Antibiotic preferences and treatment durations in community-acquired infections.

OBJECTIVE: Since Infectious diseases and Clinical Microbiology specialists (IDS) are guiding both the community and other health professionals, it is important to use antibiotics in accordance with the guidelines. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the approaches of IDS to the use of antibiotics and treatment times in community-acquired infections. METHODS: Our study was conducted as a digital survey study applied to IDS between January 2019 and December 2020. Community-acquired pneumonia, cystitis, acute tonsillopharangitis, acute otitis media, acute sinusitis, cellulitis, as well as the antibiotics they prefer and their duration of treatment, were asked by questionnaire method. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed on all the information obtained. RESULTS: A total of 203 IDS participated in the study. About 34.7% of the participants worked as specialists for 0-5 years, 33.6% between 6 and 15 years, and 31.7% for more than 15 years. Most of the participants had problems adhering to the guidelines recommendations in their choice of antibiotics and in determining the duration of treatment. Non-compliance rates were higher among specialists who served for more than 5 years. CONCLUSION: By providing radical changes in both specialty training and post-specialty trainings, creating online learning environments, and encouraging trainings, problems can be solved to a significant extent and new information can be accessed more quickly.

Evaluation of the effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy, fetus and newborn, and treatment management.

Objective: During pregnancy, changes occur in many systems, including the immune system. In line with our experience in the previous years, COVID-19 infections have negative effects on pregnancy. In our study, it was aimed to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy, fetus and newborn, and treatment management. Methods: In our study, 63 patients followed up between April 1, 2020 and April 1, 2021, were evaluated. Demographic data, symptoms, laboratory data, treatments, clinical course and delivery characteristics of the patients, as well as pathologies in the fetus and newborn were investigated retrospectively. The obtained data were statistically analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Results: In this study, 63 pregnant COVID-19 patients aged 19-37 years were included in the study. Fifty of the patients had symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of admission. At the time of admission, 13 patients required oxygen, and ten of these patients had severe radiological involvement. Seven patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, and three of them required invasive mechanical ventilation and deceased afterward. All newborns were found negative for the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test. Low birth weight has been detected in eight newborns and low Apgar score in 2 of them. Respiratory distress was observed in four newborns and they were discharged from intensive. Conclusion: Pregnant women have more disadvantages in the course of COVID-19 and have worse maternal outcomes. In addition, treatments such as Lopinavir/Ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine did not have any effect. These patients should be carefully evaluated and followed up.

Comparison of two pandemics: H1N1 and SARS-CoV-2.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare the clinical, epidemiological, and prognostic features of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic in 2020. METHODS: This retrospective study involved subjects from seven centers that were admitted and found to be positive for H1N1 or COVID-19 real-time polymerase chain reaction test. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients with H1N1 and 309 patients with COVID-19 were involved in the study. H1N1 patients were younger than COVID-19 ones. While 58.7% of H1N1 patients were female, 57.9% of COVID-19 patients were male. Complaints of fever, cough, sputum, sore throat, myalgia, weakness, headache, and shortness of breath in H1N1 patients were statistically higher than in COVID-19 ones. The duration of symptoms until H1N1 patients were admitted to the hospital was shorter than that for COVID-19 patients. Leukopenia was more common in COVID-19 patients. C-reactive protein levels were higher in COVID-19 patients, while lactate dehydrogenase levels were higher in H1N1 ones. The mortality rate was also higher in H1N1 cases. CONCLUSIONS: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic is a major public health problem that continues to affect the world with its high rate of contagion. In addition, no vaccines or a specific drug for the benefit of millions of people have been found yet. The H1N1 pandemic is an epidemic that affected the whole world about ten years ago and was prevented by the development of vaccines at a short period. Experience in the H1N1 pandemic may be the guide to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from a worse end.

