Prevalence and epidemiological trends in mortality due to COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES: This article describes the prevalence and epidemiological trends of COVID-19 mortality in the largest registry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). STUDY DESIGN: A prospective epidemiological cohort study using data from all healthcare facilities in KSA collected between March 23, 2020, and April 30, 2022. Data on the number of daily deaths directly related to COVID-19 were gathered, analyzed, and reported. METHOD: Data analysis was carried out using national and regional crude case fatality rate and death per 100,000 population. Descriptive statistics using numbers and proportions were used to describe age, gender, nationality, and comorbidities. The mortality trend was plotted and compared with international figures. In addition, the most common comorbidities associated with mortality and the proportion of patients who received COVID-19 vaccine were reported. RESULTS: The total reported number of deaths between March 23, 2020, and April 30, 2022, was 9085. Crude case fatality rate was 1.21%, and death per 100,000 population was 25.38, which compared favorably to figures reported by several developed countries. The highest percentages of deaths were among individuals aged between 60 and 69 years, males (71%), and individuals with diabetes (60%). Only 2.8% of mortalities occur in patients who received COVID-19 vaccine. Diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure had the highest attributable risk of mortality among patients who died due to COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Case fatality rate and death per 100,000 population in KSA are among the lowest in the world due to multiple factors. Several comorbidities have been identified, namely, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and cardiac arrhythmias.

Safety and Immunogenicity of BNT-162b2 versus Chadox1 Vaccine in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: Prospective Study

Purpose: Data showed seroconversion after different SARS-CoV-2 vaccination platforms might yield diminished response in transplant recipients. However, it is unknown whether different vaccination platforms could offer a specific grade of protection against SARS-CoV-2. Method(s): we prospectively studied adult kidney & liver recipients who received who had no previous COVID-19 infection, and received either ChAdOx1 or BNT- 162b2 vaccines between January 2021 to September 2021, with an assessment of IgM/IgG spike (S) antibodies. Result(s): Our cohort is composed of kidney (n=235) or liver (n=217) patients, who have received either ChAdOx1 (N=157) or BNT-162b2 (n=295). The response was higher with mRNA vaccine. Unresponsiveness is found to be mainly linked to diabetes and older age. Side effects were similar to those reported in clinical trials. Conclusion(s): mRNA vaccines might elicit a higher humoral immunity response as compared with ChAdOx1 in immunosuppressed transplant patients.

Viral and Bacterial Causes of Labyrinthitis

Labyrinthitis is a known inflammation of the membranous structure of the inner ear. Affected patients usually present with nausea and vomiting, vertigo, hearing loss/impairment, and tinnitus. Many etiologies have been proposed to lead to the development of labyrinthitis, including bacterial, viral, systemic, and iatrogenic causes and the most commonly reported causes include viral and bacterial infections. Not many investigations have elaborated on the viral and bacterial etiologies, and the evidence seems to be scattered across the different studies. In the present study, we have reviewed the literature to discuss the current evidence regarding the viral and bacterial causes of labyrinthitis. Many viruses and bacteria were reported in the literature to cause the condition. However, the most common pathogen includes cytomegalovirus and maternal rubella infections, leading to congenital hearing loss. Other viruses as measles and mumps might also lead to developing post-natal labyrinthitis. Studies also indicates that COVID-19 can be a recent cause of the disease. However, evidence regarding this information, similar to the case with other viral and bacterial etiologies, still needs further validation and reporting before making solid conclusions. Accordingly, we encourage researchers to furtherly report about similar cases and conduct epidemiological investigations to better understand the etiology of the disease.

The toll of noninfected CRS patients to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social distancing with the aim of avoiding infections and pre-serve critical care capacities during the COVID-19 pandemic has been implemented in Germany according to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations from early March onwards. Limitations of physical contacts to reduce exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals were handled strictly, particularly in medical centers dealing with airway diseases, like rhinology and pneumology clinics. Such measures and reluctance to visit out- and inpatient services resulted in a 82% decrease in consultations to the 12 German oto-rhino-laryngological (ORL) centres forming our database during the 50 days following March 09 in 2020 if compared to the same period in 2019. Our data on CRS care underline reports on undertreatment of non-COVID-19 individuals with several different diseases during the current pandemic. We should try to reduce the toll these patients have to pay as much as possible. We established telemedicine, e-Health and artificial intelligence-supported triage for selecting the right patients for onsite-consultations and to advise patients in several demands.