram, an FDA-approved drug, prevents the immune system from producing toxic webs known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Many suspect NETs help drive the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in patients with severe COVID-19 and other life-threatening lung injuries. Jose M. Adrover, postdoctoral fellow, explains that NETs are usually released during infections when immune cells, called neutrophils, confront a threat that is too large for the tiny cells to battle directly. To extend their reach, neutrophils spew a sticky web of DNA and toxins, which indiscriminately poisons pathogens and the body's own cells. "They will...

Dexamethasone, a cheap and widely used steroid, has become the first drug shown to be able to save lives among COVID-19 patients in what scientists hailed as a “major breakthrough”. Results of trials announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, which is used to reduce inflammation in other diseases, reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital. The results suggest the drug should immediately become standard care in patients with severe cases of the pandemic disease, said the researchers who led the trials. “This is a result that shows that if patients who...

TORONTO -- The lungs of people who have died from swine flu look more like those of the victims of H5N1 avian influenza than those of people who succumb to regular flu, the chief of infectious diseases pathology at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says. Study of about 70 fatal H1N1 cases so far also reveals there may be more incidences of co-infections with bacteria than was earlier thought, Dr. Sherif Zaki told The Canadian Press in an interview. The damage to lung tissue is consistent with that inflicted by ARDS or acute respiratory distress symptom, Zaki says, referring...

Seven children die as mystery virus hits Nam January 08 2004 at 01:39PM Hanoi - Seven children aged between nine months and 12 have died from a mysterious respiratory disease in the Vietnamese capital, but health officials have ruled out Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as the cause, state media said on Thursday. Since mid-October, twelve children have been admitted to Hanoi's Central Paediatric Hospital with a high fever and a chesty cough. Their symptoms have not reacted to antibiotics. Hospital doctors refused to comment Thursday on the illness, but the Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper quoted Professor Hoang Thuy Long, director...

Published 8/7/2003 6:13 PM WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The father of a soldier who died of pneumonia this spring said Thursday the Army has excluded her death from its investigation of deadly pneumonia because it wants to cover up vaccine side effects. "The government is covering this up and it is a dog-gone shame," said Moses Lacy, whose daughter, Army Spc. Rachael Lacy, died April 4 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after getting pneumonia. Lacy said his daughter "was a healthy young woman" but got ill within days of getting anthrax and smallpox vaccinations on March 2...

The United States Army has dispatched a team of medical experts to Iraq to investigate a serious outbreak of pneumonia among US troops, with two dead and more than 100 ill. Lieutenant-General James Peake, the army's surgeon general, has sent a team of six to Iraq and two more doctors to Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Germany, where some of the troops were treated after being flown from Iraq, officials said on Friday. Army Medical Command spokeswoman Lyn Kukral said: "It is pneumonia. The question is: what is the cause?" "You've got a healthy population and a young population [of...

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7 more cases of mystery illness Military trying to identify malady that killed lake area soldier By Marsha Paxson Lake Sun LAKE OF THE OZARKS -- Seven more soldiers in Iraq have contracted the same puzzling illness that has killed two soldiers, including one from the lake area. The latest cases bring the number of affected troops to 19. All have been evacuated to the same Landstuhl, Germany, hospital where Spec. Josh Neusche, 20, of Montreal was treated before he died July 12. It is believed Neusche contracted the illness, first thought to be pneumonia, while conducting cleanup operations with...

<p>Two more U.S. soldiers serving in the Middle East were placed on ventilators this week after developing severe pneumonia, Army officials said Thursday. Since March 1, approximately 100 troops have been afflicted with the illness, according to a news release from the Army Surgeon General. Of those cases, 14 have been placed on respirators and two have died — including Missouri National Guard Spc. Joshua Neusche of Montreal, in Camden County.</p>

THE Pentagon admitted yesterday that it could not explain a deadly spate of pneumonia among US troops serving in the Middle East. About 100 US soldiers, mostly in Iraq, have contracted the illness. Two had died and another 15 became seriously ill, requiring the support of a ventilator. The US Army dispatched two investigative medical teams last week to Iraq and Germany -- where many of the infected troops have been treated -- but tried yesterday to talk down the possibility of biological weapons or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome being involved. ``Based on all the information we have to date,...

