Cases Of Severe Pneumonia Research Articles

Effect of Immune Plasma Therapy on Mortality and Morbidity in Patients with Covid-19: A Retrospective Study

Objective: Immune plasma therapy, a method employed for passive immunization, has been utilized as a treatment modality based on historical precedents during the Covid-19 pandemic, a global crisis resulting in the unfortunate demise of countless individuals. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of immune plasma therapy on laboratory parameters and the overall survival rate in patients with Covid-19 pneumonia. Material and Methods: Our study was designed as a retrospective analysis, conducted at a tertiary healthcare institution from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. The study population comprised individuals aged 18 and above, presenting with pulmonary involvement, and diagnosed with Covid-19 using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method at our hospital. The inclusion criteria encompassed patients who received immune plasma therapy, as well as a control group matched for age, gender, and admission date, who did not undergo immune plasma therapy. Exclusion criteria involved patients with low serum IgA levels, those who did not provide consent for immune plasma therapy, and individuals below the age of 18. Results: The study comprised a total of 72 patients who received immune plasma therapy and 72 patients in the control group, matched for age and gender, all diagnosed with Covid-19. The median age of the patients was 70 years, ranging from 19 to 91, and 56.9% (41) of them were female. When comparing the immune plasma group with the control group, several significant differences were observed (p<0.05). These included elevated levels of leukocytes, neutrophils, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, fibrinogen, d-dimer, and low levels of platelets and lymphocytes in the control group. Furthermore, in the immune plasma therapy group, significant associations were found between mortality and lymphocyte count, NLR, AST, CRP, and d-dimer elevation after treatment (p<0.05). Additionally, pre- and post-treatment measurements of troponin, procalcitonin, and ferritin were significantly correlated with mortality (p<0.05). Conclusion: The administration of immune plasma therapy, involving the transfer of neutralizing antibodies, has demonstrated a favorable impact on laboratory parameters and overall survival in severe cases of Covid-19 pneumonia, particularly during the early stages of the disease.

A Multi-dimensional Review on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2.

The advent and spread of novel coronavirus (nCoV) has posed a new public health crisis since December 2019. Several cases of unexplained pneumonia occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, only a month before the Chinese Spring festival. After the diagnosis of bronchoalveolar fluid samples of people infected, the new coronavirus was identified using nextgeneration sequence technology. This work aims to provide information regarding COVID-19 that will help the researchers to identify the vital therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2 and also will provide insights into some significant findings of recent times highlighted by scientific communities around the globe. In this review, we have tried to explore multiple aspects related to COVID-19, including epidemiology, etiology, COVID-19 variants, vaccine candidates, potential therapeutic targets, the role of natural products, and computational studies in drug design and development, repurposing, and analysis of crystal structures available for COVID-19 related protein structures. Druggable targets include all viral enzymes and proteins involved in viral replication and regulation of host cellular machines. The medical community tracks several therapies to combat the infection by investigating various antiviral and immunomodulatory mechanisms. While some vaccines are approved in this worldwide health crisis, a more precise therapy or drug is formally recommended to be used against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Natural products other than synthetic drugs have been tested by in silico analysis against COVID-19. However, important issues still need to be addressed regarding in vivo bioavailability and better efficacy.

Analysis of Factors Influencing the Clinical Severity of Omicron and Delta Variants.

