International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jul 2020
COVID-19 outbreak reproduction number estimations and forecasting in Marche, Italy.
COVID-19 disease is becoming a global pandemic and more than 200 countries were affected because of this disease. Italy is one of the countries is largely suffered with this virus outbreak, and about 180,000 cases (as of 20 April 2020) were registered which explains the large transmissibility and reproduction case numbers. ⋯ This study highlights the knowledge of essential insights into the Marche region in particular to virus transmission dynamics, geographical characteristics of positive incidences, and the necessity of implementing mitigation procedures to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Diagnosing pulmonary blastomycosis (PB) requires the detection of Blastomyces dermatitidis in pulmonary secretions or tissue, which can be achieved via bronchoscopic procedures like bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) or brush and transbronchial biopsy (TBBx). This descriptive study retrieved the data of PB that was diagnosed by bronchoscopy to define which bronchoscopic procedure produced the highest yield. ⋯ BAL is probably enough to diagnose PB. Also, it had the best yield when performed earlier, regardless of whether it was performed first in order or not. BAL culture had a better yield in detecting Blastomyces dermatitidis over fungal stain and cytology.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jul 2020
Do superspreaders generate new superspreaders? A hypothesis to explain the propagation pattern of COVID-19.
The current global propagation of COVID-19 is heterogeneous, with slow transmission continuing in many countries and exponential propagation in others, where the time that it took for the explosive spread to begin varied greatly. It is proposed that this could be explained by cascading superspreading events, in which new infections caused by a superspreader are more likely to be highly infectious. ⋯ Exposure to high viral loads may result in high-intensity infection, which exposes new cases to high viral loads. This notion is supported by experimental veterinary research.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jul 2020
Case ReportsA case of transient existence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the respiratory tract with the absence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody response.
We report the case of a patient who had travelled to Japan and who presented mild respiratory symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak period. There was transient existence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in his oropharynx. ⋯ An anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody response was absent in the acute and convalescent sera. The reported case indicates that transient colonization of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract is possible without inciting any antibody response against the virus.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Jul 2020
Case ReportsOne case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a patient co-infected by HIV with a low CD4+ T-cell count.
The ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 that began in Wuhan, China, become an emergency of international concern when thousands of people were infected around the world. This study reports a case simultaneously infected by SARS-Cov-2 and HIV, which showed a longer disease course and slower generation of specific antibodies. This case highlights that a co-infection of SARS-Cov-2 and HIV may severely impair the immune system.