CU Anschutz In The News

Other researchers are eager to play that role. At USC, a team led by Dr. Heinz-Josef Lenz will be testing baricitinib and remdesivir in a clinical trial with 59 COVID0-19 patients, while another group at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus turned on a dime to design a clinical trial of baricitinib in 80 COVID-19 patients. “As a general principle, reproducibility in science is a central pillar,” said Dr. Joaquin Espinosa, who is leading the work in Colorado.

Patients also have to be at least 18 and able to understand that the treatment is experimental, said Dr. David Beckham, an associate professor in the infectious diseases division on the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus. People who have had previous bad reactions to plasma therapies or who have a condition that make receiving more fluid dangerous, like a severe heart or kidney problem, might not qualify.

“If Medicaid continues to allow these visits, as we hope, after the emergency is over, many of my patients can access care without the need to travel or take time from work,” said Kyle Knierim, a family physician in Colorado and associate director of Practice Transformation in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

“Eating out and interacting with society is not a risk-free scenario right now,” said Elizabeth Carlton, a professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. “If you’re in the older population or otherwise high-risk, you should still proceed with caution.”

"Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to prevent coronary artery aneurysms or dilation," Dr. Pei-Ni Jone, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora told TODAY, via email. "Please contact your primary care physician if your child presents with high fever, red eyes, red lips, big lymph nodes and rash so that early recognition of the diagnosis can happen. Early treatment will prevent coronary artery dilation."

“Obviously, we don’t know a lot of what’s going to happen once this Covid response is over,” said Meredith Mealer, a professor at the University of Colorado’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute who worked on the study of nurses . “I would anticipate we start to see nurses and physicians who have PTSD as a result of this up closer to 40-50%.”

“Rural pharmacies are a cornerstone of their communities, and the pandemic has only heightened that,” said Gina Moore, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

But Elizabeth Carlton, an epidemiologist at the University of Colorado [School of Public Health], said case numbers and hospitalization rates don’t always represent what is happening right now in terms of infections.  “If someone gets infected today, they won’t have symptoms for up to five days, then it might take a few more to get a test, then a few more to get their results,” Carlton said.