Infectious Disease Commons^™

Poliovirus Excretion Among Children With Primary Immune Deficiency In Pakistan: A Pilot Surveillance Study Protocol, Asma Sadruddin Pethani, Zaubina Kazi, Ujala Nayyar, Muhammad Shafiq-Ur-Rehman, Mohammad Tahir Yousafzai, Mach Ondrej, Ali Faisal Saleem

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Introduction: Children with primary immunodeficiency disorders (PID) are more susceptible to developing viral infections and are at a substantially increased risk of developing paralytic poliomyelitis. Such children, if given oral polio vaccines tend to excrete poliovirus chronically that may lead to the propagation of highly divergent vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV). Consequently, they may act as a reservoir for the community by introducing an altered virus potentially imposing a risk to global polio eradication. However, the risks of chronic and prolonged excretion are not well characterised in the study context. This study seeks to establish a pilot surveillance system for successful identification …

Post-Acute Sequelae Of Covid-19 (Pasc): Association With Inflammation And Autoimmunity, Raghava S. Ambadapoodi, Fnu Deepti, Javaria Anwer Mbbs, Rafael Fernandez-Botran

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

It has become increasingly evident that a high percentage of patients that recover from acute COVID-19 infection continue to suffer from a variety of persistent symptoms even months after viral clearance, the most common ones being fatigue, dyspnea, anosmia, dysgeusia, cognitive dysfunction, and psychological problems, including anxiety and depression. This syndrome, known as Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), can severely affect the life quality and represents an important health care concern. The exact causes for the symptoms observed in patients with PASC remain to be adequately characterized, but are likely to be associated with multiple factors, including residual disease and/or …

Clinical Features And Outcomes Of Critically Ill Patients With Elizabethkingia Meningoseptica: An Emerging Pathogen, Abdullah Umair, Nosheen Nasir

Department of Medicine

Background: Elizabethkingia meningoseptica, formerly known as Chryseobacterium meningosepticum, is a non-motile, non-fastidious, catalase and oxidase-positive, aerobic, glucose-non-fermentative, Gram-negative bacillus that was first defined by Elizabeth O. King in 1959. It has emerged as an opportunistic pathogen that has infected patients in extreme age groups and immunocompromised individuals, especially in intensive care settings. There has been an increased interest in this pathogen due to its increasing occurrence around the world, ubiquitous nature, and inherent capacity for antimicrobial resistance.
Methods: We describe an observational study at a tertiary care center in Karachi, Pakistan, based on patients admitted between January 2013 and December …

A Single Dose Of Replication-Competent Vsv-Vectored Vaccine Expressing Sars-Cov-2 S1 Protects Against Virus Replication In A Hamster Model Of Severe Covid-19., Delphine C. Malherbe, Drishya Kurup, Christoph Wirblich, Adam J. Ronk, Chad Mire, Natalia Kuzmina, Noor Shaik, Sivakumar Periasamy, Matthew A. Hyde, Julie M. Williams, Pei-Yong Shi, Matthias J. Schnell, Alexander Bukreyev

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

The development of effective countermeasures against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is a priority. We designed and produced ConVac, a replication-competent vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) vaccine vector that expresses the S1 subunit of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. We used golden Syrian hamsters as animal models of severe COVID-19 to test the efficacy of the ConVac vaccine. A single vaccine dose elicited high levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific binding and neutralizing antibodies; following intranasal challenge with SARS-CoV-2, animals were protected from weight loss and viral replication in the lungs. No enhanced pathology was observed …

Covid-19 Newsletter (Vol. 81), Center For Disaster Medicine, New York Medical College

COVID-19 Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Risk Of Infection And Transmission Of Sars-Cov-2 Among Children And Adolescents In Households, Communities And Educational Settings: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Omar Irfan, Jiang Li, Kun Tang, Zhicheng Wang, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Woman and Child Health

Background: There is uncertainty with respect to SARS-CoV-2 transmission in children (0-19 years) with controversy on effectiveness of school-closures in controlling the pandemic. It is of equal importance to evaluate the risk of transmission in children who are often asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic carriers that may incidentally transmit SARS-CoV-2 in different settings. We conducted this review to assess transmission and risks for SARS-CoV-2 in children (by age-groups or grades) in community and educational-settings compared to adults.
Methods: Data for the review were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, WHO COVID-19 Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) Database, WanFang Database, Latin …

The Role Of Interspecies Recombination In The Evolution Of Antibiotic-Resistant Pneumococci, Joshua C. D'Aeth, Mark Pg Van Der Linden, Lesley Mcgee, Herminia De Lencastre, Paul Turner, Jae-Hoon Song, Stephanie W. Lo, Rebecca A. Gladstone, Gps Consortium, Sadia Shakoor

