Cases Of Pneumonia Research Articles

Cost-effectiveness of PCV20 to Prevent Pneumococcal Disease in the Pediatric Population: A German Societal Perspective Analysis.

Since 2009, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) covering 13 serotypes (PCV13) has been included by Germany's Standing Committee on Vaccinations for infants, resulting in major reductions in pneumococcal disease (PD). Higher-valent vaccines may further reduce PD burden. This cost-effectiveness analysis compared 20-valent PCV (PCV20) under a 3+1 schedule with 15-valent PCV (PCV15) and PCV13, both under 2+1 schedule, in Germany's pediatric population. A Markov model with annual cycles over a 10-year time horizon was adapted to simulate the clinical and economic impact of pediatric vaccination with PCV20 versus lower-valent PCVs in Germany. The model used PCV13 clinical effectiveness and impact studies as well as PCV7 efficacy studies for vaccine direct and indirect effect estimates. Epidemiologic, utility, and medical cost inputs were obtained from published sources. Benefits and costs were discounted at 3% from a German societal perspective. Outcomes included PD cases, deaths, costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). In the base case, PCV20 provided greater health benefits than PCV13, averting more cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD; 15,301), hospitalized and non-hospitalized pneumonia (460,197 and 472,365, respectively), otitis media (531,634), and 59,265 deaths over 10 years. This resulted in 904,854 additional QALYs and a total cost saving of €2,393,263,611, making PCV20 a dominant strategy compared with PCV13. Compared to PCV15, PCV20 was estimated to avert an additional 11,334 IPD, 704,948 pneumonia, and 441,643 otitis media cases, as well as 41,596 deaths. PCV20 was associated with a higher QALY gain and lower cost (i.e., dominance) compared with PCV15. The robustness of the results was confirmed through scenario analyses as well as deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. PCV20 3+1 dominated both PCV13 2+1 and PCV15 2+1 over 10 years. Replacing lower-valent PCVs with PCV20 would result in greater clinical and economic benefits, given PCV20's broader serotype coverage.

Pneumonia in Children With Complex Chronic Conditions With Tracheostomy: An Emerging Challenge.

Despite respiratory infections being a leading cause of hospitalization in children with tracheostomy tubes, there are no published guidelines for their diagnosis and management. This study aims to outline the clinical, laboratory and microbiological aspects of pneumonia in these children, along with the antibiotics used and outcomes. Additionally, it seeks to determine pneumonia incidence and associated risk factors. We conducted a retrospective study using the medical records of tracheostomized children at La Paz University Hospital in Madrid from 2010 to 2021. Thirty-three pneumonia cases were observed in 25 tracheostomized children. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the predominant bacterium (52%), followed by Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia marcescens . The same microorganism isolated in the tracheal aspirate culture during pneumonia was previously isolated in 83% of cases that had a similar culture, with some growth obtained within 7-30 days prior. Multiplex respiratory PCR detected respiratory viruses in 73% of cases tested. Antibiotic treatment was administered in all cases except 1, mostly intravenously (81%), with piperacillin/tazobactam and meropenem being commonly used. Only 1 of the described episodes had a fatal outcome. It is advisable to include coverage for P. aeruginosa , E. coli , S. aureus , and S. marcescens in the empirical antibiotic treatment for pneumonia in tracheostomized children, along with the microorganisms identified in tracheal cultures obtained within 7-30 days prior, if available. A positive PCR for respiratory viruses is often discovered in bacterial pneumonia in tracheostomized children.

Examination of adenoviruses with molecular and pathological methods in sheep pneumonia cases

Objective. Reveal adenoviruses (AdV) that cause pneumonia in sheep and examine pathologic changes in the pulmonary and mediastinal lymph nodes of naturally infected adenovirus-positive specimens. Material and method. For this purpose, 1459 lungs of sheep slaughtered in a slaughterhouse were macroscopically examined, and pneumonia lesions were detected in 88 (6.03%) of these. The paraffinized tissue sections of these specimens with pneumonia were examined with the immunohistochemical (IHC) and indirect immunofluorescence (IF) methods, whereas their tissue homogenates were examined using the Antigen ELISA and PCR methods for adenovirus positivity. Results. Accordingly, the prevalence of adenoviruses was determined as 19.3% for IHC, 22.7% for IF, 20.5% for ELISA and 13.6% for PCR. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was performed to examine histopathological changes in the specimens that were naturally infected with adenoviruses. The histopathological examinations of the naturally infected lung specimens revealed mainly interstitial pneumonia, as well as catarrhal and verminous pneumonia findings. Consequently, it was determined that the most effective methods in the detection of adenoviruses in sheep pneumonias were found respectively as IF, ELISA, IHC and PCR. The finding that adenoviruses were observed only in the mediastinal lymph nodes of some specimens in the immunopathological methods suggested that the latency. Conclusions. The presence of adenoviruses in sheep pneumonia cases was determined with the indirect immunofluorescence, antigen ELISA and PCR methods for the first time. The possibility of the latent nature of adenovirus infection in these species was also discussed for the first time.

