Programme Hospitalier Recherche Clinique, Institut Pasteur, Inserm, French Public Health Agency.

Page 2 of 11 J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f Background. Medical publications about anosmia with COVID-19 are scarce. We aimed to describe the prevalence and features of anosmia in COVID-19 patients. Methods. We retrospectively included COVID-19 patients with anosmia between March 1 andMarch 17, 2020. We used SARS-CoV-2 real time PCR in respiratory samples to confirm the cases.Results. Fifty-four of 114 patients (47%) with confirmed COVID-19 reported anosmia. Mean age of the 54 patients was 47 (±16) years; 67% were females and 37% were hospitalized. The median Charlson comorbidity index was 0.70 (±1.6 [0-7]). Forty-six patients (85%) had dysgeusia and 28% presented with pneumonia. Anosmia began 4.4 (±1.9 [1-8]) days after infection onset. The mean duration of anosmia was 8.9 (±6.3 [1-21]) days and 98% of patients recovered within 28 days. Conclusions.Anosmia was present in half of our European COVID-19 patients and was often associated with dysgeusia.

Introduction.-No therapy has yet proven effective in COVID-19. Tocilizumab (TCZ) in patients with severe COVID-19 could be an effective treatment. Method.-We conducted a retrospective case-control study in the Nord Franche-Comté Hospital, France. We compared the outcome of patients treated with TCZ and patients without TCZ considering a combined primary endpoint: death and/or ICU admissions. Results.-Patients with TCZ (n = 20) had a higher Charlson comorbidity index (5.3 [±2.4] vs 3.4 [±2.6], P = 0.014), presented with more severe forms (higher level of oxygen therapy at 13 L/min vs 6 L/min, P < 0.001), and had poorer biological findings (severe lymphopenia: 676/mm 3 vs 914/mm 3 , P = 0.037 and higher CRP level: 158 mg/L vs 105 mg/L, P = 0.017) than patients without TCZ (n = 25). However, death and/or ICU admissions were higher in patients without TCZ than in the TCZ group (72% vs 25%, P = 0.002). Conclusion.-Despite the small sample size and retrospective nature of the work, this result strongly suggests that TCZ may reduce the number of ICU admissions and/or mortality in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.

No abstract

Combination therapy was the preferred treatment strategy for infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria among hospital representatives, even though high-quality evidence for carbapenem-based combination therapy is lacking.