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae emerge through the modification of core genome loci by interspecies homologous recombinations, and acquisition of gene cassettes. Both occurred in the otherwise contrasting histories of the antibiotic-resistant S. pneumoniae lineages PMEN3 and PMEN9. A single PMEN3 clade spread globally, evading vaccine-induced immunity through frequent serotype switching, whereas locally circulating PMEN9 clades independently gained resistance. Both lineages repeatedly integrated Tn916-type and Tn1207.1-type elements, conferring tetracycline and macrolide resistance, respectively, through homologous recombination importing sequences originating in other species. A species-wide dataset found over 100 instances of such interspecific acquisitions of resistance cassettes and flanking …

Covid-19 Newsletter (Vol. 80), Center For Disaster Medicine, New York Medical College

COVID-19 Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Baricitinib In The Treatment Of A Critical Patient With Covid-19 Pneumonia: A Case Report, Nishant Patel, Dylan Goldsmith, Forest W. Arnold

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

A 72-year-old male presented to the emergency department with a chief complaint of diarrhea after having tested positive for COVID-19 two days prior. He initially had minimal respiratory complaints, but was eventually transferred to the intensive care unit for acute hypoxic respiratory failure. In addition to dexamethasone, remdesivir, and antibiotics, the patient was treated with baricitinib, a Janus kinase inhibitor that was recently granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. He had an extensive and complicated hospital course and had to be placed on mechanical ventilation, ultimately undergoing tracheostomy. After …

Impact Of Social Isolation In Hiv-Positive Individuals During A Pandemic, Corina Jane Bakoylis

Dissertations

Problem: The global pandemic of COVID-19 caused concern for immunocompromised individuals. The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to assess the impact of social isolation on feelings of loneliness, depression, and social isolation experiences in HIV-positive individuals residing in a long-term care facility.

Methods: A mixed-method convergent design with a purposeful sample of HIV-positive adult residents residing in a long-term care facility was utilized. An evaluation of loneliness using the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (Version 3) and depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) were completed. Personal experiences were also assessed with five predetermined open-ended …

Impact Of Duration Of Antibiotic Prophylaxis On Rates Of Surgical Site Infection (Ssi) In Patients Undergoing Mastectomy Without Immediate Reconstruction, Comparing A Single Prophylactic Dose Versus Continued Antibiotic Prophylaxis Postoperatively: A Multicentre, Double-Blinded Randomised Control Trial Protocol, Abida K. Sattar, Nida Zahid, Hania Shahzad, Rufina Soomro, Omema Saleem, Syed Faisal Mahmood

Department of Surgery Docs

Introduction: In breast surgeries, prophylactic antibiotics given before the surgical incision as per Joint Commission Surgical Care Improvement Project guidelines have been shown to decrease the rate of postoperative infections. There is, however, no clear consensus on postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in patients undergoing mastectomy with indwelling drains. This trial protocol proposes to study the difference in rates of surgical site infection (SSI) with or without continuation of postoperative antibiotics in patients undergoing mastectomy without immediate reconstruction and with indwelling drains.
Methods and analysis: In this multicentre, double-blinded clinical trial, all patients undergoing mastectomy (without immediate reconstruction) will receive a single …

Diagnostic Accuracy And Agreement Between Four Phenotypic Carbapenemase Detection Tests Among Enterobacterales, Fizza Farooqui, Seema Irfan, Sidra Laiq

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Introduction: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CREs) are becoming increasingly popular as a cause of hospital-acquired infections that are difficult to treat and are frequently reported as causes of outbreaks in various hospitals. Conventional culturing techniques take at least 2 days to report a case as carbapenem resistant, and it is therefore important to detect such resistance mechanisms as early as possible.
Methods: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of Carba NP, modified Hodge test (MHT), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) disk synergy test (DST), and the modified carbapenem inactivation method (mCIM). This study was done at Microbiology Laboratory, Aga Khan University Hospital, …

Covid-19 Newsletter (Vol. 79), Center For Disaster Medicine, New York Medical College

COVID-19 Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Novel Scalable And Simplified System To Generate Microglia-Containing Cerebral Organoids From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Brittany Bodnar, Yongang Zhang, Jinbiao Liu, Yuan Lin, Peng Wang, Zhengyu Wei, Sami Saribas, Yuanjun Zhu, Fang Li, Xu Wang, Wenli Yang, Qingsheng Li, Wen-Zhe Ho, Wenhui Hu

