According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on the 20th, Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom announced that Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom tested positive for the new crown virus, and the symptoms were similar to a mild cold. "Light work" at Windsor Castle is expected to continue in the coming week.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen would continue to receive medical care and would follow all appropriate guidelines for epidemic prevention.
Elizabeth II is 95 years old. According to media reports, she has received 3 doses of the new crown vaccine.
The Queen's eldest son, Crown Prince Charles of Wales, was confirmed to be infected with the new crown virus on the 10th of this month. This is the second time since March 2020 that Charles has been confirmed to be infected with the new crown virus. One is the 95-year-old Queen of the United Kingdom, who reigned the longest, and the other is the 73-year-old Crown Prince, who has been on the throne for the longest time.
Ultra-advanced patients with COVID-19
Elizabeth II is nearly 100 years old. Will these ultra-elderly people survive the pandemic smoothly and recover smoothly after contracting COVID-19?
At the time of the pandemic in April 2020, the British newspaper The Sun reported on a 104-year-old Italian elderly man, Ida Zanuso, who was probably the oldest COVID-19 patient in the world at the time, and who also experienced the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. This strong old man has basically recovered, and her experience fighting the virus has also inspired many people.
At the beginning of the epidemic, Wuhan also treated many elderly COVID-19 patients, and there were more than 2,500 elderly patients over the age of 80 in Wuhan, with a severe disease incidence rate of about 40%, which was twice that of the general population; the success rate of treatment was close to 70%, and 7 elderly people over 100 years old were cured and discharged from the hospital, with a maximum age of 108 years old.
Older people are at higher risk of severe illness
Due to the higher proportion of older people with underlying diseases, they are susceptible to COVID-19 and at high risk of severe illness. The CDC states in the COVID-19 Risk and Vaccine Information for Older Adults that older adults with severe illness with COVID-19 may require hospitalization, intensive care, or ventilator support and higher mortality. From 50 to 60 years old, 70 to 70 years old, 80 years old, with the increase of age, the risk of severe diseases also increases, especially the elderly over 85 years old, the risk of susceptibility and serious diseases is higher.
A study published in Gerontology by mainland researchers retrospectively analyzed the clinical features of 105 elderly patients with COVID-19 in the Wuhan area at the beginning of the outbreak.
Overall, 69.5% of older patients had underlying medical conditions, with the most common comorbidities including hypertension (43.8%), diabetes mellitus (25.7%) and heart disease (16.2%). Among elderly patients, the severe disease rate is 22.9% and the critical illness rate is 10.5%. At admission, the most common symptoms in older patients include fever (66.7%), cough (64.8%), and fatigue (33.3%). Elderly patients with COVID-19 had a higher incidence of abnormalities such as lymphopenia (31.4%), D-dimer (38.1%), decreased albumin (36.2%), elevated lactate dehydrogenase (41%), and C-reactive protein (79%). The median prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) were both longer in older patients than in younger and older patients (median PT 12.3 vs.13.1 s, P=0.007; median APTT 39.0 vs.33.5 s, P=0.045). Compared with older patients (40.0% ;P =0.0014), younger and older patients had fewer complications (14.1%), and fewer patients received invasive ventilator support (3.5% vs 25.0%, P=0.006).
These data are only specific to the characteristics of elderly patients at the beginning of the outbreak. The median age of onset of the Currently circulating Omiljung variant is 36 years, younger than the age of onset of previous waves. This may be related to the fact that older adults are vaccinated against COVID-19 and receive better personal protection.
Vaccine protection for the elderly
According to the CDC in the COVID-19 Risk and Vaccine Information for Older Adults, the risk of hospitalization for COVID-19 years of age and older is reduced by 94% in adults aged 65 years and older who are fully vaccinated with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), and the effective rate of partial vaccination is 64%.
Israel was one of the first countries in the world to receive booster vaccinations. On 30 July 2021, Israel approved a third dose for people aged 60 or older. Real-world data subsequently published in the NEJM showed that among nearly 1.14 million ≥ 60-year-olds who had received boosters, at least 12 days after booster immunization, the confirmed infection rate in the intensive group was 11.3 times lower (95%: 10.4 to 12.3) and the incidence of serious disease was reduced by 19.5 times (95% CI: 12.9 to 29.5). In secondary analyses, the rate of confirmed infection at least 12 days after vaccination was 5.4 times lower than that after 4 to 6 days (95% CI: 4.8 to 6.1).
Covid-19 vaccination can reduce the risk of infection and severe illness in older adults. So we can see that the Queen of England is currently showing only mild symptoms due to her three doses of the vaccine.
For the elderly, it is important to note that cdc introduced in the COVID-19 risk and vaccine information for the elderly that the normal body temperature of the elderly is lower than that of the young, so it may not be easy to detect fever symptoms in time.
▌Resources:
[1] The Queen tests positive for Covid.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60453566
[2] Maslo C, Friedland R, Toubkin M, Laubscher A, Akaloo T, Kama B. Characteristics and Outcomes of Hospitalized Patients in South Africa During the COVID-19 Omicron Wave Compared With Previous Waves. JAMA. 2022;327(6):583-584. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.24868
[3] Bar-On YM, Goldberg Y, Mandel M, et al. Protection of BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster against Covid-19 in Israel. N Engl J Med. 2021;385(15):1393-1400. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2114255
[4] Guo T, Shen Q, Guo W, et al. Clinical Characteristics of Elderly Patients with COVID-19 in Hunan Province, China: A Multicenter, Retrospective Study. Gerontology. 2020;66(5):467-475. doi:10.1159/000508734
(Source: Daily Medical Line)