The emerging COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection poses severe challenges to global public health. Serum antibody testing is becoming one of the critical methods for the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients. We investigated IgM and IgG responses against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) protein after symptom onset in the intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU patients. 130 blood samples from 38 COVID-19 patients were collected. The levels of IgM and IgG specific to N and S protein were detected by ELISA. A series of blood samples were collected along the disease course from the same patient, including 11 ICU patients and 27 non-ICU patients for longitudinal analysis. N and S specific IgM and IgG (N-IgM, N-IgG, S-IgM, S-IgG) in non-ICU patients increased after symptom onset. N-IgM and S-IgM in some non-ICU patients reached a peak in the second week, while N-IgG and S-IgG continued to increase in the third week. The combined detection of N and S specific IgM and IgG could identify up to 75% of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients in the first week. S-IgG was significantly higher in non-ICU patients than in ICU patients in the third week. In contrast, N-IgG was significantly higher in ICU patients than in non-ICU patients. The increase of S-IgG positively correlated with the decrease of C-reactive protein (CRP) in non-ICU patients. N and S specific IgM and IgG increased gradually after symptom onset and can be used for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Analysis of the dynamics of S-IgG may help to predict prognosis.

Rabies is an acute lethal infectious disease caused by a lyssavirus infection. In 2018, the World Health Organization proposed a global strategic plan to end human rabies deaths by 2030. However, systematic studies on the global rabies disease burden and epidemiological trends are scarce. We extracted the disease burden and epidemiological data of rabies worldwide in the preceding 30 years from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 and performed a comprehensive analysis. In 2019, the incident cases of rabies worldwide were 14,075.51 (95% uncertainty interval: 6124.33-21,618.11), and the number of deaths was 13,743.44 (95% uncertainty interval: 6019.13-17,938.53), both of which were lower than that in 1990. With the improvement of the sociodemographic index, the incident cases, the number of deaths, age-standardized incidence rate, age-standardized incidence death rate, and disability-adjusted life years of rabies all showed downward trends. Adolescents and adults aged <50 years represented the majority of rabies cases worldwide. The global disease burden of rabies has declined over the past 30 years. Furthermore, the disease burden of rabies was closely related to the sociodemographic index level.

Background: Smoking is believed as one of the major risk factors resulting in a variety of non-communicable diseases, such as lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs). However, the global burden of CRDs attributed to smoking has not been systematically studied, particularly across different temporal and spatial scales. Methods: We conducted a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of CRDs and related risk factors using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Incidence, death, risk factors, and other parameters such as estimated annual percentage change have been analyzed. We also compared various risk factors across regions, countries, and genders. Results: Globally, the incidence of CRDs and deaths cases have increased in the last 30 years, while the corresponding age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) and death rate (ASDR) have declined. Smoking was the leading risk factor for the death of CRDs all over the world. However, in low and low-middle Socio-demographic Index (SDI) areas, particulate matter pollution was the main risk factor leading to death from CRDs, while smoking was ranked first among the major risk factors in areas with middle, middle-high, or high SDI. Globally, gender differences in morbidity and mortality from CRDs were observed. Males had slightly more cases and ASIR of chronic respiratory diseases than females over the last 30 years. However, the mortality cases and ASDR in males were significantly higher than that of females. Furthermore, the ASDR of all major risk factors, specially smoking, was higher in men than in women. Conclusions: CRDs were still major threats human health. The current study highlights the dominating roles of smoking for death risks resulting from CRDs, followed by PM pollution. Therefore, tobacco control and improving air quality are key to reducing deaths from CRDs.

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The newly identified Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a global health emergency (COVID-19) because of its rapid spread and high mortality. Since the virus epidemic, many pathogenic mechanisms have been revealed, and virus-related vaccines have been successfully developed and applied in clinical practice. However, the pandemic is still developing, and new mutations are still emerging. Virus pathogenicity is closely related to the immune status of the host. As innate immunity is the body’s first defense against viruses, understanding the inhibitory effect of SARS-CoV-2 on innate immunity is of great significance for determining the target of antiviral intervention. This review summarizes the molecular mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 escapes the host immune system, including suppressing innate immune production and blocking adaptive immune priming. Here, on the one hand, we devoted ourselves to summarizing the combined action of innate immune cells, cytokines, and chemokines to fine-tune the outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the related immunopathogenesis. On the other hand, we focused on the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 on innate immunity, including enhancing viral adhesion, increasing the rate of virus invasion, inhibiting the transcription and translation of immune-related mRNA, increasing cellular mRNA degradation, and inhibiting protein transmembrane transport. This review on the underlying mechanism should provide theoretical support for developing future molecular targeted drugs against SARS-CoV-2. Nevertheless, SARS-CoV-2 is a completely new virus, and people’s understanding of it is in the process of rapid growth, and various new studies are also being carried out. Although we strive to make our review as inclusive as possible, there may still be incompleteness.

Chen H, et al. Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2021 Mar;13(2):177-205. https://doi.org/10.4168/aair.2021.13.2.177