Articles - Infectious diseases

Remdesivir in adults with severe COVID-19: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial

The Lancet - 29th April 2020 No specific antiviral drug has been proven effective for treatment of patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Remdesivir (GS-5734), a nucleoside analogue prodrug, has inhibitory effects on pathogenic animal and human coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro, and inhibits Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, SARS-CoV-1, and SARS-CoV-2 replication in animal models. Read full article

A rapid research needs appraisal methodology to identify evidence gaps to inform clinical research priorities in response to outbreaks—results from the Lassa fever pilot

Comparative Outcomes of Adults Hospitalized With Seasonal Influenza A or B Virus Infection: Application of the 7-Category Ordinal Scale.

Outbreak: Lessons From Ebola

  Charvy Narain describes how Oxford medics found themselves on the front line

Trial design for evaluating novel treatments during an outbreak of an infectious disease

This article discusses the designs used for two such clinical trials which have recruited patients in Liberia and Sierra Leone. General principles are outlined for trial designs intended to be deployed quickly, adapt flexibly and provide results soon enough to influence the course of the current epidemic rather than just providing evidence for use should Ebola break out again. Lessons are drawn for the conduct of clinical research in future outbreaks of infectious diseases, where the sequence of events may or may not be similar to the West African Ebola epidemic.  The paper was published in Clinical Trials.

Special report: Ebola's thin harvest

This article describes the treatments tested during the recent Ebola outbreak, it was published in Science on the 31st of December 2015.

Evaluation of Convalescent Plasma for Ebola Virus Disease in Guinea

Very few treatments have been sucessful in treating Ebola. Convalescent plasma has been used sucessfully to treat a number of diseases, the Ebola Tx consortium examined the utility of using convalescent plasma to treat Ebola patients attending an Ebola Treatment Centre in Guinea.

Ebola: the race to find a cure

Could scientists make history and change the way we deal with outbreaks?