The Omicron variant is the dominant strain circulating globally, and studies have shown that Omicron cases have milder symptoms than Delta cases. This study aimed to analyze the factors that affect the clinical severity of Omicron and Delta variants, evaluate and compare the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines with different technological platforms, and assess the vaccine effectiveness against different variants. We retrospectively collected the basic information of all local COVID-19 cases reported by Hunan Province to the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting System from January 2021 to February 2023, including gender, age, clinical severity, and COVID-19 vaccination history. From 1 January 2021 to 28 February 2023, Hunan Province reported a total of 60,668 local COVID-19 cases, of which, 134 were infected with the Delta variant and 60,534 were infected with the Omicron variant. The results showed that infection with the Omicron variant (adjusted OR (aOR): 0.21, 95% CI: 0.14-0.31), getting vaccinated (booster immunization vs. unvaccinated aOR: 0.30, 95% CI: 0.23-0.39) and being female (aOR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.79-0.85) were protective factors for pneumonia, while old age (≥60 years vs. <3 years aOR: 4.58, 95% CI: 3.36-6.22) was a risk factor for pneumonia. Being vaccinated (booster immunization vs. unvaccinated aOR: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.09-0.15) and female (aOR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.50-0.59) were protective factors for severe cases, while older age (≥60 years vs. < 3 years aOR: 4.95, 95% CI: 1.83-13.39) was a risk factor for severe cases. The three types of vaccines had protective effects on both pneumonia and severe cases, and the protective effect on severe cases was better than that on pneumonia. The recombinant subunit vaccine booster immunization had the best protective effect on pneumonia and severe cases, with ORs of 0.29 (95% CI: 0.2-0.44) and 0.06 (95% CI: 0.02-0.17), respectively. The risk of pneumonia from Omicron variant infection was lower than that from Delta. Chinese-produced vaccines had protective effects on both pneumonia and severe cases, with recombinant subunit vaccines having the best protective effect on pneumonia and severe pneumonia cases. Booster immunization should be advocated in COVID-19 pandemic-related control and prevention policies, especially for the elderly, and booster immunization should be accelerated.

The Unpreparedness of a Health District in the Face of an Epidemic, the Case of COVID-19 and Its Impact on Neurosurgery Activities

In December 2019, the occurrence of several cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in Hubei province in China led to the identification in January 2020 of a new coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2 by the Coronavirus Working Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. In 2019 the national strategy to combat COVI 19 planned for national and regional centres. Thus, as of 20 March 2019, the first suspected cases were registered and taken care of by the District Hospital of Dschang in an unpredictable manner and without any fund.&#x0D; The objective of this study was to describe the management of the COVID 19 epidemic by a district hospital without preparation and to describe its impact on hospital activities, in particular neurosurgery. &#x0D; Methodology: it was a retrospective descriptive study, focused on the documents and the management of human resources, material, suspect patients and financial means of the hospital during the first phase of the epidemic from March - August 2019 the crisis. It wasonly in September 2019 that the plan provided for the monitoring of patients at home and the patient at the case infected in KOUEKONG in Bafoussam in the region.&#x0D; The result A service was created with new staff as a matter of urgency and the hospitalisation of the first suspect led to a drop in the early attendance of the structure, hospitalisation of the hospital and especially of the surgery service. The barrier measures introduced at the hospital were financed entirely by the hospital's own funds and donations, without any special funding, the hospital's revenue fell from 46,909,106 CFA francs in January 2019 to 27,103,235 CFA francs in June 2019, with a 43% drop in June 2019. expenses, masked by donations, fell from 46,909,106 CFA francs in January 2020 to 24,765,492 CFA francs in May 2020, but increased slightly to reach 38,724,361 CFA francs in August 2020. All activities were affected particularly surgery and neurosurgery.&#x0D; Conclusion: The unpredictable management of the Covi19 epidemic led to a disruption of the hospital's organisation and human resources, a drop in the hospital's income and an increase in the burden of self-management, without subsidies from the hierarchy.

Detection of Pneumonia from Chest X-ray Images Utilizing MobileNet Model.

Pneumonia has been directly responsible for a huge number of deaths all across the globe. Pneumonia shares visual features with other respiratory diseases, such as tuberculosis, which can make it difficult to distinguish between them. Moreover, there is significant variability in the way chest X-ray images are acquired and processed, which can impact the quality and consistency of the images. This can make it challenging to develop robust algorithms that can accurately identify pneumonia in all types of images. Hence, there is a need to develop robust, data-driven algorithms that are trained on large, high-quality datasets and validated using a range of imaging techniques and expert radiological analysis. In this research, a deep-learning-based model is demonstrated for differentiating between normal and severe cases of pneumonia. This complete proposed system has a total of eight pre-trained models, namely, ResNet50, ResNet152V2, DenseNet121, DenseNet201, Xception, VGG16, EfficientNet, and MobileNet. These eight pre-trained models were simulated on two datasets having 5856 images and 112,120 images of chest X-rays. The best accuracy is obtained on the MobileNet model with values of 94.23% and 93.75% on two different datasets. Key hyperparameters including batch sizes, number of epochs, and different optimizers have all been considered during comparative interpretation of these models to determine the most appropriate model.

