ABSTRACT
Background@#To address the public’s fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), understanding the clinical features of the disease is essential. However, research on the clinical features of COVID-19, including illness duration and post-acute COVID-19, in Korean pediatric patients has been limited. Therefore, this study investigated the clinical features of COVID-19 based on the medical records of pediatric patients with a history of COVID-19 who visited a single center. @*Methods@#In total, 311 patients were included in this study. The presence and duration of 19 symptoms were examined. Additionally, clinical features were investigated by dividing the patients into different age ranges. Patients aged 6 and above were further categorized according to the presence of asthma, while adolescent patients were divided into vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. @*Results@#Fever and cough were the most common symptoms. The mean illness duration was 2–4 days. Only 3.5% of the patients were asymptomatic. Post-acute COVID-19 was observed in 13.2% of the patients. The incidence of most symptoms tended to increase with age. Post-acute COVID-19 was observed more frequently in patients with asthma than in those without asthma. Vaccinated patients experienced less fever, vomiting, and fatigue than unvaccinated patients. @*Conclusions@#Our data suggest that most patients had mild disease lasting less than a week, and the clinical course may differ depending on the presence of asthma. The findings also indicate that vaccination may alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19 in breakthrough infections.
ABSTRACT
Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCLs) are a group CD30-positive mature T-cell lymphomas, an uncommon subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphomas, characterized by diverse clinical and genetic features. Among the types of ALCL, anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-negative ALCL, though typically involves the lymph nodes, can infrequently invade other tissues. When soft tissue involvement occurs, it may mimic the clinical presentation of infectious diseases, leading to potential misdiagnosis. Therefore, a histological examination is necessary to differentiate between ALK-negative ALCL and similar phenotypes associated with infectious conditions. This paper reports a case of ALCL, initially misdiagnosed as an infection.
ABSTRACT
Background/Aims@#Although the incidence and mortality of tuberculosis are decreasing in South Korea, the number of applications for financial assistance with the cost of tuberculosis treatment made by individuals from vulnerable groups was 3.8 times higher in 2019 compared to 2017 (Tuberculosis Relief Belt Project, 2019). @*Methods@#We analyzed the data of patients who received financial aid for tuberculosis treatment (in the period 2014-2018) from the Tuberculosis Relief Belt Project, which was designed to assist vulnerable groups. This study analyzed 137 subjects, and the independent variables included patient factors (age, gender, nationality, tuberculosis type, number of comorbidities, and place of residence) and treatment type (outpatient or inpatient). The dependent variable was the treatment outcome. @*Results@#The likelihood of treatment success was significantly lower for patients with one (odds ratio [OR] 0.202), two (OR 0.147), or three or more (OR 0.070) comorbidities compared to those with no comorbidities. This was also the case for patients living alone (OR 0.097), and for those classified as homeless (OR 0.053). Korean patients (OR 8.512) had a significantly higher probability of a successful treatment outcome than foreigners. @*Conclusions@#Appropriate community-based management of individuals with tuberculosis from vulnerable groups, including foreigners, people with comorbidities, people living alone, and people with an unstable residential situation or homeless status, is important.
ABSTRACT
Interferons (IFNs) have been known as antiviral genes and they are classified by type 1, type 2, and type 3 IFN. The type 1 IFN consists of IFNα, IFNβ, IFNτ, and IFNω whereas the type 2 IFN consists of only IFNγ, which is a key cytokine driving T helper cell type 1 immunity. IFNλ belongs to the type 3 IFN, which is also known as IL-28 and IL-29 possessing antiviral activities. Type 1 IFN is produced by viral infection whereas type 2 IFN is induced by mitogenic or antigenic T-cell stimuli. The IFNτ of bovine was first discovered in an ungulate ruminant recognition hormone. IFNτ belongs to the type 1 IFN with the common feature of type 1 IFN such as antiviral activity. IFNs have been mostly studied for basic research and clinical usages therefore there was no effort to investigate IFNs in industrial animals. Here we cloned porcine IFNα8 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Korean domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica). The newly cloned IFNα8 amino acid sequence from Korean domestic pig shares 98.4% identity with the known porcine IFNα8 in databank. The recombinant porcine IFNα8 showed potent antiviral activity and protected bovine Madin-Darby bovine kidney epithelial (MDBK) cells from the cytopathic effect of vesicular stomatitis virus, but it failed to protect human Wistar Institute Susan Hayflick (WISH) cells and canine Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial-like (MDCK) cells. The present study demonstrates species specific antiviral activity of porcine IFNα8.