COVID-19 Update Subacute thyroiditis: Clinician
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Subacute thyroiditis: Clinicians in Italy report the first known case of subacute thyroiditis following SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. A young woman tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and had mild symptoms. After testing negative 2 weeks later, she presented with sudden fever and worsening neck pain. Subacute thyroiditis was diagnosed after thyroid ultrasound and after lab exams showed thyroid dysfunction and elevated inflammatory markers. Symptoms resolved after the patient started prednisone.
Pediatric immune thrombocytopenia: Researchers also report the first known case of pediatric immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) following SARS-CoV-2 infection. The 10-year-old had mild COVID-19 symptoms and known exposure to the virus 3 weeks before she presented with a rash, bruises, purple lesions in her mouth, and severe thrombocytopenia. She tested positive for the virus. In Pediatrics, the researchers write: "It is important for healthcare providers to be aware of ITP as a possible presentation of COVID-19 and to consider viral testing in these patients for appropriate triaging and isolation to limit community spread and healthcare worker infection during epidemics or pandemics."
Vascular angiogenesis: Researchers compared lung samples of seven patients who died from COVID-19 with seven who died from acute respiratory distress syndrome related to influenza A(H1N1) and 10 uninfected controls. The lungs of both COVID-19 and influenza patients had diffuse alveolar damage and infiltrating perivascular lymphocytes. However, the lungs of COVID-19 patients also had severe endothelial injury associated with intracellular SARS-CoV-2 and disrupted endothelial cell membranes, widespread vascular thrombosis with microangiopathy and occlusion of alveolar capillaries, and significant new blood vessel growth through intussusceptive angiogenesis. The findings are reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Consequences of delaying controls: If the U.S. had enacted social distancing and other control measures 1 week earlier, it could have averted 700,000, or 62%, of its confirmed COVID-19 cases and 36,000, or 55%, of reported deaths as of May 3, according to a study posted on the preprint server MedRxiv. The authors write: "These findings highlight the dramatic effect that early, coordinated interventions have on the COVID-19 pandemic."
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