Thirty-Day Outcomes of Young and Middle-Aged Adults Admitted with Severe COVID-19 in Uganda: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: There is scarcity of data regarding young and middle-aged adults hospitalized with severe Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Africa. In this study, we describe the clinical characteristics and 30-day survival among adults aged 18 to 49 years admitted with severe COVID-19 in Uganda. Methods: We reviewed treatment records of patients admitted with severe COVID-19 across five COVID-19 treatment units (CTU) in Uganda. We included individuals aged 18 to 49 years, who had a positive test or met the clinical criteria for COVID-19. We defined severe COVID-19 as having an oxygen saturation <94%, lung infiltrates >50% on imaging and presence of a co-morbidity that required admission in the CTU. Our main outcome was the 30-day survival from the time of admission. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to determine the factors associated with 30-day survival at a 5% level of significance. Results: Of the 246 patient files reviewed, 50.8% (n = 125) were male, the mean ± (standard deviation) age was 39 ± 8 years, majority presented with cough, 85.8% (n = 211) and median C-reactive protein (interquartile range) was 48 (47.5, 178.8) mg/L. The 30-day mortality was 23.9% (59/246). At admission, anemia (hazard ratio (HR): 3.00, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.32-6.82; p = 0.009) and altered mental state (GCS <15) (HR: 6.89, 95% CI: 1.48-32.08, p = 0.014) were significant predictors of 30-day mortality. Conclusion: There was a high 30-day mortality among young and middle-aged adults with severe COVID-19 in Uganda. Early recognition and targeted management of anemia and altered consciousness are needed to improve clinical outcomes.

Notes from the Field: Rift Valley Fever Response - Kabale District, Uganda, March 2016.

On March 9, 2016, a male butcher from Kabale District, Uganda, aged 45 years, reported to the Kabale Regional Referral Hospital with fever, fatigue, and headache associated with black tarry stools and bleeding from the nose. One day later, a student aged 16 years from a different sub-county in Kabale District developed similar symptoms and was admitted to the same hospital. The student also had a history of contact with livestock. Blood specimens collected from both patients were sent for testing for Marburg virus disease, Ebola virus disease, Rift Valley fever (RVF), and Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic fever at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, as part of the viral hemorrhagic fevers surveillance program. The Uganda Virus Research Institute serves as the national viral hemorrhagic fever reference laboratory and hosts the national surveillance program for viral hemorrhagic fevers, in collaboration with the CDC Viral Special Pathogens Branch and the Uganda Ministry of Health.

Implementation and operational research: Integrated pre-antiretroviral therapy screening and treatment for tuberculosis and cryptococcal antigenemia.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the feasibility of integrated screening for cryptococcal antigenemia and tuberculosis (TB) before antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and to assess disease specific and all-cause mortality in the first 6 months of follow-up. METHODS: We enrolled a cohort of HIV-infected, ART-naive adults with CD4 counts ≤250 cells per microliter in rural Uganda who were followed for 6 months after ART initiation. All subjects underwent screening for TB; those with CD4 ≤100 cells per microliter also had cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) screening. For those who screened positive, standard treatment for TB or preemptive treatment for cryptococcal infection was initiated, followed by ART 2 weeks later. RESULTS: Of 540 participants enrolled, pre-ART screening detected 10.6% (57/540) with prevalent TB and 6.8% (12/177 with CD4 count ≤100 cells/µL) with positive serum CrAg. After ART initiation, 13 (2.4%) patients were diagnosed with TB and 1 patient developed cryptococcal meningitis. Overall 7.2% of participants died (incidence rate 15.6 per 100 person-years at risk). Death rates were significantly higher among subjects with TB and cryptococcal antigenemia compared with subjects without these diagnoses. In multivariate analysis, significant risk factors for mortality were male sex, baseline anemia of hemoglobin ≤10 mg/dL, wasting defined as body mass index ≤15.5 kg/m, and opportunistic infections (TB, positive serum CrAg). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-ART screening for opportunistic infections detects many prevalent cases of TB and cryptococcal infection. However, severely immunosuppressed and symptomatic HIV patients continue to experience high mortality after ART initiation.