Decreased NK cells in cases of severe adenovirus pneumonia with liver dysfunction in pediatric intensive care unit: Evidence from 330 patients.

Although the human adenovirus infection is common, adenovirus infection with liver dysfunction is rare. To retrospectively analyze and compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of pediatric patients diagnosed with severe adenovirus pneumonia with and without liver dysfunction, who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of Hunan Children's Hospital (South China University) between January 2018 and June 2022. Of the 330 severe adenovirus pneumonia cases analyzed (mean age, 19.88 ± 18.26 months), 102 were girls and 228 were boys. They were divided into two groups: those with liver dysfunction (n = 54) and without liver dysfunction (n = 276). Comparison analysis showed no significant between-group differences in body mass index and levels of white blood cells, neutrophils, platelets, albumin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, creatine kinase, procalcitonin, creatinine, and urea nitrogen. However, the levels of alanine aminotransferase (175.99 U/L vs 30.55 U/L) and aspartate transaminase (215.96 U/L vs 74.30 U/L) were significantly higher in patients with liver dysfunction compared to those without liver dysfunction. Further analysis showed that pediatric patients with liver dysfunction had a significantly lower percentage of natural killer (NK) cells (6.93% vs 8.71%) and higher mortality rate (22% vs 9%) than those without liver dysfunction. A decrease in serum NK cell levels in pediatric patients with severe adenovirus pneumonia could serve as a marker for monitoring the onset or progression of hepatic damage.

A hemodialysis case with fungemia due to Candida parapsilosis after COVID-19 infection

Bacterial and fungal infections may emerge with or following COVID-19 infection. Corticosteroids, antibiotics, and other therapies utilized in severe cases of COVID-19 pneumonia may pose a risk for fungal infections. In this paper, we present the case of a 59-year-old female patient with underlying chronic renal failure and diabetes who received long-term corticosteroid therapy for COVID-19 pneumonia and subsequently developed fungemia and catheter infection due to Candida parapsilosis. We removed her subclavian catheter and administered amphotericin -B therapy for 37 days. Overall, we recommend keeping in mind that opportunistic fungal infections may emerge in patients receiving long-term immunosuppressive drug therapy due to COVID-19 with risk factors such as hemodialysis, central venous catheter use, and broad-spectrum antibiotic use.

Diagnosis, treatment protocols, and outcomes of liver transplant recipients infected with COVID-19.

Several cases of fatal pneumonia during November 2019 were linked initially to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which the World Health Organization later designated as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. In the general population, COVID-19 severity can range from asymptomatic/mild symptoms to seriously ill. Its mortality rate could be as high as 49%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have acknowledged that people with specific underlying medical conditions, among those who need immunosuppression after solid organ transplantation (SOT), are at an increased risk of developing severe illness from COVID-19. Liver transplantation is the second most prevalent SOT globally. Due to their immunosuppressed state, liver transplant (LT) recipients are more susceptible to serious infections. Therefore, comorbidities and prolonged immunosuppression among SOT recipients enhance the likelihood of severe COVID-19. It is crucial to comprehend the clinical picture, immunosuppressive management, prognosis, and prophylaxis of COVID-19 infection because it may pose a danger to transplant recipients. This review described the clinical and laboratory findings of COVID-19 in LT recipients and the risk factors for severe disease in this population group. In the following sections, we discussed current COVID-19 therapy choices, reviewed standard practice in modifying immunosuppressant regimens, and outlined the safety and efficacy of currently licensed drugs for inpatient and outpatient management. Additionally, we explored the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in LT recipients and mentioned the efficacy and safety of vaccination use.

