Infectious Diseases



Vitamin D deficiency is common in modern society, particularly among older people who are homebound. Vitamin D supplements in older people may have a role in preventing serious complications of COVID-19, according to data presented at AIM 2022.


A real-world study during Hong Kong’s Omicron BA.2 wave showed that both molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir effectively lowered the risks of disease progression and all-cause mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients not requiring oxygen supplementation on admission. However, mortality risk reduction was larger with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir vs molnupiravir.





A large retrospective study from the US, presented at IDWeek 2021, has shown that the Abbott ID NOW rapid molecular COVID-19 assay is highly sensitive and specific at detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection in a paediatric population.


Same-day pre-event screening for SARS-CoV-2 using antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDT) may enable the resumption of large-scale indoor events which were halted or had their attendance capacity reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study from Spain presented at ECCMID 2021.

Vitamin D deficiency is common in modern society, particularly among older people who are homebound. Vitamin D supplements in older people may have a role in preventing serious complications of COVID-19, according to data presented at AIM 2022.

A real-world study during Hong Kong’s Omicron BA.2 wave showed that both molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir effectively lowered the risks of disease progression and all-cause mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients not requiring oxygen supplementation on admission. However, mortality risk reduction was larger with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir vs molnupiravir.

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib may reduce mortality in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19, according to follow-up results of the CounterCOVID study presented at ATS 2022.




Infection with the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was less likely to result in hospitalization than infection with the delta variant, according to an observational study from Denmark presented at ECCMID 2022 and published in The Lancet.