Diagnostic value of Chest CT and Initial Real-Time RT-PCR in COVID-19 Infection.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic value of the rtRT-PCR test and CT in patients presenting with typical clinical symptoms of COVID-19. METHODS: The study with the participation of four center in Turkey was performed retrospectively from 20 March-15 April 2020 in 203 patients confirmed for COVID-19. The initial rtRT-PCR test was positive in 142 (70.0%) of the patients (Group-I) and negative in 61 patients (Group-II). RESULTS: The mean age of the patients in Group-I was 49.7±18.0 years and the time between the onset of symptoms and admission to the hospital was 3.6±2.0 days; whereas the same values for the patients in Group-II were 58.1±19.9 and 5.3±4.2, respectively (p=0.004; p=0.026). Initial rtRT-PCR was found positive with 83.5% sensitivity and 74.1% PPV in patients with symptom duration of less than five days. It was found that rtRT-PCR positivity correlated negatively with the presence of CT findings, age, comorbidity, shortness of breath, and symptom duration, while rtRT-PCR positivity correlated positively with headache. Presence of CT findings was positively correlated with age, comorbidity, shortness of breath, fever, and the symptom duration. CONCLUSIONS: It should be noted that a negative result in the rtRT-PCR test does not rule out the possibility of COVID-19 diagnosis in patients whose symptom duration is longer than five days, who are elderly with comorbidities and in particular who present with fever and shortness of breath. In these patients, typical CT findings are diagnostic for COVID-19. A normal chest CT is no reason to loosen up measures of isolation in patients with newly beginning symptoms until the results are obtained from the PCR test.

Comparison of two pandemics: H1N1 and SARS-CoV-2

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare the clinical, epidemiological, and prognostic features of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic in 2020. METHODS: This retrospective study involved subjects from seven centers that were admitted and found to be positive for H1N1 or COVID-19 real-time polymerase chain reaction test. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients with H1N1 and 309 patients with COVID-19 were involved in the study. H1N1 patients were younger than COVID-19 ones. While 58.7% of H1N1 patients were female, 57.9% of COVID-19 patients were male. Complaints of fever, cough, sputum, sore throat, myalgia, weakness, headache, and shortness of breath in H1N1 patients were statistically higher than in COVID-19 ones. The duration of symptoms until H1N1 patients were admitted to the hospital was shorter than that for COVID-19 patients. Leukopenia was more common in COVID-19 patients. C-reactive protein levels were higher in COVID-19 patients, while lactate dehydrogenase levels were higher in H1N1 ones. The mortality rate was also higher in H1N1 cases. CONCLUSIONS: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic is a major public health problem that continues to affect the world with its high rate of contagion. In addition, no vaccines or a specific drug for the benefit of millions of people have been found yet. The H1N1 pandemic is an epidemic that affected the whole world about ten years ago and was prevented by the development of vaccines at a short period. Experience in the H1N1 pandemic may be the guide to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from a worse end.

The relationship between diagnostic value of chest computed tomography imaging and symptom duration in COVID infection.

OBJECTIVES: Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronovirus-2 is a global public health problem, in which early diagnosis is required to prevent the spread of infection. In this study, we aimed to reveal the diagnostic value of chest computed tomography (CT) imaging with respect to symptom duration. METHODS: This retrospective study involved patients from five centers, who were admitted with typical COVID-19 symptoms and found to be positive for COVID-19 real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rtRT-PCR) test. RESULTS: One hundred and five patients with positive COVID-19 rtRT-PCR test were involved in the study. Sixty percent of these patients had chest CT imaging findings consistent with COVID-19 pneumonia. The most common chest CT finding was bilateral and subpleural ground-glass opacity in middle-lower lobes of the lungs. Chest CT findings were detected in 85.1% of the patients with a symptom duration of more than 2 days. In receiver operating characteristic analysis of this parameter, area under the curve (AUC) was 0.869, while sensitivity and specificity were 90.5% and 76.2%, respectively. It was notable that chest CT findings were 7.17 times more common among the patients aged 60 years and older, with AUC, specificity, and positive predictive value of 0.768, 88.1%, and 84.8%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Chest CT imaging is a quite valuable tool in patients with longer than 2 days' duration of symptoms, in whom clinical and epidemiological data support the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. We suggest that the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia should be made with chest CT imaging when rtRT-PCR test cannot be performed or gives a negative result, which is important for public health and to prevent the spread of infection.

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in Adults: Low Incidence of Primary Neoplasm as a Trigger in a Case Series from Turkey.

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an indicator of an exaggerated immune response and eventually adverse outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the clinical and laboratory features and outcomes of patients with HLH. The medical records of 26 HLH adult patients (≥ 16 years of age) were retrospectively analyzed. Gender, age, the duration of fever, time to diagnosis, etiology and laboratory data were extracted from the records. The mean age was 38 ± 18 years, and 15 (58%) patients were female. A total of nine cases had infectious diseases; four cases had rheumatologic diseases, three cases had hematological malignancies while nine cases could not have a definitive diagnosis. The median time to detection of HLH was 20 days (IQR: 8-30 d). Of the 25 patients, 11 (44%) died. The erythrocyte sedimentation rates of the surviving and non-surviving patients were 39 ± 22 mm/h and 15 ± 13 mm/h, respectively. When a long-lasting fever is complicated by bicytopenia or pancytopenia (especially), clinicians should promptly consider the possibility of HLH syndrome to improve patients' prognosis.