Prevalence of atypical pathogens in patients with severe pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectivesWe aimed to summarise the prevalence of atypical pathogens in patients with severe pneumonia to understand the prevalence of severe pneumonia caused by atypical pathogens, improve clinical decision-making and guide...

Post covid lung fibrosis (PCLF) or post covid lung sequelae (PCLS) in treated case of severe COVID-19 Pneumonia case in Intensive care unit with ventilatory support and home oxygen therapy for twelve weeks

Lung fibrosis is final radiological outcome of COVID-19 pneumonia documented in proportionately majority of cases. Post COVID lung fibrosis is considered as worrisome radiological complication observed during early phase of pandemic. Time trends of final radiological outcome has evolved over months with or without treatment with antifibrotics and steroids. Importantly, Post covid lung fibrosis resolved more than fifty percent cases in six months and nearly in all cases after one year. In this case report we have documented PCLF in 32-year male hospitalized for severe COVID-19 illness with acute hypoxic respiratory failure secondary to ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome). He required high flow nasal canula oxygen supplementation with noninvasive ventilatory support for three weeks. He responded to medical treatment such as injection remdesivir, methylprednisolone and low molecular weight heparin injection. He was discharged to home with advice for home oxygen therapy and medicines such as steroids and antifibrotics Nintedanib. He required oxygen for twelve weeks. His chest imaging done at one year shown residual post covid sequel without any cardiopulmonary and exercise performance impact.

Epidemiology and Characteristics of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Pneumonia in Critically Ill Adults.

Severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated pneumonia in adults has rarely been addressed. We investigated the burden and clinical characteristics of severe RSV-associated pneumonia in critically ill adult patients. We analyzed a prospective cohort of 2865 adults with severe pneumonia who were admitted to the intensive care unit in a 2700-bed tertiary care hospital from 2010 to 2019. The epidemiology, characteristics, and outcomes of 92 cases of severe RSV-associated pneumonia and 163 cases of severe influenza virus (IFV)-associated pneumonia were compared. Of 1589 cases of severe community-acquired pneumonia, the incidence of RSV-associated pneumonia was less than half that of IFV-associated pneumonia (3.4% vs 8.1%). However, among 1276 cases of severe hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), there were slightly more cases of RSV-associated than IFV-associated pneumonia (3.8% vs 3.5%). During the 9 epidemic seasons, RSV-A (5 seasons) and RSV-B (4 seasons) predominated alternately. Structural lung disease, diabetes mellitus, and malignancy were common underlying diseases in both groups. Immunocompromise (57.6% vs 34.4%; P < .001) and hospital acquisition (47.8% vs 23.9%; P < .001) were significantly more common in the RSV group. Coinfection with Streptococcus pneumoniae (3.3% vs 9.8%; P = .08) and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (1.1% vs 6.8%; P = .06) tended to be less frequent in the RSV group. The 90-day mortality was high in both groups (39.1% vs 40.5%; P = .89). RSV infection was associated with substantial morbidity and mortality in critically ill adult patients, similar to IFV. The relatively higher incidence of RSV in severe HAP suggests that the transmissibility of RSV can exceed that of IFV in a hospital setting.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MALNUTRITION AND SEVERE PNEUMONIA AMONG TODDLERS IN EAST JAVA, INDONESIA : AN ECOLOGICAL STUDY

ABSTRACT Background: The case of toddler mortality in the world due to pneumonia is still relatively high. In community-acquired-pneumonia, severity was an independent risk factor for death. Malnutrition and infectious diseases have a mutually influential relationship with each other. The high cases of pneumonia and malnutrition in toddlers in East Java Province need to be considered because they will support the welfare of the 3rd Sustainable Development Goal, in this case, it is necessary to conduct research on nutrition and pneumonia in toddlers in East Java Province Purpose: To analyze the relationship between malnutrition and severe pneumonia in toddlers in East Java Province in 2019-2020 Methods: This research design used an ecological study with district/city in the East Java Province as the analysis unit. The data were taken from the health profile of East Java Province. The data analysis technique used was the Spearman test. Results: The study showed that there was a relationship between malnutrition and pneumonia in toddlers because p = 0.001 &lt; = 0.05. Conclusion: There is a strong relationship between cases of severe pneumonia and malnutrition in toddlers in the East Java Province in 2019-2020 with a positive relationship direction.

