scholarly journals Cohort profile: Study on Zika virus infection in Brazil (ZIKABRA study)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244981
Author(s):  
Guilherme Amaral Calvet ◽  
Edna Oliveira Kara ◽  
Sihem Landoulsi ◽  
Ndema Habib ◽  
Camila Helena Aguiar Bôtto-Menezes ◽  
...  

Zika virus (ZIKV) has been detected in blood, urine, semen, cerebral spinal fluid, saliva, amniotic fluid, and breast milk. In most ZIKV infected individuals, the virus is detected in the blood to one week after the onset of symptoms and has been found to persist longer in urine and semen. To better understand virus dynamics, a prospective cohort study was conducted in Brazil to assess the presence and duration of ZIKV and related markers (viral RNA, antibodies, T cell response, and innate immunity) in blood, semen, saliva, urine, vaginal secretions/menstrual blood, rectal swab and sweat. The objective of the current manuscript is to describe the cohort, including an overview of the collected data and a description of the baseline characteristics of the participants. Men and women ≥ 18 years with acute illness and their symptomatic and asymptomatic household contacts with positive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test for ZIKV in blood and/or urine were included. All participants were followed up for 12 months. From July 2017 to June 2019, a total of 786 participants (284 men, 502 women) were screened. Of these, 260 (33.1%) were enrolled in the study; index cases: 64 men (24.6%), 162 (62.3%) women; household contacts: 12 men (4.6%), 22 (8.5%) women. There was a statistically significant difference in age and sex between enrolled and not enrolled participants (p<0.005). Baseline sociodemographic and medical data were collected at enrollment from all participants. The median and interquartile range (IQR) age was 35 (IQR; 25.3, 43) for men and 36.5 years (IQR; 28, 47) for women. Following rash, which was one of the inclusion criteria for index cases, the most reported symptoms in the enrollment visit since the onset of the disease were fever, itching, arthralgia with or without edema, non-purulent conjunctivitis, headache, and myalgia. Ten hospitalizations were reported by eight patients (two patients were hospitalized twice) during follow up, after a median of 108 days following symptom onset (range 7 to 266 days) and with a median of 1.5 days (range 1 to 20 days) of hospital stay. A total of 4,137 visits were performed, 223 (85.8%) participants have attended all visits and 37 (14.2%) patients were discontinued.

Author(s):  
Niayesh Mohebbi ◽  
Sara Pakzad Karamad ◽  
Keyvan Gohari Moghadam ◽  
Mohamadreza Jafary ◽  
Poorya Rajabi ◽  
...  

Background and Aims: In 2019, a novel coronavirus called SARS-COV-2 spread throughout the world, causing a pandemic a few months later. As the virus is not well-known and highly contagious, it is important to observe patients for all possible symptoms and comorbidities. This study aimed to demonstrate some demographic, clinical, and paraclinical features of the deceased patients with COVID-19 in Iran. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was designed to demonstrate the clinical and paraclinical features of deceased patients who had a positive real time-polymerase chain reaction test result for COVID-19. The study included all COVID-19 patients who visited Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from February 20th until May 20th, 2020. All data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21 (Mann-Whitney or Fisher’s test). Results: The patients had a mean age of 63.86 ± 16.428, and most were males (59.65%). Diabetes and hypertension were the most frequent comorbidities. The most common symptoms among the patients were dyspnea (64.91%), weakness (61.40%), fever (60.71%), and having ground-glass opacities in the CT scans (85.96%). There was also a rise in lactate dehydrogenase, serum ferritin, D-dimer, and procalcitonin. Conclusions: Older COVID-19 patients are more likely to get more severe forms of the disease. Most of the deceased COVID-19 patients had ground-glass opacities in their CT scans. Dyspnea, fatigue, and fever were the most frequent symptoms. Hypertension and diabetes were the most important comorbidities. There was almost no significant difference between the two genders regarding clinical and paraclinical symptoms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
C. Q. Hoang ◽  
H. D. Nguyen ◽  
N. X. Ho ◽  
T. H. T. Vu ◽  
T. T. M. Pham ◽  
...  

