Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases

Bacterial multiresistance to drugs is a rapidly growing global phenomenon. New resistance mechanisms have been described in different bacterial pathogens, threatening the effective treatment of even common infectious diseases. The problem worsens in infections associated with biofilms because, in addition to the pathogen's multiresistance, the biofilm provides a barrier that prevents antimicrobial access. Several "non-antibiotic" drugs have antimicrobial activity, even though it is not their primary therapeutic purpose...

BACKGROUND: Although meningitis caused by Salmonella species is relatively rare and accounts for <1% of the confirmed cases in neonates, it is associated with case complications and fatality rates up to 50-70% when compared to other forms of Gram-negative bacilli meningitis. OBJECTIVES: We conducted an investigation into the first reported case of neonatal meningitis caused by nontyphoidal S. enterica in Jazan, a region in the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia...

INTRODUCTION: The imbalance of the immune response is an important factor contributing to the incidence of ocular toxoplasmosis (OT). Regulatory T cells (Treg) play a key role in maintaining the balance between Th1 and Th17 immune responses, while interleukin-27 (IL-27) levels are related to the differentiation of Th17 cells. This study analyzes the differences in the number of Treg cells and the level of IL-27 between OT patients and seropositive individuals without ocular lesions and its correlation with retinal lesion size...

INTRODUCTION: Mother-to-child transmission remains an important mode of transmission of hepatitis B infection particularly in endemic areas. The knowledge and practices of pregnant women about mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) may influence the uptake of strategies to reduce mother-to-child transmission of infection. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the knowledge and willingness to uptake hepatitis B virus infection preventive services among pregnant women in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria...

BACKGROUND: Achieving a suitable medical laboratory index is very important for the prediction of clinical outcome of COVID-19 patients hospitalized to the intensive care unit (ICU). The correlation between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and unfavorable outcome of COVID-19 patients hospitalized to ICU was the aim of this study. METHODS: We evaluated a cross-sectional study of 312 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized to the ICU (confirmed by PCR and CT-Scan), in Babol city, Mazandaran province...

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common chronic diseases, the main manifestation of which is hyperglycemia, and is accompanied by many complications. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, several studies have reported the occurrence of various complications associated with different degrees of hyperglycemia in COVID-19 patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the glycemic characteristics and clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19...

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) as a common complication among inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been reported to increase worldwide and has been associated with a poor IBD outcome. OBJECTIVES: In this study, our aim was to report on the prevalence of CDI among IBD vs. non-IBD patients in King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC). METHODS: This retrospective descriptive study was carried out between 2016 and 2020...

The clinical course and severity of COVID-19 vary among patients. This study aimed to investigate the potential correlation between the gene polymorphisms of the interferon receptor ( IFNAR2 ) rs2236757 and oligoadenylate synthetase 3 ( OAS3 ) rs10735079 with the risk of COVID-19 infection and its severity among Palestinian patients. The study was conducted between April and May 2021 on 154 participants who were divided into three groups: the control group (RT-PCR-negative, n  = 52), the community cases group (RT-PCR-positive, n  = 70), and the critically ill cases (ICU group; n  = 32)...

BACKGROUND: Shigellosis is the most common cause of epidemic dysentery found worldwide, particularly in developing countries, where it causes infant diarrhea and mortality. The prevalence of Shigella species resistant to commonly used antimicrobial drugs has steadily increased. The purpose of this review is to describe the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) characteristics of Shigella species in East Africa between 2015 and 2022. METHODS: Studies were identified using a computerized search of Medline/PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science databases, with a detailed search strategy and cross-checking of reference lists for studies published between 2015 and 2022...

BACKGROUND: Bacterial urinary tract infections are important public health problems in children. This study was conducted to identify the bacterial agents of urinary tract infections and antibiogram patterns in children. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study including 220 children was carried out between November 15, 2021, and March 10, 2022. Simple random sampling was used to enroll participants. The sociodemographic and clinically pertinent information was gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire...