Comparison of Short-Term Versus Long-Term Antibiotic Therapy Among Severe Cases of Pneumonia: A Prospective Observational Study Among Children.

Introduction Pneumonia continues to be the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children younger than five years. The World Health Organization (WHO)recommends intravenous antibiotics for five days for severe pneumonia. However, the optimum duration of parenteral antibiotic therapy for pneumonia is not practicable and feasible in poor and resource-constrained settings like India. Given thecurrent Indian scenario wherein childhood pneumonia is extremely prevalent, we attempted to undertake this study to compare theduration of antibiotic therapy in severe cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods A prospective observational study was carried out on 225 cases of severe and very severe CAP patients at a tertiary care center. The study group included children between two months to five years of age. The participants were subjected to antibiotic therapy (parenteral) plus supportive care. The selection of antibiotics was empirical and according to the WHO acute respiratory infection control program. Hematological parameters including blood hemoglobin, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and total leukocyte count, and radiological evaluation were performed on all the participants. Cases were followed up for the duration of clinical response. Results Out of the 225 cases, 25 patients did not respond to antibiotics and were categorized as the treatment failure group. Of the remaining 200 cases, 104 (52%) showed clinical response within three days (3.0±0.016), and 96 showed a response in four to seven days (4.4±0.064). The mean duration of antibiotic therapy among short-course versus long-course treatment wasstatistically significant (p<0.0001). The majority of patients developed leukocytosis, neutrophilia, and elevated ESR. Conclusion Short-course parenteral antibiotics therapy was equally effective as long-coursetherapy in severe pneumonia. However, very severe pneumonia patients required a longer course of parenteral antibiotics therapy.Very severe pneumonia was significantly associated with high mortality and treatment failure.

Hospitalization costs of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia in Shanghai