Background. Scarce information exists about immunity to hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) among household contacts of index cases in Vietnam and what that means for reducing ongoing HFMD transmission in the community. Methods. We analyzed neutralizing antibodies (NT) and the incidence of enterovirus (EVs) infection among household contacts of index cases in a province where HFMD remains endemic. Throat swab and 2 mL blood samples from household contacts were collected at enrollment, during and after 2 weeks follow-up. Results. The incidence of EV-A71 infection among household contacts was 40/84 (47.6%, 95% Cl: 36.9-58.3%), compared with 106/336 (31.5%, 95% Cl: 26.6-36.5%) for CV-A6 and 36/107 (33.6%, 95% Cl: 24.7-42.6%) for CV-A16. The incidence of CV-A6 infection was fairly constant across ages; in contrast, CV-A71 and CV-A16 had some variation across ages. At baseline, higher geometric mean titer (GMT) of EV-A71, CV-A6, and CV-A16 antibody titers was found for 25-34-year groups (range 216.3 to 305.0) compared to the other age groups. There was a statistically significant difference in GMT values of CV-A6 and CV-A16 between those who had an infection or did not have infection among households with an index case of these serotypes. Conclusions. Our results indicated that adults were becoming infected with HFMD and could be contributing to the transmission. There is, therefore, a need for considering the household setting as an additional target for intervention programs for HFMD.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. e294-e294
Author(s):  
Faiza A. Al Kindi ◽  
Mohamed Al Sharji ◽  
Hasena Al Harthy ◽  
Rashid Al Umairi ◽  
Umaima Al Raisi ◽  
...  

Objectives: We sought to identify the chest radiography differences at presentation between two groups of hospitalized confirmed COVID-19 patients; intubated group compared to non-intubated group. Methods: We retrospectively collected the data of confirmed hospitalized COVID-19 patients at the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, from March to April 2020. Radiographic and clinical data were collected from the hospital and radiology information systems and compared between two groups based on intubation status. Results: Twenty-six patients confirmed to have COVID-19 by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test were included in the study; 15/26 were non-intubated, and 11/26 were intubated. Overall, 88.5% were males in the intubated group. Respiratory symptoms were the most common presentation (84.6%) followed by fever (76.9%), with no statistical difference between the two groups. There was a statistically significant difference in having diabetes mellitus (p = 0.020) in which 8/11 and 4/15 were recorded to have diabetes mellitus in the intubated and non-intubated groups, respectively. Other comorbidities showed no statistically significant difference. The radiographic analysis redemonstrates the peripheral lower zone distribution but no statistically significant difference among the two groups. There were no differences between the intubated and non-intubated chest radiography in laterality involvement, central and peripheral distribution, and lesions type. However, upper zones involvement was more noted in the intubated group with 10/11 (90.9%) compared to 7/15 (46.7%) in non-intubated cases (p = 0.036). There were higher numbers of zone involvement in intubated cases than non-intubated cases: 9/11 (81.8%) of intubated patients had 10–12 areas of involvement on chest radiographs compared to 3/15 (20.0%) in the non-intubated group. Half of the cases were discharged home; 3/11 from the intubated group and 10/15 from the non-intubated group. Five patients died from the intubated group (5/11) versus 3/15 from the non-intubated group. Five patients are still hospitalized (three from the intubated group and two from the non-intubated group). Conclusions: The radiographic findings among intubated and non-intubated hospitalized COVID-19 patients demonstrate differences in the number of zones involved. More upper zone involvement was noted in the intubated group. Male sex and diabetes mellitus carried a poorer prognosis and were more associated with the intubated group.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Adaszek ◽  
Anna Wilczyńska ◽  
Jerzy Ziętek ◽  
Marcin Kalinowski ◽  
Oliwier Teodorowski ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Anaplasma are obligate intracellular bacteria and aetiological agents of tick-borne diseases of both veterinary and medical interest. The genus Anaplasma comprises six species: Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma centrale, Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Anaplasma bovis and Anaplasma platys. They can infect humans, carnivores, ruminants, rodents, insectivores, birds and reptiles. The aim of this study was to present the first clinical case of granulocytic anaplasmosis in a captive ring-tailed lemur in Poland. Case presentation A 4-year-old female lemur presented anorexia, epistaxis and tick infestation. The microscopic examination of a blood smear revealed morulae in neutrophils. Polymerase chain reaction test and sequencing of obtained PCR product confirmed infection by the GU183908 Anaplasma phagocytophilum strain. Therapeutic protocol included doxycycline (2.5 mg/kg p.o., b.i.d.) for 3 weeks and the lemur recovered within 24 h. Conclusions This is the first report on granulocytic anaplasmosis in a ring-tailed lemur in Europe, indicating that A. phagocytophilum infection must also be considered in differential diagnosis in this animal species, especially in individuals with thrombocytopenia associated with Ixodes ricinus parasitism.


2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 855-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Osores ◽  
Oscar Nolasco ◽  
Kristien Verdonck ◽  
Jorge Arevalo ◽  
Juan Carlos Ferrufino ◽  
...  

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