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Increased clinical and scientific scrutiny is being applied to hepatitis B virus (HBV), with focus on the development of new therapeutic approaches, ultimately aiming for cure. Defining the optimum natural CD8+ T cell immune responses that arise in HBV, mediated by HLA class I epitope presentation, may help to inform novel immunotherapeutic strategies. Therefore, we have set out to develop a comprehensive database of these epitopes in HBV, coined ‘Hepitopes’. This undertaking has its foundations in a systematic literature review to identify the sites and sequences of all published class I epitopes in HBV. We also collected information regarding the methods used to define each epitope, and any reported associations between an immune response to this epitope and disease outcome. The results of this search have been collated into a new open-access interactive database that is available at http://www.expmedndm.ox.ac.uk/hepitopes. Over time, we will continue to refine and update this resource, as well as inviting contributions from others in the field to support its development. This unique new database is an important foundation for ongoing investigations into the nature and impact of the CD8+ T cell response to HBV.

During this coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, physicians have the important task of risk stratifying patients who present with acute respiratory illnesses. Clinical presentation of COVID‐19, however, can be difficult to distinguish from other respiratory viral infections. Thus, identifying clinical features that are strongly associated with COVID‐19 in comparison to other respiratory viruses can aid risk stratification and testing prioritization especially in situations where resources for virological testing and resources for isolation facilities are limited. In our retrospective cohort study comparing the clinical presentation of COVID‐19 and other respiratory viral infections, we found that anosmia and dysgeusia were symptoms independently associated with COVID‐19 and can be important differentiating symptoms in patients presenting with acute respiratory illness. On the other hand, laboratory abnormalities and radiological findings were not statistically different between the two groups. In comparing outcomes, patients with COVID‐19 were more likely to need high dependency or intensive care unit care and had a longer median length of stay. With our findings, we emphasize that epidemiological risk factors and clinical symptoms are more useful than laboratory and radiological abnormalities in differentiating COVID‐19 from other respiratory viral infections.

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