Long-term follow-up needed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on prolongation, says Fauci

Forch, the sixth US President of the National Institute for Allergic Infectious Diseases, gave a symposium on COVID-19 and cardiovascular health in a lecture entitled “COVID-19: Public Health and Scientific Challenges.” have started. The SARS-CoV-2 virus fits into the framework of the coronavirus that experts have fought in decades and shows how such a powerful violence exploded around the world.

“Here we are facing a historic proportion of the pandemic. We haven’t seen anything like that in the last 102 years since the now iconic outbreak of the 1918 pandemic,” he said. Said. “Currently, there are nearly 50 million cases worldwide and 1.2 million deaths. In the United States, nearly 10 million cases have been hit harder than any other country.”

Heart disease specialists are doing some of the most important studies studying the effects of COVID-19. They treat patients at the highest risk of serious illness and track what happens afterwards. While age is the greatest risk factor for serious COVID-19 illness, it is clear that certain chronic illnesses are equally at risk.

“The most important of these are obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other conditions such as chronic heart disease and high blood pressure,” Fauci said. Being overweight but not obese still carries some risk.

COVID-19 damages the organ system and causes cardiovascular complications. Thrombus embolus phenomenon And cardiomyopathy. “If you look at the symptoms of severe COVID-19, they are abundant,” Fauci said. “I mentioned those of the heart, but they are also acute respiratory distress syndrome. There are renal injuries, neurological injuries, hypercoagulable states manifested by microvessel microthrombosis, and acute thrombosis, which Other than that, it can be seen in healthy young people. “

The multi-organ inflammatory syndrome found in some children manifests itself in a variety of ways. Fauci emphasized several cardiovascular papers in reviewing pandemic fallout in less obvious ways.He pointed out a German study that appeared in JAMA CardiologyMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) found signs of myocarditis in 78 of 100 patients who recovered from COVID-19.

“This needs to be followed up repeatedly in other labs,” Fauci said. “But if that is true, long-term follow-up is needed because this may not be clinically significant or may lead to chronic effects.”

another Survey 15% of Ohio State University athletes have found myocarditis. This may be related to SARS-CoV-2 exposure.

The racial and ethnic disparities revealed in COVID-19 are “very serious.” The hospitalization rate for COVID-19 is three to four times higher between the black and Latin populations compared to whites, Fauci said. This is due not only to the high rate of comorbidities, but also to the types of work that minority workers have.

He said the good news for treatments such as remdesivir and dexamethasone, which are currently in clinical practice guidelines, and the breakthroughs in vaccines give hope. Fauci appears when the news comes that both Pfizer and Moderna have messenger RNA vaccines that report an efficacy rate of 90% or higher. There are more vaccines in the pipeline that use different technologies. Very importantly, companies involved in the Warpspeed operation have adopted a common data and security oversight committee and a common endpoint to tell the FDA and other government officials that “one study is another. He said it gives the ability to “bridge research.”

However, despite progress, Fauci’s frustration with the inability to use basic public health tools was clear. Later that day, he would say in an interview that he should have worked harder to “push the limits” with a large number of COVID-19 tests early in the pandemic.He said STAT forum He raised the issue, but did not need his advice.

Basics such as wearing a mask or cloth cover, keeping a social distance, avoiding crowds, doing outdoor activities when possible, and washing hands will continue to work if you adhere to them “consistently nationwide”. To do.