<p>The Army is trying to figure out what is causing a rash of serious pneumonia cases, including two fatalities, among soldiers serving in Iraq.</p> <p>A six-person team of specialists was en route to Iraq Friday to investigate 14 cases of pneumonia serious enough that the soldiers had to be put on ventilators to breathe and evacuated from the region, the Army Surgeon General's office said Friday.</p>

LAKE OF THE OZARKS -- Seven more soldiers in Iraq have contracted the same puzzling illness that has killed two soldiers, including one from the lake area. The latest cases bring the number of affected troops to 19. All have been evacuated to the same Landstuhl, Germany, hospital where Spec. Josh Neusche, 20, of Montreal was treated before he died July 12. It is believed Neusche contracted the illness, first thought to be pneumonia, while conducting cleanup operations with the 203rd Engineer Battalion in Baghdad. "The Army Surgeon General confirmed that three or four of the soldier's in Josh's unit...

AIDS offers a clue in SARS fight Viruses seem to attack cells in the same fashion, expert says By Thomas Crampton (IHT) Monday, May 12, 2003 HONG KONG: The SARS virus appears to attack human cells in the same way that the AIDS virus does, which may give scientists clues about how to treat the respiratory disease, a leading AIDS researcher said Sunday. Preliminary tests conducted in laboratory samples of the SARS virus successfully used synthetic peptides to stop it from entering human cells, said the researcher, David Ho, who pioneered the use of an AIDS drug cocktail employing similar...

Scientists have confirmed the genomes of two different strains of the virus thought to be responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which has so far claimed 391 lives worldwide. As part of an international endeavor to stop the spread of SARS, most of the data had previously been made public as soon as it became available. Now independent researchers have reviewed the genetic sequences. Two papers describing the findings were released yesterday by the journal Science. Researchers hope that knowledge of the full virus genome will help efforts to contain the disease by aiding development of diagnostic tests, therapies...

An excessive immune reaction appears to be the fatal factor in patients who die of SARS, according to medical data from Hong Kong. The best estimate of the fatality rate of SARS is rising steadily and so understanding how the disease causes death is critical to finding the best treatments. Scientists have also discovered that the SARS virus can remain viable for at least 24 hours after being deposited in a droplet on a plastic surface - a simulation, for example, of an infected person coughing on to the wall of a lift. The new information was revealed by Klaus...

Businessman becomes first to contract Sars in Britain By Jeremy Laurance and David Brown 12 April 2003 The first case of a potentially lethal virus caught in Britain was announced last night as health officials tried to trace anyone who had been in contact with an infected Hong Kong businessman. The British patient is thought to have been infected with Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) during a two-hour business meeting in London. He is being treated in isolation at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, north-west London. Health officials revealed that a 48-year-old Hong Kong businessman who had attended the meeting...

The Center for Disease Control reported yesterday Taiwan's third case hit of atypical pneumonia, a potentially fatal disease, cases of which have now been found in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and Canada. The center said the World Health Organization reported yesterday increases in atypical pneumonia cases in Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada. Chen Tsai-ching (³¯¦A®Ê), the center's director-general, said in a press conference that the four cases in Canada were from the same family. "Three of them have traveled to Hong Kong and two of them have died," said Chen. Chen added that no fatal cases have been reported...

SARS may be here to stay say researchers 08/05/2003 - 15:28:14 SARS may be here to stay after making itself at home in the human population, new research suggested today. A study showed that the virus behind Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is not likely to mutate into a less dangerous form in the foreseeable future. Similar viruses that have caused serious influenza epidemics in the past have eventually ceased to be a threat after changing their DNA. But the evidence indicates that SARS is genetically settled and in no hurry to alter form. This is bad news for public health,...

Who dies, and how? Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) affects about 10 per cent of SARS patients and is the means of death in those one in about 30 SARS patients for whom the condition is fatal. The terrible, progressive lung meltdown usually occurs only when the body is in massive shock from some other cause, says Jonathan Burdon, the president of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand. Injuries from road accidents can cause it, Burdon says, as can inhaling noxious fumes. It can also occur when the body is overwhelmed with septicaemia or meningitis. The lung gradually...