J Formos Med Assoc
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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of childhood pneumonia, but there is limited understanding of whether bacterial co-infections affect clinical severity. ⋯ RSV related bacterial co-infections were not uncommon and assoicated with ICU admission, especially for young children, and more attention should be given. For empirical antibacterial treatment, high-dose amoxicillin-clavulanic acid or ampicillin-sulbactam was recommended for non-severe cases; vancomycin and third-generation cephalosporins were suggested for critically ill patients requiring ICU care.
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In 2019, a large outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) occurred in China. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively analyze the evolution of chest computed tomography (CT) imaging features in COVID-19. Nine patients with positive real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction results were included in this study. ⋯ Lesion load at the first week of disease was significantly higher in severe group (p = 0.03). Our study revealed that several CT features were significantly different between severely and mildly infected forms of COVID-19 pneumonia. The CT lesion load value at the first week of infection may be applied as an outcome predictor of the disease.
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We estimated loss-of-life expectancy (LE) and lifetime medical expenditures (LME) stratified by stages to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of breast cancer (BC) screening in Taiwan. ⋯ Mammography could detect BC early and be cost-saving after adjustment for different distributions of age and calendar year of diagnosis. Future studies exploring healthcare expenditure and impaired quality of life for false-positive cases are warranted.
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Of the types of pulmonary hypertension, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) may be cured through pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA). In this study, we investigated patient experiences with PEA for CTEPH treatment in Taiwan. ⋯ When pre-operative and post-operative statuses were compared, we found a significant improvement in NYHA FC and 6MWT distance. Our study also found a lower in-hospital mortality rate compared to other published studies, except compared to the newer data provided by the University of California, San Diego group.
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Healthcare personnel (HCP) at the front line of care are exposed to occupational hazards that place them at risk for infection, which then endanger patient safety and compromise the capability of the healthcare workforce. As of March 8, 2021 more than 420,170 HCP in US had been infected with SARS CoV-2 with 1388 deaths. In two Taiwan hospitals COVID-19 outbreaks involved HCP and resulted in shutdown of service. This report describes our prospective health surveillance of the HCP and COVID-19 containment measures in a teaching hospital in Taiwan during Jan. 1 through June 30, 2020. ⋯ We attribute our success in preventing COVID-19 infections among HCP to rapid, proactive, decisive, integrated national and institutional response in the early stages of the epidemic.