With inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev

Deltamicron: Could this be a new variant of concern? 

A preprint study has reported “Deltamicron” a recombinant hybrid form of coronavirus, which has genes from both Delta and Omicron variants “Delta 21J/AY.4-Omicron 21K/BA.1 in three patients in southern France. Similar hybrid version of the virus have also been reported in 15 samples from Europe and two from United States. According to the Philippe Colson, the lead author of the study, it is too early to state if the recombinant virus would be infectious or cause severe disease... (Source: medRxiv, March 8, 2022)

Sniffer dogs to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection

Dogs can screen crowds to detect persons infected with the coronavirus, suggests a new preprint study from France. 335 volunteers scheduled for RT PCR also gave sweat samples at two community screening centers in Paris. Of these, 78 symptomatic and 31 asymptomatic were positive on RT PCR. When dogs were asked to smell the sweat samples, they could detect infected cases with 97% accuracy in symptomatic cases and also in asymptomatic patient with 100% accuracy. They could also exclude the infection in persons without symptoms with 94% accuracy … The sensitivity of canine detection was higher than that of nasopharyngeal antigen testing (97% vs 84%), but the specificity was lower (90% vs 97%) … (Source: medRxiv, March 8, 2022)

Patients with congenital heart defects at 2-folds higher risk of severe COVID-19 

A new study in the journal Circulation reports that patients with congenital heart defects who were hospitalized with COVID-19 double their risk of severe disease or mortality versus those who do not have such heart defects. They were also more likely to need intensive care or mechanical ventilation. Those who also had a comorbid condition, in addition to congenital heart defects, were at higher risk of severe COVID-19. Hence, people with heart defects must get vaccinated and also continue with protective measures like face masks, physical distancing …. (Source: Circulation, March 7, 2022)

Total IgE, a new prognostic marker for COVID-19?

In a single-center study reported in the Internal Medicine Journal, the serum total IgE levels were considerable raised in Covid-19 patients whose condition deteriorated clinically compared to stable patients; 172.90 vs 38.70; respectively. They also had lower levels of serum eosinophils (0.015 vs 0.040; respectively). The optimal cut-off for predicting clinical worsening was 105.2 ng/L; with 61% sensitivity, 82% specificity, 46.3% positive predictive value and 89.2% negative predictive value … (Source: Internal Medicine Journal, March 7, 2022)