COVID-19 Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis: A Case Series.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a worldwide pandemic with several problems, one of which is the lack of definitive treatment. COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA), the presence of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in COVID-19 patients, is one of the concerning secondary infections associated with higher mortality and worse clinical outcomes. Diagnosing CAPA may be challenging due to the possible absence of classic host factors and clinical symptoms or obscured radiological findings. We described two CAPA cases, which were suspected due to persistent respiratory failure despite standard treatment of COVID-19 with additional therapies and antimicrobial agents for secondary infections, eventually diagnosed with serum galactomannan testing. Clinical conditions of both patients improved significantly after the administration of voriconazole. This case series emphasizes the importance of being aware of clinical suspicions indicating CAPA followed by galactomannan testing as a relatively fast, noninvasive test for its diagnosis, which leads to appropriate antifungal treatment.

Coronavirus Disease 2019: Tinjauan Literatur Terkini

Pada awal 2020, dunia dikejutkan dengan mewabahnya pneumonia baru yang bermula dari Wuhan, Provinsi Hubei yang kemudian menyebar dengan cepat ke lebih dari 190 negara dan teritori. Wabah ini diberi nama coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) yang disebabkan oleh Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Penyebaran penyakit ini telah memberikan dampak luas secara sosial dan ekonomi. Masih banyak kontroversi seputar penyakit ini, termasuk dalam aspek penegakkan diagnosis, tata laksana, hingga pencegahan. Oleh karena itu, kami melakukan telaah terhadap studi-studi terkait COVID-19 yang telah banyak dipublikasikan sejak awal 2020 lalu sampai dengan akhir Maret 2020. Kata Kunci: COVID-19, pandemi, SARS-CoV-2, Wuhan Coronavirus Disease 2019: Review of Current Literatures

The Importance of Chest CT Scan in COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly transmissible acute respiratory disease that is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a beta coronavirus first discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. COVID-19 has been spreading swiftly globally, and as of March 2020, has been officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the challenges in managing COVID-19 is the identification of a swift, accessible, and reliable diagnostic modality that could serve as an alternative to a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). As of the writing of this paper, RT-PCR is still the recommended tool in diagnosing COVID-19, but the notion of a more prompt and accurate diagnostic tool is a possibility worth looking into. The objective of this case study is to investigate the importance and utility of chest computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis of COVID-19, as increasing pieces of evidence suggest that chest CT could prove useful in the clinical pathway in diagnosing COVID-19.