Journal of internal medicine
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Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) is recommended at birth in TB-endemic areas. Currently, BCG vaccination programmes use "BCG vaccination coverage by 12 months of age" as the performance indicator. Previous studies suggest that BCG-vaccinated children, who develop a scar, have better overall survival compared with BCG-vaccinated children, who do not develop a scar. ⋯ Confounding and genetic factors are unlikely to explain the strong association between BCG scarring and subsequent survival. Including "BCG scar prevalence" as a BCG vaccination programme performance indicator should be considered. The effect of revaccinating scar-negative children should be studied.
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Diabetes increases the risk of infections and coronary heart disease (CHD). Whether infections increase the risk of CHD and how this applies to individuals with diabetes is unclear. ⋯ Bacterial infections are associated with an increased risk of incident CHD in individuals with type 1 diabetes.
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Epidemiological and clinical features of patients with COVID-19 have been reported, but none of them focused on medical staff, and few predictors of the duration of viral shedding have been reported. It is urgent to help healthcare workers prevent and recover quickly from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ⋯ Medical staff with timely medical interventions show milder clinical features. Glucocorticoid treatment and lymphocytes less than 1.1 × 109/L are associated with prolonged viral shedding. Early admission and rIFN-α treatment help shorten the duration of viral shedding.