Lipoid Pneumonia: Siphoning of Gasoline

Abstract Lipoid pneumonia is a rare condition that accounts for 1%–2.5% of all pneumonia. There are two types – exogenous and endogenous. In recent days, exogenous lipoid pneumonia has been on an increasing trend due to the exponential use of vaping. Exogenous lipoid pneumonia usually presents with cough, fever, breathlessness, chest pain, and weight loss. Usually, it is a diagnosis of exclusion and the presence of lipid-laden macrophages is required for its diagnosis. Here, we present a case of lipoid pneumonia which showcased the importance of detailed clinical history elicitation, approach, and management of lipoid pneumonia.

Pneumonia Net: Pneumonia Detection and Categorization in Chest X-ray Images

Background: Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death and disability due to respiratory infections. The key to successful treatment of pneumonia is in its early diagnosis and correct classification. PneumoniaNet is a unique deep-learning model based on CNN for identifying pneumonia on chest X-rays. Objective: A deep learning model that combines convolutional, pooling, and fully connected layers is presented in this study. Methods: In order to learn how to identify cases of pneumonia and healthy controls on chest X-ray pictures, PneumoniaNet was trained on a large labeled library of such images. A robust data augmentation technique was adopted to enhance the model generalization and training set diversity. Standard measures like as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score were applied to PneumoniaNet's performance evaluation. Results: The suggested model performed effectively in detecting pneumonia cases with an accuracy of 93.88%. Conclusion: The model was evaluated against the current state-of-art methods and showed that PneumoniaNet outperformed the other models.

Underlying Diseases Associated with Persistent Pneumonia in Children Aged 2 Months to 5 Years

Background: Persistent pneumonia in children pose a significant challenge to the pediatricians as there are underlying reasons of persistence. There are limited data on the underlying diseases predisposing to persistence of pneumonia in children. Objective: To identify the underlying diseases of persistent pneumonia in children. Methods: The cross sectional observational study was conducted at Bangladesh Shishu (Children) Hospital & Institute from November, 2019 to October, 2020. Children 2 months to 5 years of age admitted with persistent pneumonia were analyzed to find out the underlying diseases. Results: Among 49 cases of persistent pneumonia, underlying disease could be determined in 41 (83.7%) cases. The diseases were cystic fibrosis 13 (26.5%), congenital heart disease 10 (20.4%), primary immunodeficiency 10 (20.4%), gastro-esophageal reflux disease 5 (10.2%), pulmonary tuberculosis 4 (8.1%) and congenital anomalies of respiratory tract 1 (2%). Conclusion: The most common underlying diseases of persistent pneumonia are cystic fibrosis, congenital heart disease, primary immunodeficiency followed by gastro-esophageal reflux disease, pulmonary tuberculosis and congenital anomalies of respiratory tract. J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2024; 42: 114-119

Nursing Care for Pneumonia Patients

Pneumonia is an acute infectious disease that affects the alveoli and is caused by specific microorganisms, characterized by symptoms of coughing and shortness of breath. In the case of 2019, WHO recorded the most deaths in the world caused by pneumonia, reaching a total of 62,782 cases. In Indonesia alone, in 2021, there were 2.56 million confirmed cases of pneumonia. The prevalence of pneumonia in West Java reached 2.6%. This study aims to provide an overview of nursing care for pneumonia patients admitted to the emergency room of Gunung Jati Hospital. The method used is a descriptive method with a case study design. The results of this study indicate that the intervention carried out for 1 x 7 hours with the cooperation of the emergency room nurse had a positive impact. The author has carried out actions by the nursing plan that has been made. The implementation of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Pursed Lift Breathing (PLB). Deep Breathing Exercise (DBE) affects the patient's breathing frequency. Before the implementation of the intervention, the patient's breathing frequency (Respiratory Rate / RR) was 28 x/min. After implementing the intervention, the patient's breathing frequency dropped to 26 x/min. It can be concluded that the pursed lift breathing intervention can significantly reduce shortness of breath in patients with pneumonia. The implication of this study is the importance of applying appropriate and measurable interventions in nursing care for pneumonia patients to improve the quality of care and minimize the risk of complications.

