February 2nd, 2020

A Coronavirus ID Link-o-Rama, Because I’m Not Watching the Super Bowl

With so much of the ID-related news out there dominated by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, hard to type) outbreak, it seems appropriate to collect some of the more interesting or useful findings in this busy past week.

Think of it as an ID Link-o-Rama — Special Novel Coronavirus Edition.

As with last week’s post, an important caveat — the outbreak continues to evolve rapidly, and data quickly become out of date. All are encouraged to check in with the excellent guidance and information on the CDC, WHO, and IDSA sites (among others), all of which are updated regularly.

On to the links:

The rapidly spreading virus has closed schools in Knoxville, Tenn., cut blood donations to dangerous levels in Cleveland and prompted limits on hospital visitors in Wilson, N.C. More ominously, it has infected as many as 26 million people in the United States in just four months, killing up to 25,000 so far.
In other words, a difficult but not extraordinary flu season in the United States …

So yes — get your flu shot! Listen to Dr. Stephenson!

As for the title of this post …

7 Responses to “A Coronavirus ID Link-o-Rama, Because I’m Not Watching the Super Bowl”

  1. Ivica Čabraja says:

    Thank you for this.

  2. WILLIAM SCHULER says:

    I am wondering what else has to go. Hockey and rugby certainly. This is not a race thing sorry. Hockey is a white sport and rugby too. You cannot get anywhere by banning this or that.

    we have to offer and LIONIZE better sports. I live on running and jogging and cross country skiiing. soccer needs work–no headers. Volleyball should have male and female and co-ed leagues. Is baseball beaten? Is Swimming too boring? Skaters need helmets but the ABATE fiasco shows the culture must change and not merely from top down.

    You are in a hurry, understandably. But nature and human nature are miserably slow. Keep trying but don’t put your efforts on Prohibition. it makes danger more attractive.

  3. John Brooks says:

    Hi Paul! Hey, please note that the report in NEJM of the cluster of cases from Germany alleged to have occurred during the index patient’s period of asymptomatic infection has been thrown into question because the investigators never actually interviewed the index case: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/paper-non-symptomatic-patient-transmitting-coronavirus-wrong. Although the data for transmission form Patient #1 to Patients #3 and #4 seems compelling for asymptomatic spread, the sloppy work of these investigators raises general concerns about the overall accuracy of the report, sadly. BTW I can’t find the letter from Robert-Koch Institut on the NEJM website yet but hope they will link it to the report itself post haste since the webpage with the original report is approaching 300,00 page views.

    • Paul Sax says:

      Thanks for this comment, John. I’ve updated the post with the bracketed material so people are aware.

      My gut feeling is that there will be ***some*** pre-symptomatic spread, as there is with many viral infections, but the likelihood is lower due to the reasons I mentioned.

      Paul

  4. Justin Moore says:

    This is so, so helpful. Many thanks for posting it.

  5. K Y Lee says:

    Dr Sax, thank you for hard data putting the novel Corona virus outbreak in perspective. Perhaps an article in the traditional International lay press as well to allay the hysterical reports evident so far?

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HIV Information: Author Paul Sax, M.D.

Paul E. Sax, MD

Contributing Editor

NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases

Biography | Disclosures | Summaries

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