Title:
SARS-CoV-2 pandemic expanding in sub-Saharan Africa: Considerations for COVID-19 in people living with HIV
Authors:
Paul K. Drain & Nigel Garrett
Published:
EClinicalMedicine (published by The Lancet), 21 April 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100342
From the scholarly article:
In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, started a global pandemic of respiratory illness, termed COVID-19 [1]. The spectrum of COVID-19 has ranged from a mild, self-limiting respiratory tract illness to severe progressive pneumonia, multi-organ failure, and death [2]. Older patients and those with a weaker immune system appear to have a greater risk of death [3]. Thus far, the vast majority of deaths from COVID-19 have occurred in Italy, China, Iran, and Spain—all Northern hemisphere countries with good health care resources and a low HIV prevalence. After the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic reached sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 cases may expand more quickly in high HIV prevalence communities with poor health resources.