In‐house assays for the diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) by quantitative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR), are feasible alternatives, particularly in developing countries. Cycle threshold (Ct) values obtained by qRT‐PCR were compared with clinical and laboratory data from saliva of inpatients with COVID‐19 and asymptomatic health workers (AHW) were studied. Saliva specimens from 58 inpatients confirmed by qRT‐PCR for SARS‐CoV‐2 using nasopharyngeal specimens, and 105 AHW were studied by qRT‐PCR using three sets of primers for the N (N1, N2, and N3) gene of SARS‐CoV‐2, according to the CDC Diagnostic Panel protocol, showing a positivity of 88% for inpatients and 8% for AHW. Bivariate analysis revealed an association between Ct < 38.0 values for N2 and mechanical ventilation assistance among patients (p = .013). In addition, values of aspartate‐transaminase, lactate dehydrogenase, and ferritin showed significant correlations with Ct values of N1 and N3 genes in inpatients. Therefore, our results show that Ct values correlate with some relevant clinical data for inpatients with COVID‐19.

The current obesity pandemic has been expanding in both developing and developed countries. This suggests that the factors contributing to this condition need to be reconsidered since some new factors are arising as etiological causes of this disease. Moreover, recent clinical and experimental findings have shown an association between the progress of obesity and some infections, and the functions of adipose tissues, which involve cell metabolism and adipokine release, among others. Furthermore, it has recently been reported that adipocytes could either be reservoirs for these pathogens or play an active role in this process. In addition, there is abundant evidence indicating that during obesity, the immune system is exacerbated, suggesting an increased susceptibility of the patient to the development of several forms of illness or death. Thus, there could be a relationship between infection as a trigger for an increase in adipose cells and the impact on the metabolism that contributes to the development of obesity. In this review, we describe the findings concerning the role of adipose tissue as a mediator in the immune response as well as the possible role of adipocytes as infection targets, with both roles constituting a possible cause of obesity.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infections have been associated with severe clinical outcomes, including neurological manifestations, especially in newborns with intrauterine infection. However, no licensed vaccines or specific antiviral agents are available yet. Therefore, safe and low-cost therapy is required, especially for pregnant women. In this sense, metformin, an FDA-approved drug used to treat gestational diabetes, has previously exhibited an effect anti-ZIKA in vitro in HUVEC cells by activating AMPK. In this study, we evaluated metformin treatment during in vitro ZIKV infection in a permissive trophoblast cell line JEG3. Our results demonstrate that metformin impacts viral replication and protein synthesis and reverts the cytoskeletal changes promoted by ZIKV infection. Beyond this, lipid droplet formation is reduced, which is associated with the lipogenic activation of infection. Taken together, our findings indicate that metformin has potential as an antiviral agent against in vitro ZIKV infection in trophoblastic cells.