Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Neonatal Sepsis.

BACKGROUND: There is a sudden rise in infectious diseases, with special concern to the most recent SARS-CoV 2 outbreak. A retrospective study was conducted to study the effect of this outbreak on neonatal sepsis as a global issue that poses a challenge for pediatric management and to identify its risk factors, microbial profile, and mortality rate at King Faisal Medical Complex, Taif, KSA, a COVID-19-tertiary care segregation hospital. METHODS: This research included 111 neonates with a culture-proven diagnosis of neonatal sepsis (4 and 62 cases during 2019 and 2020, respectively). RESULTS: During 2019 early onset sepsis (EOS) occurred in 6/49 (12.2%) while in 2020 22/62 (35.5%), and during 2019 late onset sepsis (LOS) occurred in 43/49 (87.7%) while in 2020 40/62 (64.5%). Premature rupture of membrane was the major neonatal risk factor for EOS during 2019 and 2020 with proportions of 4 (66.7%), 20 (90.9%); respectively. As regards LOS, the peripherally inserted central catheters and peripheral lines were the top neonatal risk factors. In the two-year outbreak, the most prevalent causative organism for EOS neonates was Escherichia coli and for LOS neonates it was Klebsiella. There was non-significant change in the mortality rate of neonatal sepsis between 2019 and 2020. However, the mortality rate was higher in EOS 9/22 (40.9%) in 2020 in comparison to 2/6 (33.3%) in 2019. CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal sepsis remains a major health problem causing serious morbidity and mortality, and health care policy makers have to implement EOS preventive measures.

Clinical Findings of COVID-19 Patients at High and Average Altitudes in Saudi Arabia.

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), also known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), became a global health issue that influenced the lives of billions of people all over the world. The goal of this study was to investigate the clinical findings and routine laboratory evaluations of COVID-19 patients in both average- and high-altitude settings in Saudi Arabia. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> A comparative study to explore the clinical characteristics and Laboratory tests results of COVID-19 patients at both high and average altitudes in Saudi Arabia has been conducted. The study included a total number of 103 patients (53 patients comprising the high-altitude group living in Taif, Saudi Arabia and 50 patients comprising the average-altitude group living in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia) were included in the study. Patients were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2-positive by PCR test. Clinical characteristics, laboratory test results and symptoms of adult patients were collected and expressed as mean and standard deviation. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software to compare between both groups and significance was considered when the p-value is less than 0.05. <b>Results:</b> Approximately 55.3% of the total cases were male with a mean age of 40.16±12.47 years. There were highly statistically significant differences between the groups in age, heart rate (p<0.001). There were also statistically significant differences between the groups in temperature, SpO₂, fever, myalgia, shortness of breath and loss of smell and taste. <b>Conclusion:</b> The current study provides an understanding of the clinical and laboratory investigations of COVID-19 patients in two regions (high altitude and average altitude) in Saudi Arabia.

Profiling Inflammatory Cytokines in a Cohort Study of Egyptian Patients with COVID-19 Infection.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an international public health emergency with major disruptions and devastating health consequences resulting from the associated cytokine storm syndrome. The aim of our research was to assess the inflammatory biomarkers and risk factors associated with severity of (COVID-19) patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted and included 150 Egyptian patients with COVID-19. Patients were classified into mild, moderate, and severe according to the clinical and CT chest findings. Blood samples were collected from patients for laboratory assessment of inflammatory biomarkers. RESULTS: Our results showed significant negative correlation between oxygen saturation percent and serum levels of inflammatory markers. The correlations were statistically significant with IL-6, CRP, ferritin, LDH, and D-dimer which can be used as sensitive biomarkers for assessment of the risk of severity of infection in COVID 19 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that the risk factors associated with severity of COVID 19 infection included older age, male gender, presence of underlying chronic disease, and increased levels of inflammatory biomarkers: CRP, LDH, ferritin, IL-6, and D-dimer.