COVID-19 and kidney transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus has become a global threat and healthcare concern. The manifestations of COVID-19 pneumonia in transplant patients are not well understood and may have more severe symptoms, longer duration, and a worse prognosis than in immunocompetent populations. AIMS: This study proposed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 pneumonia in kidney transplant recipients. PATIENTS/METHODS: Clinical records, laboratory results, radiological characteristics, and clinical outcome of 24 kidney transplant patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were evaluated from March 20, 2020, to May 20, 2020. RESULTS: The most common symptom was shortness of breath (70.8%), followed by fever (62.5%) and cough (45.8%). Five patients had leukopenia, and only one patient had leukocytosis, while 75% of the patients had a white blood cell (WBC) count in the normal range, and 79% of recipients developed lymphopenia. All of the patients had an elevated concentration of C-reactive protein and an increase in blood urea levels. Chest CT images of 23 patients (95.8%) showed typical findings of patchy ground-glass shadows in the lungs. Of the 24 patients, 12 were admitted to ICU (invasive care unit), and ten of 24 patients (41.6%) died, and 14 patients were discharged after complete recovery. CONCLUSION: It seems that COVID-19 is more severe in transplant patients and has poorer outcomes. Multiple underlying diseases, low O2 saturation, and multilobar view in chest CT scan may be of prognostic value. However, many SARS-CoV-2 demonstrations are similar to those of the general population.

Empyema Caused by Pseudomonas luteola: A Case Report.

INTRODUCTION: Pseudomonas luteola is an uncommon opportunistic pathogen. It is recognized as an uncommon cause of infections in underlying medical disorders. Infections caused by this microorganism are health care associated. CASE PRESENTATION: The current study isolated P. luteola from empyema in a patient with tuberculous pleurisy, whose susceptibility to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole differed from previous reports. CONCLUSIONS: P. luteola is resistant to TMP-SMX, but in the present case P. luteola was susceptible to TMP-SMX.

Chronic mycobacterial meningitis due to Mycobacterium chelonae: a case report.

We report a case of chronic meningitis due to Mycobacterium chelonae. This organism is a rapidly growing Mycobacterium (RGM) and can be found worldwide in environmental sources such as soil, dust, and water. M. chelonae is an uncommon cause of meningitis; the majority of infections caused by this organism are localized cutaneous or soft tissue infections, and rarely lung infections. The organism is indistinguishable phenotypically, so we applied PCR based on the rpoB gene sequence followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) for molecular identification. The subsequent sequencing of RFLP products revealed 99.7% similarity with M. chelonae.