Health News Roundup: Pregnant women with COVID show placenta injury; Russian ventilators reached U.S. states and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Pregnant women with COVID-19 show placenta injury in small study

The placentas of 16 pregnant women found to have COVID-19 during routine testing at a Chicago hospital all showed evidence of injury, indicating that women infected with coronavirus may need close monitoring during pregnancy, researchers said on Friday. Fifteen of the women delivered healthy babies, while one miscarried. None of the live babies tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Exclusive: Russian ventilators reached U.S. states without FDA oversight

Russian-made ventilators now under investigation for causing deaths in Russia were not authorized by U.S. health regulators before the same model was sent to New York and New Jersey at the height of their coronavirus outbreaks, Reuters has learned. The 45 Aventa-M ventilators were sent to the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the shipment in a March 30 phone call. The equipment was received by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officers in New York on April 1st.

South America a new COVID epicentre, Africa reaches 100,000 cases: WHO

South America has become a new epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic with Brazil hardest-hit, while cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. "The COVID-19 pandemic today reached a milestone in Africa, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases. The virus has now spread to every country in the continent since the first case was confirmed in the region 14 weeks ago," the WHO said in a statement, noting there were 3,100 confirmed deaths on the vast continent.

U.S. veterans agency has given hydroxychloroquine to 1,300 coronavirus patients

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has treated 1,300 coronavirus patients with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which a study has tied to an increased risk of death, according to a document released by a Senate Democrat on Friday. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who received the information from the VA in response to questions he submitted on the issue, said he was "deeply troubled" by the data.

Drug touted by Trump to treat COVID-19 linked to higher death risk: study

The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking and has urged others to use, was tied to an increased risk of death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a large study published on Friday showed. In the study https://www.thelancet.com/lancet/article/s0140673620311806 that looked at more than 96,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, those treated with hydroxychloroquine or the related chloroquine had higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems than patients who were not given the medicines.

Coronavirus vaccine safe in early trial; hydroxychloroquine may increase death risk

The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Coronavirus vaccine appears safe in first-in-human trial Human trials of British coronavirus vaccine to reach 10,000

Oxford University and AstraZeneca are recruiting around 10,000 adults and children in Britain for trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine, a day after receiving U.S. backing worth up to $1.2 billion. Institutions across Britain had begun enrolling up to 10,260 adults and children to see how well the human immune system responds to the vaccine and how safe it is, the university said.

U.S. CDC reports 1,571,617 coronavirus cases, 94,150 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 1,571,617 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 20,522 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,089 to 94,150. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on May 21, compared with its count a day earlier. (https://bit.ly/2SGLijD)

Beyond politics, gold-standard COVID-19 trials test malaria drug taken by Trump

In the fight against COVID-19, the decades-old anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine has become a political football, with U.S. President Donald Trump personally taking it and hailing it as a "game changer," to the derision of critics. Some studies already have been done on hydroxychloroquine and the closely related chloroquine, including one published on Friday showing a higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems for coronavirus patients who used them compared to those who did not. But doctors are waiting for the debate about the usefulness of these drugs for COVID-19 to be settled by gold-standard scientific trials, with some results due as soon as next week.

Exclusive: U.S. plans massive coronavirus vaccine testing effort to meet year-end deadline

The United States plans a massive testing effort involving more than 100,000 volunteers and a half dozen or so of the most promising vaccine candidates in an effort to deliver a safe and effective one by the end of 2020, scientists leading the program told Reuters. The project will compress what is typically 10 years of vaccine development and testing into a matter of months, testimony to the urgency to halt a pandemic that has infected more than 5 million people, killed over 335,000 and battered economies worldwide.