Objective: To investigate the epidemiology and hospitalization costs of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in Shanghai. Methods: A retrospective case summary was conducted on 63 614 hospitalized children with CAP in 59 public hospitals in Shanghai from January 2018 to December 2020. These children's medical records, including their basic information, diagnosis, procedures, and costs, were extracted. According to the medical institutions they were admitted, the patients were divided into the children's hospital group, the tertiary general hospital group and the secondary hospital group; according to the age, they were divided into <1 year old group, 1-<3 years old group, 3-<6 years old group, 6-<12 years old group and 12-18 years old group; according to the CAP severity, they were divided into severe pneumonia group and non-severe pneumonia group; according to whether an operation was conducted, the patients were divided into the operation group and the non-operation group. The epidemiological characteristics and hospitalization costs were compared among the groups. The χ2 test or Wilcoxon rank sum test was used for the comparisons between two groups as appropriate, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test was conducted for comparisons among multiple groups. Results: A total of 63 614 hospitalized children with CAP were enrolled, including 34 243 males and 29 371 females. Their visiting age was 4 (2, 6) years. The length of stay was 6 (5, 8) days. There were 17 974 cases(28.3%) in the secondary hospital group, 35 331 cases (55.5%) in the tertiary general hospital group and 10 309 cases (16.2%) in the children's hospital group. Compared with the hospitalizations cases in 2018 (27 943), the cases in 2019 (29 009) increased by 3.8% (1 066/27 943), while sharply declined by 76.2% (21 281/27 943) in 2020 (6 662). There were significant differences in the proportion of patients from other provinces and severe pneumonia cases, and the hospitalization costs among the children's hospital, secondary hospital and tertiary general hospital (7 146 cases(69.3%) vs. 2 202 cases (12.3%) vs. 9 598 cases (27.2%), 6 929 cases (67.2%) vs. 2 270 cases (12.6%) vs. 9 397 cases (26.6%), 8 304 (6 261, 11 219) vs. 1 882 (1 304, 2 796) vs. 3 195 (2 364, 4 352) CNY, χ2=10 462.50, 9 702.26, 28 037.23, all P<0.001). The annual total hospitalization costs of pediatric CAP from 2018 to 2020 were 110 million CNY, 130 million CNY and 40 million CNY, respectively. And the cost for each hospitalization increased year by year, which was 2 940 (1 939, 4 438), 3 215 (2 126, 5 011) and 3 673 (2 274, 6 975) CNY, respectively. There were also significant differences in the hospitalization expenses in the different age groups of <1 year old, 1-<3 years old, 3-<6 years old, 6-<12 years old and 12-18 years old (5 941 (2 787, 9 247) vs. 2 793 (1 803, 4 336) vs. 3 013 (2 070, 4 329) vs. 3 473 (2 400, 5 097) vs. 4 290 (2 837, 7 314) CNY, χ2=3 462.39, P<0.001). The hospitalization cost of severe pneumonia was significantly higher than that of non-severe cases (5 076 (3 250, 8 364) vs. 2 685 (1 780, 3 843) CNY, Z=109.77, P<0.001). The cost of patients who received operation was significantly higher than that of whom did not (10 040 (4 583, 14 308) vs. 3 083 (2 025, 4 747) CNY, Z=44.46, P<0.001). Conclusions: The number of children hospitalized with CAP in Shanghai decreased significantly in 2020 was significantly lower than that in 2018 and 2019.The proportion of patients from other provinces and with severe pneumonia are mainly admitted in children's hospitals. Hospitalization costs are higher in children's hospitals, and also for children younger than 1 year old, severe cases and patients undergoing operations.

A new challenge for the liver in the 21st century

Recently accumulating evidence suggests that if patients have existing diffuse liver disease, the risk of developing serious complications both for the liver itself and for the course of COVID-19 increases significantly. The presented article provides information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social aspects of human life, changes in the daily routine, which has a particularly unfavorable course on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In turn, a relationship has been found between progressive liver fibrosis in NAFLD patients and the severe course of COVID-19. It is noted that in patients with alcoholic liver disease the incidence of which increases with self-isolation, cases of severe bilateral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome with unfavorable outcomes, including cardiopulmonary and multiple organ failure, have been described. It is shown that patients with cirrhosis of the liver, especially those with decompensated form, are the most vulnerable group of patients, since immune dysfunction makes them prone to any type of infection, including COVID-19, with potentially serious consequences. It was noted that the risk of detecting liver cancer at later stages increased in about 25% of patients with a biologically aggressive type of disease against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19-Related life-threatening complications: pneumothorax, pneumo mediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema

Complications of COVID-19-related pneumothorax, subcutaneous emphysema, and pneumomediastinum are frequently observed in moderate and severe pneumonia cases. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence and potential risk factors of life-threatening complications such as pneumothorax, pneumo-mediastinum, and subcutaneous emphysema that develop in patients received in the tertiary ICUs of our hospital, which serves as a pandemic hospital and to analyze their relationship with mortality. Patients' demographic characteristics, comorbid diseases, length of hospital stay, day and duration of thoracic tube placement, discharge status, and hospitalization laboratory findings were recorded, and the relationship of these parameters with mortality due to pneumothorax, subcutaneous emphysema, and pneumomediastinum were investigated. Of these patients, 33 had pneumothorax, 12 had pneumomediastinum, and 28 had subcutaneous emphysema. Male and female patients were equally represented, and mortality rates were similar. While the rate of pneumothorax in the study patients was 2.21 %, the rate of all life-threatening sequelae such as pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, and subcutaneous emphysema was 4.7 %, with a high mortality rate (90 %) in 70 patients with these complications. Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia should be constantly monitored for life-threatening complications such as pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, and subcutaneous emphysema during their long-term follow-up.