Specific Immune Marker Associated With Coronavirus Disease 2019

Background: The infection that caused the pneumonia, the virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the source of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the source of the global pandemic. The pneumonia cases began in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and had no apparent reason. Essential inflammatory mediators Chemokines are necessary for an immune response to eliminate pathogens. However, the fundamental cause of hyperinflammation is their excessive release. Chemokines may be directly responsible for the acute respiratory illness syndrome in the current COVID-19 outbreak. Objective: The current study aimed to estimate hematological changes with immunogenic markers CD177, GNLY, and CXCR4 gene expression in COVID-19 patients, and compare these parameters among patients and healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital and Medical Teaching Laboratories. Finally, to detect the immune markers level in samples of patients, by RT-PCR. Results: The results revealed the gene expression results in patients with COVID-19 means Ct difference of CD177 (24.70) fold more than (10.5) elevated when compared with the mean of Ct control healthy group is (28.21) fold of gene expression is 1.00 of CD177 when our study showed increased gene expression the mean of GNLY Ct receptor was reached to (28.70 ng/L) with fold more than 15.0 in COVID-19 patients, while mean Ct in healthy control was (32.61 ng/L) with fold 1.00, the current study found mean CT of CXCR4 gene expression ( 31.2) with fold (1.1) compared with healthy control CT(31.3) fold of gene expression was (1.0). Conclusion: It was concluded that COVID-19 caused significant changes in many immunological parameters and found the titer of immune markers was higher in infection compared with control.

Fulminant septic shock due to community-acquired pneumonia caused by Legionella pneumophila SG1 Olda OLDA ST1. Case report

Legionellers’ desease accounts for 1–8 % of cases of severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Legionella spp. Is the causative organism that can result in respiratory failure, multi-organ dysfunction, sepsis, and death. Therefore, rapid diagnosis and efficient treatment are crucial. We report the clinical and microbiology study of a patient with community-acquired pneumonia caused by Legionella pneumophila, with fatal outcome. After death, the strain causing the infection was identified as Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1, Olda OLDA phenotype and sequence-type 1. This is the first reported case of septic shock and death associated with an isolate of these characteristics.

OriPlex: Origami-enabled multiplexed detection of respiratory pathogens

Origami biosensors leverage paper foldability to develop total analysis systems integrated in a single piece of paper. This capability can also be utilized to incorporate additional features that would be difficult to achieve with rigid substrates. In this article, we report a new design for 3D origami biosensors called OriPlex, which leverages the foldability of filter paper for the multiplexed detection of bacterial pathogens. OriPlex immunosensors detect pathogens by folding nanoparticle reservoirs containing different types of nanoprobes. This releases antibody-coated nanoparticles in a central channel where targets are captured through physical interactions. The OriPlex concept was demonstrated by detecting the respiratory pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) with a limit of detection of 3.4·103 cfu mL−1 and 1.4·102 cfu mL−1, respectively, and with a turn-around time of 25 min. Remarkably, the OriPlex biosensors allowed the multiplexed detection of both pathogens spiked into real bronchial aspirate (BAS) samples at a concentration of 105 cfu mL−1 (clinical infection threshold), thus demonstrating their suitability for diagnosing lower tract respiratory infections. The results shown here pave the way for implementing OriPlex biosensors as a screening test for detecting superbugs requiring personalized antibiotics in suspected cases of nosocomial pneumonia.

Prevalence of COVID-19 among high school teachers in Erbil city

Background and objective: An outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin was reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. Cases of epidemic pneumonia have been linked to the Huanan Seafood Market; thus, it has been dubbed the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The global spread of thousands of deaths from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led the WHO to declare a pandemic on March 12, 2020. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of COVID-19 disease and vaccination coverage among public preparatory school teachers in Erbil. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the target group of 772 teachers in 76 public preparatory schools. The study population was 3157 teachers, 1263 male and 1894 female, in Erbil city, from September 1, 2021, to March 30, 2022. A questionnaire was used to collect data through face-to-face interviews using a simple random sampling method. Results: The study sample ages ranged from 26 to 62 years; the mean age, ±standard deviation, was 40.53 ± 9.75. The prevalence rate of COVID-19 was 63.1%. Of the study samples, 58.5% received information about COVID-19 disease from social media and 23.8% from satellite channels. 68.9% of the study samples received the COVID-19 vaccine, and the majority preferred the Pfizer vaccine. Conclusion: The majority of the study samples were infected with COVID-19 disease; many of the study samples received the COVID-19 vaccine; misconceptions need further correction; an increase in updating information regarding mode of transmission; an explanation of COVID-19 disease preventive measures; raising awareness of COVID-19 vaccination; more interesting health campaigns; and using mass media and community programs to change health behavior and reduce future health consequences of COVID-19 disease.

