Dödligt virus från Kina orsakar panik (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19)

/.../We further estimated the attack rates conditional on the primary case being a child or
an adult (Figure C.1). When the primary case is a child (under 15 years old), the attack rate seemed to be uniform, regardless of the age of the potential secondary case. When the primary case is an adult (over 25 years old), the attack rate increased (linearly) with the age of the potential secondary case. This suggests that transmission from children is fairly constant, and depends on close contact with susceptible cases , whereas transmission from adults is more effective the older the potential secondary case is. One could think that if a child is sick, caregivers are likely to have more even close contact with the child – and more so the younger the child is. The opposite may be true for adult cases, indicating that the susceptibility to COVID-19 increases with the age of a person, reflecting immunological properties. Although there is agreement that transmission from and between children is not the main driver in this epidemic (Ludvigsson, 2020), transmission from sick children to parents in the household domain may represent a hitherto overlooked risk factor.

70 fall av MIS-C i Sverige mot 792 fall i USA. Sveriges folkmängd är en knapp 30-del av USAs. Då antalet dödsfall/capita i USA är samma som här borde smittspridningen varit liknande. Vi har alltså ungefär 3ggr fler fall bland barnen. En effekt av att ha skolorna öppna?

/.../Although there is agreement that transmission from and between children is not the main driver in this epidemic (Ludvigsson, 2020), transmission from sick children to parents in the household domain may represent a hitherto overlooked risk factor.

However, children (younger than 15 year of age) also have an elevated transmission risk, likely due to closer contact with parents (Figure C.2), indicating that children may represent an overlooked risk.

As part of the ongoing randomised, controlled clinical trials of the AstraZeneca Oxford coronavirus vaccine, AZD1222, a standard review process has been triggered, leading to the voluntary pause of vaccination across all trials to allow an independent committee to review the safety data of a single event of an unexplained illness that occurred in the UK Phase III trial.

This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials.

In large clinical trials, illnesses will happen by chance and must be independently reviewed. AstraZeneca is working to expedite the review of the single event to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials.

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, said: “At AstraZeneca we put science, safety and the interests of society at the heart of our work. This temporary pause is living proof that we follow those principles while a single event at one of our trial sites is assessed by a committee of independent experts. We will be guided by this committee as to when the trials could restart, so that we can continue our work at the earliest opportunity to provide this vaccine broadly, equitably and at no profit during this pandemic.