Molecular Biomarker Identification Using a Network-Based Bioinformatics Approach That Links COVID-19 With Smoking.

The COVID-19 coronavirus, which primarily affects the lungs, is the source of the disease known as SARS-CoV-2. According to "Smoking and COVID-19: a scoping review," about 32% of smokers had a severe case of COVID-19 pneumonia at their admission time and 15% of non-smokers had this case of COVID-19 pneumonia. We were able to determine which genes were expressed differently in each group by comparing the expression of gene transcriptomic datasets of COVID-19 patients, smokers, and healthy controls. In all, 37 dysregulated genes are common in COVID-19 patients and smokers, according to our analysis. We have applied all important methods namely protein-protein interaction, hub-protein interaction, drug-protein interaction, tf-gene interaction, and gene-MiRNA interaction of bioinformatics to analyze to understand deeply the connection between both smoking and COVID-19 severity. We have also analyzed Pathways and Gene Ontology where 5 significant signaling pathways were validated with previous literature. Also, we verified 7 hub-proteins, and finally, we validated a total of 7 drugs with the previous study.

An unusual case of severe pneumonia caused by Tropheryma whipplei combined with Legionella pneumophila.

An unusual case of severe pneumonia caused by Tropheryma whipplei combined with Legionella pneumophila.

Comparative Genome Analysis of 19 Trueperella pyogenes Strains Originating from Different Animal Species Reveal a Genetically Diverse Open Pan-Genome.

Trueperella pyogenes is a Gram-positive opportunistic pathogen that causes severe cases of mastitis, metritis, and pneumonia in a wide range of animals, resulting in significant economic losses. Although little is known about the virulence factors involved in the disease pathogenesis, a comprehensive comparative genome analysis of T. pyogenes genomes has not been performed till date. Hence, present investigation was carried out to characterize and compare 19 T. pyogenes genomes originating in different geographical origins including the draftgenome of the first Indian origin strain T. pyogenes Bu5. Additionally, candidate virulence determinants that could be crucial for their pathogenesis were also detected and analyzed by using various bioinformatics tools. The pan-genome calculations revealed an open pan-genome of T. pyogenes. In addition, an inventory of virulence related genes, 190 genomic islands, 31 prophage sequences, and 40 antibiotic resistance genes that could play a significant role in organism's pathogenicity were detected. The core-genome based phylogeny of T. pyogenes demonstrates a polyphyletic, host-associated group with a high degree of genomic diversity. The identified core-genome can be further used for screening of drug and vaccine targets. The investigation has provided unique insights into pan-genome, virulome, mobiliome, and resistome of T. pyogenes genomes and laid the foundation for future investigations.

Integrative Effects between a Bubble and Seal Program and Workers’ Compliance to Health Advice on Successful COVID-19 Transmission Control in a Factory in Southern Thailand

Applying health measures to prevent COVID-19 transmission caused disruption of businesses. A practical plan to balance public health and business sustainability during the pandemic was needed. Herein, we describe a "Bubble and Seal" (B&S) program implemented in a frozen seafood factory in southern Thailand. We enrolled 1539 workers who lived in the factory dormitories. First, the workers who had a high fatality risk were triaged by RT-PCR tests, quarantined and treated if they had COVID-19. Newly diagnosed or suspected COVID-19 workers underwent the same practices. The non-quarantined workers were regulated to work and live in their groups without contact across the groups. Workers' personal hygiene and preventive measures were strongly stressed. Between the 6th and 9th weeks of the program, the post-COVID-19 infection status (PCIS) of all participants was evaluated by mass COVID-19 antibody or RT-PCR tests. Finally, 91.8% of the workers showed positive PCIS, which was above the number required for program exit. Although no workers had received a vaccination, there was only one case of severe COVID-19 pneumonia, and no evidence of COVID-19 spreading to the surrounding communities. Implementation of the B&S program and workers' adherence to health advice was the key to this success.