Clinico-Epidemiological Analysis of HIV/AIDS Patients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine clinico-epidemiological properties of HIV/AIDS patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this purpose, 115 HIV/AIDS patients monitored in our clinic between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2013, were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: For the 115 patients with a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS that we monitored, the mean age at the time of presentation was 34.5±13.21 (10-79) years. Eighty-nine (76.5%) patients were male and 27 (23.5%), female. In this study, HIV/AIDS was the most prevalent in the young male population with a low educational and sociocultural level. The most common mode of transmission in our patients was heterosexual relations: approximately 1 patient in 3 had a history of traveling to countries with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, namely, Russia and Ukraine. The examination of diagnosis with respect to years showed an increase in new cases since 2008. Only 21 (18.3%) of our patients were diagnosed through clinical symptoms, while 91 (81.7%) during routine scanning. At first presentation, 68% of our patients were stage A; 4.7%, stage B; and 27.3%, stage C. The mean length of the monitoring of our patients was 2.74 years (2-180 months). Thirteen (11.3%) patients died due to opportunistic infections and malignities. The most common opportunistic infection was tuberculosis (16.5%), followed by syphilis and HBV. Malignity, most commonly intracranial tumor, was seen in 8.6% patients. CONCLUSION: The disease was generally seen in the young male population with a low sociocultural level, and it was most frequently transmitted by heterosexual sexual contact. This clearly shows the importance of sufficient, accurate information, and education on the subject of the disease and its prevention. The fact that many of our patients were diagnosed in the late stage due to stigma and that diagnosis was largely made through scanning tests confirms the importance of these tests in early diagnosis.

Treatment of Gram-positive left-sided infective endocarditis with daptomycin.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of daptomycin in left-sided infective endocarditis (IE) patients. Fourteen patients with left heart endocarditis, monitored with a diagnosis of IE based on modified Duke criteria between July 2010 and May 2011, and receiving daptomycin as monotherapy, were enrolled. The success of daptomycin in these patients was revealed with improvements in microbiological, biochemical, and radiologic findings, as well as physical examination findings. Patient average age was 63.5 ± 14.2 years (36-80 years); 8 (57 %) were men and 6 (43 %) women. The pathogens methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (71.5 %), Streptococcus mutans (21.5 %), and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (7 %) were isolated from our patients. Daptomycin was used in initial treatment in 5 (36 %) patients; treatment was subsequently modified to daptomycin in 9 (64 %) patients as a consequence of drug serum level insufficiency, agent sensitivity to the drug administered, or drug side effects. Thirteen patients were discharged in a healthy condition, with successful surgical treatment in 5 (36 %). Only 1, an 80-year-old IE patient, was lost from advanced cardiac failure. No significant side effects were seen in any patient receiving daptomycin. The most frequent side effects were minimal rises in serum CPK levels during treatment; these values returned to normal after treatment. Daptomycin can be used successfully in left heart endocarditis with no significant side effects. Studies involving a wider patient series are now needed to support the use of daptomycin in left heart endocarditis.

Parotitis associated with Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.

BACKGROUND: Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a potentially fatal tick-borne viral disease, the course of which may accompanied by various clinical findings. OBJECTIVES: We describe a picture of non-suppurative parotitis developing in association with CCHF virus. STUDY DESIGN: A 48-year-old patient presenting to our hospital with lethargy, hemorrhage and pain and swelling below the left ear was diagnosed with CCHF through IgM antibody and polymerase chain reaction positivity in serum investigated for CCHF virus. A picture of non-suppurative parotitis developed on the 3rd day of admission. RESULTS: Other causes of parotitis were excluded with the help of serological tests, and the case was regarded as one of CCHF-associated parotitis. The patient was put on adjuvant therapy, an improvement in clinical findings was observed and he was discharged in a healthy condition on the 8th day. CONCLUSIONS: Ours is the first case in the literature of parotitis seen during CCHF. CCHF should be considered in differential diagnosis in addition to other frequently encountered viral agents in patients from endemic regions presenting with a picture of non-suppurative parotitis.