Stigma and its associated factors among patients with COVID-19 in Dhaka City: evidence from a cross-sectional investigation.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a significant disease pandemic. Dhaka City alone has contributed about one-third to the total COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh. Globally, patients with infectious diseases, including COVID-19, experience stigma. There was no quantitative estimate of stigma experienced by patients with COVID-19 in the country. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of stigma and its associated factors among patients with COVID-19 in Dhaka. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 respondents aged 18 years or older who had been hospitalized or had stayed at home and were tested negative 15 days to 6 months before the day of data collection. Data collection was done through in-person and telephone interviews using a semi-structured survey questionnaire. A 15-item COVID-19-related stigma scale questionnaire was used to assess stigma. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the predictors of stigma. Results: More than half (53.1%) of the respondents experienced stigma when they were COVID-19 positive. Females were at a 3.24 times higher risk of experiencing stigma than their male counterparts. Respondents from the 60+ age group and 40-59 age group were 63.0% and 48.0% less likely to experience stigma than those from the 18-39 age group. Non-hospitalised patients had 1.67 times higher odds of facing stigma than those hospitalised. Conclusions: This study reported a high prevalence of stigma among the patients with COVID-19 in Dhaka City. The current evidence base of stigma experience among patients with COVID-19 offers a solid foundation for creating effective strategies and policies and designing appropriate interventions to counter stigma, which will improve the psychological well-being of patients with COVID-19 in Bangladesh.

Insight into the first multi-epitope-based peptide subunit vaccine against avian influenza A virus (H5N6): An immunoinformatics approach.

The rampant spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N6) virus has drawn additional concerns along with ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Due to its migration-related diffusion, the situation is deteriorating. Without an existing effective therapy and vaccines, it will be baffling to take control measures. In this regard, we propose a revers vaccinology approach for prediction and design of a multi-epitope peptide based vaccine. The induction of humoral and cell-mediated immunity seems to be the paramount concern for a peptide vaccine candidate; thus, antigenic B and T cell epitopes were screened from the surface, membrane and envelope proteins of the avian influenza A (H5N6) virus, and passed through several immunological filters to determine the best possible one. Following that, the selected antigenic with immunogenic epitopes and adjuvant were linked to finalize the multi-epitope-based peptide vaccine by appropriate linkers. For the prediction of an effective binding, molecular docking was carried out between the vaccine and immunological receptors (TLR8). Strong binding affinity and good docking scores clarified the stringency of the vaccines. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation was performed within the highest binding affinity complex to observe the stability, and minimize the designed vaccine's high mobility region to order to increase its stability. Then, Codon optimization and other physicochemical properties were performed to reveal that the vaccine would be suitable for a higher expression at cloning level and satisfactory thermostability condition. In conclusion, predicting the overall in silico assessment, we anticipated that our designed vaccine would be a plausible prevention against avian influenza A (H5N6) virus.

Perceived e-learning stress as an independent predictor of e-learning readiness: Results from a nationwide survey in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: E-learning is a relatively trending system of education that has been placed over conventional campus-based learning worldwide, especially since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess e-learning readiness among university students of a developing country like Bangladesh and identify the independent predictors of e-learning readiness. METHODS: From 26 December 2020 to 11 January 2021, a total of 1162 university students who had enrolled for e-learning completed a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were collected online via "Google Form" following the principles of snowball sampling through available social media platforms in Bangladesh. A multivariable linear regression model was fitted to investigate the association of e-learning readiness with perceived e-learning stress and other independent predictor variables. RESULTS: A total of 1162 university students participated in this study. The results indicated that with the increase of students' perceived e-learning stress score, the average e-learning readiness score was significantly decreased (ß = -0.43, 95% CI: -0.66, -0.20). The students did not seem ready, and none of the e-learning readiness scale items reached the highest mean score (5.0). The age, gender, divisional residence, preference of students and their parents, devices used, and having any eye problems were significantly associated with the students' e-learning readiness. CONCLUSION: During the prolonged period of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-learning implication strategies are needed to be assessed systematically with the level of readiness and its' impacts among students for the continuation of sound e-learning systems. The study findings recommend evaluating the e-learning readiness of university students and the mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 catastrophe in Bangladesh.

SARS-CoV-2 and Rohingya Refugee Camp, Bangladesh: Uncertainty and How the Government Took Over the Situation.

Background: Bangladesh hosts more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The low health immunity, lifestyle, access to good healthcare services, and social-security cause this population to be at risk of far more direct effects of COVID-19 than the host population. Therefore, evidence-based forecasting of the COVID-19 burden is vital in this regard. In this study, we aimed to forecast the COVID-19 obligation among the Rohingya refugees of Bangladesh to keep up with the disease outbreak's pace, health needs, and disaster preparedness. Methodology and Findings: To estimate the possible consequences of COVID-19 in the Rohingya camps of Bangladesh, we used a modified Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) transmission model. All of the values of different parameters used in this model were from the Bangladesh Government's database and the relevant emerging literature. We addressed two different scenarios, i.e., the best-fitting model and the good-fitting model with unique consequences of COVID-19. Our best fitting model suggests that there will be reasonable control over the transmission of the COVID-19 disease. At the end of December 2020, there will be only 169 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Rohingya refugee camps. The average basic reproduction number (R0) has been estimated to be 0.7563. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that, due to the extensive precautions from the Bangladesh government and other humanitarian organizations, the coronavirus disease will be under control if the maintenance continues like this. However, detailed and pragmatic preparedness should be adopted for the worst scenario.

COVID-19: Mapping the Peer-Reviewed Research

Novel coronavirus is a new addition in the family of coronaviruses and was first reported in December 2019 in China. SARS and MERS were the earlier forms of viruses in this family of viruses. The outbreak was considered a pandemic in March 2020 by WHO. The pandemic moved the health sciences researchers around the world to study various aspects of widespread disease. To know the volume and hotspots of COVID-19 research this study is prepared using the bibliometric method of research evaluation. Scopus and Web of Science;two most widely used indexing databases are used to retrieve the already published research on the COVID-19 pandemic. Two data sources are selected for comprehensive coverage. Health scientists have carried out 1060 research studies on the pandemic until now. These publications have been cited with an average of 1.4 citations per publication. China is leading in producing COVID-19 research followed by the United States of America and the United Kingdom with 32%, 13%, and 6% share respectively. Top-ranked journals categorized in first and second quartiles are publishing most of the research on COVID-19. BMJ, the Lancet, and Journal of Medical Virology are the most preferred journals by the researchers to publish their research on COVID-19.

Telemedicine is an important aspect of healthcare services amid COVID-19 outbreak: Its barriers in Bangladesh and strategies to overcome.

The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has been a global concern since early 2020, where the number of COVID-19 cases is also on a rapid surge in Bangladesh with the report of a total of 276,549 cases after the detection of the first three cases in this country on 8 March 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has made a seismic shift in the healthcare delivery system, where physician offices have accelerated digital health solutions at record speed, putting telemedicine (i.e., telehealth) at centre stage. Amid the severely contagious COVID-19, telemedicine has moved from being an optional service to an essential one. As the developing country, there are some barriers to get evenly distributed advantages of this approach due to the digital divides and disparities. In this commentary, we have described the importance of telemedicine service amid the outbreak of COVID-19 in Bangladesh, the barriers and challenges that the country is facing to implement this approach and the strategies to overcome these barriers in this developing country.