Journal of Infection in Developing Countries

INTRODUCTION: Invasive Candida infections have recently shown a significant increase in prevalence and are associated with high mortality rates. Initiating early antifungal treatment in patients with candidemia is vital. The aim of our study was to compare the antifungal susceptibility results of a new method called Flat Plate Method modified from reference "Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) microdilution method by us with Sensitititre Yeast One colorimetric method and the reference CLSI method...

INTRODUCTION: Given the stagnating progress in the fight against dengue in Kota Kinabalu, there is an urgent need to use other strategies to complement the existing vector control, focusing on larviciding. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has been used in vector control programs in many countries. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of using UAVs for larviciding to control Aedes mosquitoes in urban areas. METHODOLOGY: The Hexarotor Agro Drone (Polardrone Sdn Bhd, Malaysia) was used to carry out larviciding using Vectobac® manufactured by Valent BioSciences LLC, Libertyville, USA...

INTRODUCTION: Poliovirus (PV) and non-polio enteroviruses (NPEV) belong to the Picornaviridae family. They are found worldwide and are responsible for a wide range of diseases such as acute flaccid paralysis (AFP). This study aimed to evaluate the detection rate of PV and NPEV in stool samples from children under fifteen years of age presenting with AFP in Cameroon and their distribution over time. METHODOLOGY: Stool samples were collected as part of poliovirus surveillance throughout Cameroon from 2015 to 2020...

INTRODUCTION: Linezolid (LZD) plays an important role in the treatment of severe infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. Thrombocytopenia is regarded as one of the most common side effects of linezolid, which results from the destruction of platelets or myelosuppression. The study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with the development of thrombocytopenia in Vietnamese patients. METHODOLOGY: This retrospective, descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on adult patients who received parenteral LZD therapy (1,200 mg/day) in at least 3 days between January 2020 and June 2021 at a tertiary referral hospital in Vietnam...

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to determine the clinical predictors of staphylococcal ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and to compare the outcomes of staphylococcal VAP with non-staphylococcal VAP. METHODOLOGY: A retrospective observational study was conducted among adult patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) in a tertiary care hospital in India from January 2017 to December 2019. The patients were grouped based on their diagnosis into staphylococcal and non-staphylococcal VAP, and the baseline characteristics, clinical parameters, co-morbidities, and outcome parameters were compared...

INTRODUCTION: Salmonella Typhi continues to be a significant global public health concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the literature pertaining to S. Typhi in lower-middle-income countries from 1990 to April 31, 2023. METHODOLOGY: The bibliographic data was collected from the Web of Science database. Various bibliometric tools were utilized to conduct bibliometric analysis and visualization. Numerous bibliometric parameters were assessed, including the top publishing organizations, countries, institutions, authors, journals with the highest publication output, citation counts, commonly used keywords, and emerging research topics...

INTRODUCTION: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, most healthcare workers (HCWs) were required to wear face masks for long periods of time. Since then, it has been shown that face masks have the potential to cause several physical adverse effects. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of face mask-related complications among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, we compared the relationship between face mask usage with other variables, including the type of mask used and gender...

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects physical and mental health of patients. This study aimed to investigate the psychological distress, level of hope, and the role of families of patients with COVID-19 in the Fangcang shelter hospital (FSH) and explore potential influencing factors. METHODOLOGY: We conducted an online observational cross-sectional study on 397 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 from two FSH in Shanghai, China from 12 April to 16 May 2022...

INTRODUCTION: Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma parvum have been recently linked to sexually transmitted diseases and other conditions. There are a limited number of studies conducted on South African pregnant women that have assessed the prevalence and risk factors for genital mycoplasmas. METHODOLOGY: This study included 264 HIV infected pregnant women attending the King Edward VIII antenatal clinic in eThekwini, South Africa. DNA was extracted using the PureLink Microbiome kit and pathogens were detected using the TaqMan Real-time PCR assays...

INTRODUCTION: Pulmonary histoplasmosis is a fungal disease that is endemic in North and Central America. It is relatively rare in China and commonly misdiagnosed as tuberculosis or cancer due to nonspecific clinical and radiographic manifestations. Rapid and accurate pathogen tests are critical for the diagnosis of pulmonary histoplasmosis. METHODOLOGY: We report two cases of pulmonary histoplasmosis. We collected all the relevant case reports on the Chinese mainland (from 1990 to 2022) to analyze features of this disease among Chinese patients...

