Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2020 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 6 Articles
Background: As reported by the World Health Organization, a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was identified as the\ncausative virus of Wuhan pneumonia of unknown etiology by Chinese authorities on 7 January, 2020. The virus was\nnamed as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by International Committee on Taxonomy\nof Viruses on 11 February, 2020. This study aimed to develop a mathematical model for calculating the\ntransmissibility of the virus.\nMethods: In this study, we developed a Bats-Hosts-Reservoir-People transmission network model for simulating the\npotential transmission from the infection source (probably be bats) to the human infection. Since the Bats-Hosts-\nReservoir network was hard to explore clearly and public concerns were focusing on the transmission from Huanan\nSeafood Wholesale Market (reservoir) to people, we simplified the model as Reservoir-People (RP) transmission\nnetwork model. The next generation matrix approach was adopted to calculate the basic reproduction number (R0)\nfrom the RP model to assess the transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2.\nResults: The value of R0 was estimated of 2.30 from reservoir to person and 3.58 from person to person which\nmeans that the expected number of secondary infections that result from introducing a single infected individual\ninto an otherwise susceptible population was 3.58.\nConclusions: Our model showed that the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 was higher than the Middle East\nrespiratory syndrome in the Middle East countries, similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome, but lower than\nMERS in the Republic of Korea....
Background: In patients at high risk of opportunistic infections who present with isolated.\nneurological symptoms, it is lifesaving to consider Central Nervous System Aspergillosis (CNS-A). Ibrutinib use in\nchronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has previously been associated with CNS-A. We provide a case report of a\npatient that presented with primary CNS-A on Ibrutinib therapy without any prior pulmonary or local paranasal\nsigns of infection.\nCase presentation: 74-year-old Caucasian male with CLL and no prior chemotherapy on ibrutinib for 6 months\npresented with three months of unsteady gait, occipital headache, and confusion. He has a history of pulmonary\nsarcoidosis on chronic prednisone 5 mg daily and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He was found to\nhave a â??brain abscessâ? on imaging. Emergent craniotomy confirmed Aspergillus and patient was treated with\nVoriconazole for 6 months. At six-month follow up, repeat magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed complete\nresolution of CNS lesion.\nConclusions: Our case reinforces the importance of being vigilant for isolated CNS-A in CLL patients on ibrutinib\nwho present with neurological symptoms and signs, without prior or co-infection of sino-pulmonary tissue....
Background: Biomarkers of clinical efficacy for subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) on allergic rhinitis (AR) have\nnot been identified yet. This study aims to assess the clinical relevance of serum inhibitory activity for IgE by the\nmethod of enzyme-linked immunosorbent facilitated antigen binding (ELIFAB) during SCIT for Artemisia-sensitized AR\npatients.\nMethods: 19 AR patients were studied who had undergone Artemisia-specific SCIT for more than 8 months\n(19.68 months on average, ranging from 9 to 33 months). Peripheral bloods were collected before and after treatment.\nThe serum inhibitory activity for IgE was tested by ELIFAB and the level of Artemisia-specific IgG4 (Artemisia-sIgG4)\nwas determined by ELISA. Clinical improvement was evaluated based on the symptom scores and rescue medication\nuse (SMS). The 2-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Spearman rank test (two-tailed) were used to analyze data\nby using SPSS 20.0, with P values of less than 0.05 considered as significant.....................
Background: Age is a risk factor for infective endocarditis, and almost half of diagnosed patients are age more than 60 years.\nLarge national studies have not evaluated inpatient mortality and surgical valvular interventions between older\nWhite and Black patients hospitalized with infective endocarditis.\nMethods: We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to identify older adults more than 60 years in North America\nwith a principle diagnosis of infective endocarditis. Multivariate logistic regression was used to compare in-hospital\nmortality and valvular repairs/replacement between older Black and White patients.........................
Background: Even though enterococci can cause serious infections in multiple sites, they are a rare cause of\npneumonia. We reported a uremic patient with vancomycin-resistant E. faecium (VRE-fm) pneumonia, possibly\nrelated to epileptic seizures.\nCase presentation: A 57-year old man with uremia on hemodialysis was admitted to the hospital with complaint\nof recurrent epileptic seizures, followed by a two-week history of recurrent fever and cough with purulent sputum.\nChest CT demonstrated multiple exudation of both lungs. He was diagnosed as community acquired pneumonia.\nDespite antibiotic combination therapy, abnormal chest shadows aggravated. Sputum and blood cultures were\ninitially negative, but later blood culture grew VRE-fm. We suspected aspiration of gastrointestinal content induced\nby epilepsy as the most likely mechanism. The patient was successfully treated with a four-week course of linezolid\naccording to the antibiotic susceptibility testing.\nConclusions: Physicians should consider multi-drug resistant organisms such as VRE in uremic patients with\npneumonia that fails to resolve with broad-spectrum antibiotics, especially in the cases with aspiration induced by\nepilepsy, immunocompromised conditions, and repeated or prolonged hospitalizations....
Abstract: Healthcare workers are a population exposed to several infectious diseases, and an\nimmunization programme is essential for the maintenance of good vaccination coverage to protect\nworkers and patients. A population of 10,653 students attending degree courses at Padua Medical\nSchool (medicine and surgery, dentistry and health professions) was screened for vaccination\ncoverage and antibody titres against rubella, mumps, and measles. The students were subdivided\ninto five age classes according to their date of birth: those born before 1980, between 1980 and 1985,\nbetween 1986 and 1990, between 1991 and 1995, and after 1995. Vaccination coverage was very low\nin students born before 1980, but the rate of positive antibody titre was high due to infection in\ninfancy. Increasing date of birth showed increased vaccination coverage. In contrast, immune\ncoverage was high for rubella (more than 90%) but not for mumps and measles (approximately\n80%). An â??anomalyâ? was observed for mumps and measles in the cohort born between 1991 and\n1995, probably due to the trivalent vaccine formulation. Students born after 1990 showed\nvaccination coverage that exceeded 90%. It is therefore very likely that we will have a future\ngeneration of healthcare workers with optimal vaccination coverage....
Loading....