Liver injury and prolonged hospitalization as indicators of severity in patients with adenovirus infections

BackgroundAdenovirus (ADV) is a prevalent infective virus in children, accounting for around 5–10% of all cases of acute respiratory illnesses and 4–15% of pneumonia cases in children younger than five years old. Without treatment, severe ADV pneumonia could result in fatality rates of over 50% in cases of emerging strains or disseminated disease. This study aims to uncover the relationship of clinical indicators with primary ADV infection severity, regarding duration of hospitalization and liver injury.MethodsIn this retrospective study, we collected and analyzed the medical records of 1151 in-patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. According to duration of hospitalization, all patients were divided into three groups. Then the difference and correlation of clinical indicators with ADV infection were analyzed, and the relationship among liver injury, immune cells and cytokines was evaluated.ResultsThe study revealed that patients with a duration of hospitalization exceeding 14 days had the highest percentage of abnormalities across most indicators. This was in contrast to the patients with a hospitalization duration of either less than or equal to 7 days or between 7 and 14 days. Furthermore, correlation analysis indicated that a longer duration of body temperature of ≥ 39°C, bilateral lung lobes infiltration detected by X ray, abnormal levels of AST, PaO2, and SPO2, and a lower age were all predictive of longer hospital stays. Furthermore, an elevated AST level and reduced liver synthesis capacity were related with a longer hospital stay and higher ADV copy number. Additionally, AST/ALT was correlated positively with IFN-γ level and IFN-γ level was only correlated positively with CD4+ T cells.ConclusionsThe study provided a set of predicting indicators for longer duration of hospitalization, which responded for primary severe ADV infection, and elucidated the possible reason for prolonged duration of hospitalization attributing to liver injury via higher ADV copy number, IFN-γ and CD4+ T cells, which suggested the importance of IFN-γ level and liver function monitoring for the patients with primary severe ADV infection.

Incidence and characteristics of aspiration pneumonia in the Nagasaki Prefecture from 2005 to 2019

BackgroundAspiration pneumoniae remains a major health concern, particularly in the older population and has poor prognosis; however, the concept itself remains vague worldwide. This study aimed to determine the actual situation and characteristics of aspiration pneumonia from 2005 to 2019 in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.MethodsCases of aspiration pneumonia that occurred in the Nagasaki Prefecture between 2005 and 2019 were analyzed using emergency transportation records. The number of occurrences and incidence were analyzed according to age, sex, month, day of the week, and recognition time to clarify the actual situation of aspiration pneumonia.ResultsThe total number of new aspiration pneumonia cases was 8,321, and the mean age of the patients was 83.0 years. Annual incidence per 100,000 population increased from 12.4 in 2005 to 65.1 in 2019, with the most prominent increase in the ≥ 80-year-old stratum. Males (55.1%) were more commonly affected than females (44.9%), and 82.2% of the cases involved patients aged ≥ 70 years. No significant correlations were observed between the incidence of aspiration pneumonia and season, month, or day of the week. Aspiration pneumonia occurred frequently in houses (39.8%) and facilities for elderly individuals (40.8%). At 7 days after admission, 80.9% of patients were still hospitalized and 6.5% had died.ConclusionsThe incidence of aspiration pneumonia with risks of severity and mortality is increasing among elderly individuals. Valid preventive measures are urgently needed based on the findings that the disease occurs in both household and elderly care facility settings, regardless of the season.

Artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector: comparison of deep learning networks using chest X-ray images.

Artificial intelligence has led to significant developments in the healthcare sector, as in other sectors and fields. In light of its significance, the present study delves into exploring deep learning, a branch of artificial intelligence. In the study, deep learning networks ResNet101, AlexNet, GoogLeNet, and Xception were considered, and it was aimed to determine the success of these networks in disease diagnosis. For this purpose, a dataset of 1,680 chest X-ray images was utilized, consisting of cases of COVID-19, viral pneumonia, and individuals without these diseases. These images were obtained by employing a rotation method to generate replicated data, wherein a split of 70 and 30% was adopted for training and validation, respectively. The analysis findings revealed that the deep learning networks were successful in classifying COVID-19, Viral Pneumonia, and Normal (disease-free) images. Moreover, an examination of the success levels revealed that the ResNet101 deep learning network was more successful than the others with a 96.32% success rate. In the study, it was seen that deep learning can be used in disease diagnosis and can help experts in the relevant field, ultimately contributing to healthcare organizations and the practices of country managers.

