ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the possible association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and COVID-19 outcomes among 133 patients with an RT-PCR-positive test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), hospitalized at Imam Khomeini Hospital, Sari, Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, during August to November 2020. METHODS: A questionnaire was used to collect baseline data from the patients who were registered to the Iranian National Registry Center for Toxoplasmosis (INRCT). Also, blood samples were taken from each patient for detecting anti-T. gondii antibodies and T. gondii DNA using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and conventional-PCR methods, respectively. Variables related to the COVID-19 severity and outcomes were indicated based on multiple multinomial logistic regression models. RESULTS: Of 133 patients enrolled in the INRCT with COVID-19 through RT-PCR, 50 (37.59%), 52 (39.1%), and 31 (23%) suffered from mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19, respectively. 57.1% of the patients who died had severe COVID-19, while among those with other outcomes, only 18.60% had severe COVID-19 (P < 0.05). Anti-T. gondii IgG was detected in 109/133 (81.95%) patients, which was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Among those with negative and positive anti-T. gondii IgG, 2 (8.30%) and 29 (26.60%) had severe COVID-19, respectively (P > 0.05). T. gondii DNA and anti-T. gondii IgM were not found in any of the patients. Moreover, all deaths occurred in those with moderate or severe COVID-19 and a positive anti-T. gondii IgG. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first registry-based study concerning T. gondii infection among patients with COVID-19. Our data show the high rate of latent T. gondii infection among COVID-19 with different severity. However, there is no significant relationship between latent T. gondii infection and COVID-19 severity and outcomes. Thus, conducting multicenter studies in different geographic regions of the world could offer a better understanding of this relationship.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Toxoplasma , Toxoplasmosis , Antibodies, Protozoan , DNA , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Humans , Immunoglobulin G , Immunoglobulin M , Iran/epidemiology , Registries , SARS-CoV-2 , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Toxoplasma/genetics , Toxoplasmosis/complications , Toxoplasmosis/epidemiologyABSTRACT
As access to high-throughput sequencing technology has increased, the bottleneck in biomedical research has shifted from data generation to data analysis. Here, we describe a modular and extensible framework for didactic instruction in bioinformatics using publicly available RNA sequencing data sets from infectious disease studies, with a focus on host-parasite interactions. We highlight lessons learned from adapting this course for virtual learners during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.