INTRODUCTION: About one-third of acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors have suffered from persisting symptoms called long-COVID. Clinical factors such as age and intensity (moderate or acute) of COVID-19 have been found to be associated with long-COVID. Many tissues might be damaged functionally or structurally during acute COVID-19 which can be detected by blood assays and chest computed tomography (CT). We aimed to evaluate the relationship between long-COVID and the initial findings of blood assays and chest CT as possible predictors...

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to isolate and characterize antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli from urine samples of children at the Mother and Child Hospital in Ondo State, Nigeria, assessing antibiogram profiling and resistance genes. METHODOLOGY: Three hundred urine samples (158 females, 142 males), aged 3-5 years, were collected, transported on ice, and analyzed bacteriologically. E. coli and Gram-negative bacteria were isolated using Eosin Methylene Blue agar and identified through colony morphology and biochemical tests...

INTRODUCTION: We present a clinical case of a patient with neurological sequelae, dementia, gastrostomy and tracheostomy with a metal canula, who developed a lung abscess in an atypical topography, in the anterior segment of the left upper lobe, being attended to in the emergency department. CASE PRESENTATION: A 79-year-old man who was bedridden and with neurological sequelae resulting from a hemorrhagic stroke, with gastrostomy and tracheostomy with a metal canula, was attended for daily fever and increased secretion trough the canula, and a diagnosis of bronchoaspiration pneumonia was made...

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious public health problem worldwide. Drug-resistant TB is considered a major and growing global threat. Despite the great variety of described mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) resistance genes, the mechanisms of drug resistance are still controversial. Recently, a report on the role of efflux pump genes in drug resistance added to this complexity. Therefore, a thorough understanding of efflux pump genes in drug-resistant TB clinical isolates is needed...

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can have symptoms like many neurological diseases, and one of the rare forms of these presentations is opsoclonus-myoclonus ataxia syndrome (OMAS). The pathogenesis of OMAS in adults has not been clearly elucidated and OMAS can be fatal. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a 71-year-old male patient who was admitted to the emergency department with complaints of involuntary tremor-like movements in his hands, feet and mouth, and speech impediment for three days, and was followed up with COVID-19...

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension significantly contributes to the severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. It has also been a risk factor for prolonged hospitalization and the need for intensive care. However, the data is still evolving. Therefore, this study investigated the predictors of mortality among hypertensive COVID-19 patients. METHODOLOGY: A single-center cohort study was performed at Indus Hospital and Health Network, Karachi, Pakistan, between April 1, 2021, and October 31, 2021...

INTRODUCTION: Patients with severe neutropenia who develop septic shock (SS) have high mortality. This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors and mortality of SS in patients with HM and febrile neutropenia. METHODOLOGY: We included all patients with hematological malignancies (HM) who presented fever and severe neutropenia, admitted to an oncological tertiary care center in Mexico City for one year. RESULTS: Two hundred ninety-two episodes of fever and severe neutropenia were documented; 68 patients (23...

Magnusiomyces capitatus (M. capitatus) is an emerging opportunistic yeast, rarely found as a causal agent of invasive fungal infection. In this study, we report a 31-year-old man infected with M. capitatus in the oral cavity, with a history of heroin and amphetamine abuse. M. capitatus was isolated through culture and microscopic analysis and identified by PCR amplification of the ITS DNA region. Based on the in vitro antifungal susceptibility test, the lowest MICs for M. capitatus were recorded for nystatin, itraconazole, and amphotericin, while higher MICs were observed for caspofungin and fluconazole...

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies have documented the cardiovascular consequences of acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), although one of the early cardiac markers that can be used for diagnosis, the heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), has not been covered. Through the evaluation of H-FABP levels, we aim to contribute to the early diagnosis and treatment of cardiac problems in COVID-19 infection patients. METHODOLOGY: Seventy-five patients who were admitted to the emergency department of Mehmet Akif Ersoy Hospital with a complaint of chest pain in the last 6 hours and whose corona PCR tests were positive, were included in our study as the case group and 60 healthy volunteers as the control group...

INTRODUCTION: Extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains of the Salmonella lineages have been reported to spread from Africa to South Asia. XDR strains are resistant to fluoroquinolones, chloramphenicol, co-trimoxazole, and ampicillin, resulting in treatment failure. The objectives of this study included the investigation of transmission of S. Typhi lineages and the identification of the potentially contaminated sources of the XDR typhoid outbreak from different urban areas by using molecular techniques...