COVID-19 Pneumonia in Pregnancy: A Retrospective Study on Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes

Objective: To identify risk factors among pregnant with COVID-19 for adverse outcomes related to disease severity, maternal mortality, and morbidity. Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, 45 pregnant patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were confirmed by RT-PCR. The inclusion criteria were pregnant patients diagnosed with COVID-19 confirmed by RT-PCR and hospitalized in the gynecology-obstetrics and intensive care unit. Exclusion criteria were non-pregnant patients and pneumonia cases with unconfirmed COVID-19 causes. The study used SPSS software to analyze the data. Results: Our study recorded 45 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women over 2.5 years. The age group most affected was 20-35 years, with 75% of cases. 57% of patients had no known comorbidities. 88.8% of patients were symptomatic at diagnosis. Almost 30% of patients required admission to the ICU, with 60% requiring oxygen supplementation. The study recorded 36 live births (80%), of which 26 cases (72.2%) required no further care and had a favorable outcome. Conclusion: Pregnant women with medical conditions are at higher risk of severe COVID-19, which can cause respiratory distress syndrome and impact delivery and neonatal outcomes. Preventive measures are important.

Diagnostic utility of laboratory parameters in COVID 19 patients

ABSTRACT Background: Several pneumonia cases caused by new corona virus were reported in Wuhan, China, since December 2019. This evolved into global pandemic and the World Health Organization (WHO) named this virus as severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS COV-2) by the WHO. Corona viruses can manifest many infections such as respiratory, neurologic, and hepatic diseases. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study conducted in a tertiary hospital from March 2020 to January 2021. A total of 8017 cases were included in the study. The complete blood counts data were collected from records and analyzed. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were calculated. Results: The laboratory parameters studied in 8017 cases showed the following results, the NLR and PLR ratios were increased in most of the cases 45.4% and 61.5%, respectively. Also lymphopenia was seen in maximum cases (46.6%). The remaining parameters such as hemoglobin, total counts, and platelet count were in normal range in most of the cases, that is, 67.7%, 68.7%, and 81.3%, respectively. Conclusion: Our study examined the hematological parameters of large number of cases of SARS–COVID-19 patients. The significant findings of the study were that higher values of NLR, PLR, leucocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, and thrombocytosis were observed in good number of cases. Hence, lymphocytes, NLR, and PLR ratios can be used to predict the severity of disease.

Pathology of Chronic Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae Carriers in a Declining Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) Population.

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) across North America commonly experience population-limiting epizootics of respiratory disease. Although many cases of bighorn sheep pneumonia are polymicrobial, Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is most frequently associated with all-age mortality events followed by years of low recruitment. Chronic carriage of M. ovipneumoniae by adult females serves as a source of exposure of naïve juveniles; relatively few ewes may be responsible for maintenance of infection within a herd. Test-and-remove strategies focused on removal of adult females with evidence of persistent or intermittent shedding (hereafter chronic carriers) may reduce prevalence and mitigate mortality. Postmortem confirmation of pneumonia in chronic carriers has been inadequately reported and the pathology has not been thoroughly characterized, limiting our understanding of important processes shaping the epidemiology of pneumonia in bighorn sheep. Here we document postmortem findings and characterize the lesions of seven ewes removed from a declining bighorn sheep population in Wyoming, USA, following at least two antemortem detections of M. ovipneumoniae within a 14-mo period. We confirmed that 6/7 (85.7%) had variable degrees of chronic pneumonia. Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae was detected in the lung of 4/7 (57.1%) animals postmortem. Four (57.1%) had paranasal sinus masses, all of which were classified as inflammatory, hyperplastic lesions. Pasteurella multocida was detected in all seven (100%) animals, while Trueperella pyogenes was detected in 5/7 (71.4%). Our findings indicate that not all chronic carriers have pneumonia, nor do all have detectable M. ovipneumoniae in the lung. Further, paranasal sinus masses are a common but inconsistent finding, and whether sinus lesions predispose to persistence or result from chronic carriage remains unclear. Our findings indicate that disease is variable in chronic M. ovipneumoniae carriers, underscoring the need for further efforts to characterize pathologic processes and underlying mechanisms in this system to inform management.