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Human cerebral organoid (CO) is a three-dimensional (3D) cell culture system that recapitulates the developing human brain. While CO has proved an invaluable tool for studying neurological disorders in a more clinically relevant matter, there have still been several shortcomings including CO variability and reproducibility as well as lack of or underrepresentation of certain cell types typically found in the brain. As the technology to generate COs has continued to improve, more efficient and streamlined protocols have addressed some of these issues. Here we present a novel scalable and simplified system to generate microglia-containing CO (MCO). We characterize the cell …

Characteristics Of Patients Presenting With Covid-19 From Balochistan Province And Lessons Learnt, Abida Munir Badini, Aurangzeb Badini, Naeem M. Mengal, Kashmira Nanji

Department of Family Medicine

Objective: With the spread of COVID-19 in Pakistan, Balochistan province with its unique problems of lowest literacy rates in the country, limited resources and a flail health care system is reporting an increasing number of cases of COVID-19. This study discusses the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients from the Balochistan province.
Study design: Situation report Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Balochistan province of Pakistan. The completion date for the study was April 30, 2020.
Methodology: The data was retrieved from the daily situation report from the Health Department, Government of Balochistan. Descriptive statistics …

Infectious Disease Screening In A Dedicated Primary Care Clinic For Children In Foster Care, Jill Mcleigh, Sarah Lairmore, Kimberly Stone, Rong Huang

Health Status, Outcomes, and Literacy and Healthcare Utilization

Children in foster care are considered at high risk for infectious diseases, and guidelines recommend screening for tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Little is known about the prevalence of infectious disease in children in foster care.

For questions about this study or others, please email [email protected]

childrens.com/fostercare

Development Of Vaccines And Antivirals Against Zika Virus, Aryamav Pattnaik

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The re-emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV), an arbovirus, poses a major global human health concern because of its ability to cause congenital abnormalities and neurological diseases. While many candidate vaccines and antiviral drugs are in the developmental pipeline, none have been approved for use against ZIKV infection. This dissertation describes the characterization of one vaccine and two antiviral drug candidates against ZIKV infection. A bacterial ferritin-based nanoparticle vaccine, termed zDIII-F, is designed to display multiple copies of ZIKV E protein domain III on its surface. These stable nanoparticles are shown to induce robust antibody-mediated protection against lethal ZIKV infection in …

Clinical Characteristics And Laboratory Biomarkers For Patients With Suspected Covid-19 Infection Within Hca Healthcare, Scott Gutovitz, Justin Hanson, Christian Vandever, Dietrich Jehle

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Background

The coronavirus infection (COVID-19), also known as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), caused significant illness and a worldwide pandemic beginning in 2020. Early case reports showed common patient characteristics, clinical variables and laboratory values in these patients. We compared a large population of American COVID-19 patients to see if they had similar findings to these smaller reports. In addition, we examined our population to identify any differences between mild or severe COVID-19 infections.

Methods

We retrospectively accessed a de-identified, multi-hospital database managed by HCA Healthcare to identify all adult emergency department (ED) patients that were tested …

Acute Psychosis With Recurrent Neurocysticercosis: A Case Presentation, Nasir F. Siddique, Kristy A. Fisher, Joshua Chang, Clara L. Alvarez Villalba

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Neurocysticercosis, a parasitic infection of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by the Taenia solium cestode, presents clinically with a large and diverse spectrum of symptomatology, dependent upon lesion number, locale and ensuing inflammatory response. To this date, there are only two documented cases of psychosis presenting in patients with neurocysticercosis, both of which were published in India. This case presentation depicts the first documented case of Psychotic Disorder Due to Another Medical Condition: Neurocysticercosis in the United States. The authors postulate that the atypical presentation of the neuropsychiatric instability with the aberrant recurrence of neurocysticercosis is predominantly attributable to …

A Case Report: Utilization Of Topical Amphotericin In Postoperative Mucormycosis, Kenny Wang, Jomel Jacinto, Alex Davis, Andrei Hetman, Alok Kumar

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Mucormycosis is a rare devastating fungal infection with a high mortality rate often associated with diabetic and immunosuppressed individuals. However, infections found in postoperative states and in immunocompetent patients are rare. Systemic liposomal amphotericin is viewed as a first line treatment for mucormycosis in addition to aggressive debridement to prevent the spread of infection. Literature describing the treatment of mucormycosis with both systemic and topical amphotericin B is scarce. We present a case of an immunocompetent male admitted for perforated diverticulitis who received a left hemicolectomy with colostomy creation. During hospitalization, stool from the colostomy bag was reportedly leaking into …