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a highly contagious and rapidly spreading disease with significant fatality in the elderly population, has swept across the world since 2019. Since its first appearance, the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has undergone multiple mutations, with Omicron as the predominant circulating variant of concern at the moment. The gold standard for diagnosis of COVID-19 by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect the virus is laborious and requires well-trained personnel to perform sophisticated procedures...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the side effects associated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy and provide recommendations to prevent them in patients with diabetic foot ulcers. INTRODUCTION: The use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers remains a contentious issue, and minimizing side effects is critical. While the incidence of side effects related to hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2 ) therapy is low, it is essential to evaluate cases in a multifaceted and interdisciplinary manner to prevent adverse outcomes...

Toxocariasis as a common neglected disease is the culprit of infecting all age groups. The current cross-sectional study was designed to assess the seroprevalence of toxocariasis and risk factors associated with seropositivity of Toxocara infection among the general population of adults in the Kavar district, south of Iran. A total of 1060 participants with an age range of 35 to 70 years from the Kavar region entered the study. Manual ELISA was utilized to detect anti- Toxocara -specific antibodies in their serum samples...

BACKGROUND: Data from developed/developed countries have shown that hospital-acquired blood infections (HA-BSIs) are one of the most severe nosocomial infections and constitute 20%-60% of hospitalization-related deaths. Despite the high morbidity and mortality rates and the enormous burden of health care costs associated with HA-BSIs, to our knowledge, there are few published reports on HA-BSI prevalence estimates in Arab countries, including Oman. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to explore the HA-BSI prevalence estimates over selected sociodemographic characteristics among admitted patients at a tertiary hospital in Oman over five years of follow-up...

COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 has impacted human livelihood globally. Strenuous efforts have been employed for its control and prevention; however, with recent reports on mutated strains with much higher infectivity, transmissibility, and ability to evade immunity developed from previous SARS-CoV-2 infections, prevention alternatives must be prepared beforehand in case. We have perused over 128 recent works (found on Google Scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect as of February 2023) on medicinal plants and their compounds for anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity and eventually reviewed 102 of them...

The discovery of proteinaceous infectious agents by Prusiner in 1982 was sensational. All previously known pathogens contained nucleic acids, the code of life, that enabled them to reproduce. In contrast, the proteinaceous agents of disease, called prion proteins (PrP), lacked nucleic acids and propagated by binding to the functional, endogenous form of cellular prion protein (referred to as PrPC ) and altering its conformation to produce the infectious disease-causing misfolded protein (referred to as PrPSc )...

Quinoline-based molecules are major constituents in natural products, active pharmacophores, and have excellent biological activities. Using 2 H -thiopyrano[2,3- b ]quinoline derivatives and CB1a protein (PDB ID: 2IGR), the molecular docking study has been revealed in this article. The study of in silico molecular docking analysis of such derivatives to determine the binding affinity, residual interaction, and hydrogen bonding of several 2 H -thiopyrano[2,3- b ]quinolines against CB1a is reported here. The current work demonstrated that 2 H -thiopyrano[2,3- b ]quinoline derivatives could be effective antitumor agents to produce potent anticancer medicines in the near future...

BACKGROUND: Mask wearing can restrict the spread of respiratory viral transmission during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, governments have emphasized its use in workplaces and public areas to prevent the transmission routes of corona virus. In spite of the current awareness in the general population, the stringency of wearing the mask lies as an individual's choices. Subject and Methods . This research work discusses available studies on the types and comparison of masks in the market for use...

OBJECTIVE: The design and implementation of an online dashboard to support data-driven decision-making and joint coordination between health institutions and government bodies in the Balkan countries faced with new COVID-19 waves in the region. METHODS: Shiny R dashboard tracks COVID-19 in real-time using a comparative approach to interactively visualize national-level data from various official sources. RESULTS: The dashboard, named COVID-19 Situation in Balkan countries can be accessed online (COVID-19 Situation in Balkan countries)...

Patients infected with COVID-19 are at an increased risk for thrombosis, suggesting a possible role of COVID-19 in the induction of coagulopathy. This study aimed to investigate the presence of prothrombotic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) in the course of COVID-19 infection and to correlate these markers with severity and fatality, suggesting that COVID-19-induced autoimmune thrombosis is a possible axis in the inflammatory circuit of this infection. To investigate this, we conducted a case-control study which included patients with a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test of COVID-19 and a control group with negative COVID-19 PCR and antibody (IgG-IgM and IgA nucleoprotein) ELISA results...