Enlargement Of Heart’s Right Ventricle Could Be Major Predictor In COVID Patients’ Mortality Risk

CNN: Right Ventricle Enlargement A Major Predictor For Mortality Among COVID Patients, A New Study Finds
Enlargement of one of the heart's four chambers -- the right ventricle -- was the best predictor of which patients with severe Covid-19 infections were most likely to die, doctors reported Monday. A team of doctors from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai looked at the health records of 105 Covid patients hospitalized at Mount Sinai Morningside in New York City between March 26th and April 22nd. Of the 105 patients in the study, 32 of them -- or 31% -- had dilation of the right ventricle based on an echocardiogram, or ultrasound of the heart. Of these, 41% died by the end of the study period, compared to 11% of those without right ventricular enlargement. (Nedelman and Lieber, 5/18)

ABC News: Does COVID-19 Cause Delirium? Doctors Race To Understand Its Impact On The Brain 
As we continue to learn about the novel coronavirus, it's become clear that its effects on the body extend well beyond the lungs. Now, doctors are racing to understand one of its most disturbing targets: the brain. Doctors across the globe are reporting that their patients with severe cases of COVID-19 are left confused, sometimes delirious or exhibiting signs of an altered mental state. (Dastmalchi and Ali, 5/19)

CNN: Delirium And PTSD Symptoms May Follow Covid-19 Infection, Study Says
Delirium, confusion and agitation may be common in severe coronavirus infections while patients are hospitalized, according to a new review of studies published Monday. Long-term psychiatric problems after battling Covid-19 may not occur in the majority of patients, although much more research is still needed, the study said. (Azad and LaMotte, 5/18)

CNN: Erin Bromage: The Biologist Whose Advice Went Viral Tells Us What To Do Next 
Stop worrying about those runners and cyclists without a mask, whom you scoff at as you walk outside. Worry instead about the loud talkers in crowded indoor spaces. That's according to Erin Bromage, a University of Massachusetts Dartmouth associate professor of biology, who started a blog about the ways in which coronavirus spreads to keep his family and friends informed. (Sangal, 5/19)

CNN: Coronavirus Infection Isn't Just About Hygiene And Distance. It's About Time, Too. 
Growing evidence suggests that Covid-19 infection, like with other illnesses, is related to prolonged time exposed to the virus. The longer you stay in an environment that may contain the virus, the higher the risk of getting sick. Dr. Erin Bromage, a comparative immunologist and professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, summed it up with a short and sweet equation: "Successful Infection = Exposure to Virus x Time." (Levenson, 5/18)

CIDRAP: Prolonged COVID-19 Virus Shedding Noted In China
Patients with COVID-19 outside of Wuhan, China, shed the virus for a median of 17 days, according to a retrospective cohort study published yesterday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. Also, a study in the same journal found that third-generation transmission of the COVID-19 epidemic likely began on Jan 17 to 20 in Wuhan, then spread to the rest of Hubei province from Jan 23 to 24, while the mixed first- and second-generation transmissions interacted to worsen the outbreak. (Van Beusekom, 5/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: On The Trail Of The Coronavirus: How Scientists Track The Pathogen 
Like detectives searching for cold case matches, microbiologists are tracking the COVID-19 outbreak back in time to the parasitic ancestors that spawned the highly infectious and often deadly disease. Laboratory sleuths at universities and laboratories around the Bay Area are using the virus’ genome to construct a microbial family tree — and they are using that information to plot the contagion’s wide-ranging path of destruction from person to person and place to place. (Fimrite, 5/18)