Analysis of Long-Term Dynamics and Age Structure of Pneumonia Incidence in the Population of St. Petersburg

Introduction: Pneumonia is one of the most important health problems due to its high incidence. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp increase in the number of pneumonia cases among adults. Objective: To study pneumonia incidence rates among different age groups of the population and to establish their main trends in St. Petersburg. Materials and methods: We used data contained in the Federal Statistical Observation Form No. 12, “Information on the number of diseases registered in patients living in the service area of a health facility” for 2011–2022 to calculate pneumonia incidence rates and establish the statistical significance of differences between the indicators, to do a retrospective epidemiological analysis with an assessment of long-term dynamics among the general population and in different age groups using methods of descriptive and inductive parametric statistics. Results: Adults prevailed in the age structure of pneumonia cases (85.3 %), among whom the proportion of elderly people was higher (45.8 %). In 2011–2019, pneumonia incidence in the general population of St. Petersburg dropped by 31.3 %. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it demonstrated a 3.3-fold increase from 291.9 to 976.0 per 100,000 population (t = 107.0, p < 0.05). Pneumonia incidence among elderly people was statistically higher (1,578.8 per 100,000 population, p < 0.05). A decline in pneumonia rates in the pediatric population (ages 0–17) was observed in 2020–2021. In 2022, a decrease in pneumonia incidence rates was registered among both the general and adult population of St. Petersburg by 61.5 % and 64.9 %, respectively. Conclusions: Monitoring of long-term changes in pneumonia incidence in St. Petersburg showed a decrease in its rates in 2011–2019 with a subsequent marked increase, especially among elderly people. This population group requires special attention when implementing management decisions in healthcare at the regional level.

Correlation study of climate variability, population density, altitude, and low birth-weight rates on the incidence of children pneumonia in Bogor Regency

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the correlation between climate variability (temperature, humidity, rainfall, sunshine duration, and wind speed), population density, altitude, and low birth weight (LBW) rate on the incidence of under-five years old children with pneumonia. Methods: This research uses a combination study design based on place and time (mixed design ecological study). Results: There was no significant relationship between climate variability and lag effect of 0-2 months with the number of under-five pneumonia cases in Bogor Regency in 2018-2022, as well as the altitude variable (p=0.0619). Meanwhile, the variables of population density (r-value = 0.439) and LBW rate (r-value = 0.338) showed a positive correlation with the number of under-five pneumonia cases in Bogor Regency. Conclusion: This research shows the incidence of pneumonia among under-fives in Bogor Regency is influenced by population density and LBW rates. Ensuring access to proper sanitation, a complete basic immunization program, adequate housing, and also personal protective measures are important to reduce the spread of pneumonia.

Swift Diagnose: A High-Performance Shallow Convolutional Neural Network for Rapid and Reliable SARS-COV-2 Induced Pneumonia Detection

INTRODUCTION: The SARS-COV-2 pandemic has led to a significant increase in the number of infected individuals and a considerable loss of lives. Identifying SARS-COV-2-induced pneumonia cases promptly is crucial for controlling the virus's spread and improving patient care. In this context, chest X-ray imaging has become an essential tool for detecting pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.
 OBJECTIVES: The primary goal of this research is to differentiate between pneumonia cases induced specifically by the SARS-COV-2 virus and other types of pneumonia or healthy cases. This distinction is vital for the effective treatment and isolation of affected patients.
 METHODS: A streamlined stacked Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture was employed for this study. The dataset, meticulously curated from Johns Hopkins University's medical database, comprised 2292 chest X-ray images. This included 542 images of COVID-19-infected cases and 1266 non-COVID cases for the training phase, and 167 COVID-infected images plus 317 non-COVID images for the testing phase. The CNN's performance was assessed against a well-established CNN model to ensure the reliability of the findings.
 RESULTS: The proposed CNN model demonstrated exceptional accuracy, with an overall accuracy rate of 98.96%. In particular, the model achieved a per-class accuracy of 99.405% for detecting SARS-COV-2-infected cases and 98.73% for identifying non-COVID cases. These results indicate the model's significant potential in distinguishing between COVID-19-related pneumonia and other conditions.
 CONCLUSION: The research validates the efficacy of using a specialized CNN architecture for the rapid and precise identification of SARS-COV-2-induced pneumonia from chest X-ray images. The high accuracy rates suggest that this method could be a valuable tool in the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding in the swift diagnosis and effective treatment of patients.