Zika virus: A review of literature

AbstractZika virus (ZIKV) has two lineages: African and Asian. Mosquito-borne flaviviruses are thought to replicate initially in dendritic cells and then spread to lymph nodes and the blood stream. Risk for infection through blood transfusion, sexual practices and perinatal transmission exists. The possible routes of perinatal transmission are during delivery, breastfeeding and by close contact between the mother and her newborn. Also, mucocutaneous exposures to the virus by infected blood or monkey bite, organ transplantation or hemodialysis are the other routes of ZIKV transmission. There are two types of ZIKV infection; Zika fever and congenital infection. Clinical presentation of Zika fever varies from asymptomatic infections to a self-limiting febrile disease with low grade fever, conjunctivitis, maculopapular rash, headache, retro-orbital pain and arthritis/arthralgia with periarticular edema, myalgia, vertigo, vomiting and asthenia. This clinical feature could be mistaken for dengue or chikungunya fevers. Microcephaly is the most important and frequently reported clinical picture of suspected congenital Zika syndrome. Laboratory tests are needed for diagnosis of ZIKV infection, because there is no known pathognomonic clinical, biochemical or radiological features. RT-PCR is the most well-liked assay. Serum samples are tested by immunoglobulin G ELISA with ZIKV antigen. Samples are also tested by immunoglobulin M ELISA. There is no certified vaccine or therapeutic medication. In asymptomatic or uncomplicated patients, treatment is not necessary

Evaluation of parenteral nutritional support in the surgical and medical wards of a referral teaching hospital

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Malnutrition is a common problem in patients who are hospitalized in surgical and medical wards. Surgical patients, geriatric populations and individuals with severe illness are more vulnerable to malnutrition during their hospitalization course. The purpose of this study was evaluation of parenteral nutrition services in a referral teaching hospital, Tehran, Iran. METHOD: Medical records of 72 patients who received parenteral nutrition during one year period in different surgical and medical wards of Imam Khomeini hospital were reviewed retrospectively by clinical pharmacists. Criteria for initiation of parenteral nutrition, selection of appropriate formulation and monitoring parameters were assessed based on the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition recommendations. RESULTS: Based on the patients' anthropometric parameters and serum albumin levels, 4.2%, 75% and 20.8% of the patients were well-nourished, moderately malnourished and severely malnourished respectively at the hospital admission and before nutritional support. Adequate calorie, protein, carbohydrate and lipid supports were achieved in 21.1%, 32.4%, 23.7% and 10.5% of the patients respectively. About 91% of the patients experienced at least one complication of the nutritional support. CONCLUSION: In this evaluation, several errors in assessment, establishing goals, and monitoring of parenteral nutrition regimens have been detected. Approximately all of the patients did not receive to the trace elements supports goals

Ebola viral disease: a review literature

Ebola virus is transmitted to people as a result of direct contact with body fluids containing virus of an infected patient. The incubation period usually lasts 5 to 7 d and approximately 95% of the patients appear signs within 21 d after exposure. Typical features include fever, profound weakness, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, nausea and vomiting for 3-5 days and maybe persisting for up to a week. Laboratory complications including elevated aminotransferase levels, marked lymphocytopenia, and thrombocytopenia may have occurred. Hemorrhagic fever occurs in less than half of patients and it takes place most commonly in the gastrointestinal tract. The symptoms progress over the time and patients suffer from dehydration, stupor, confusion, hypotension, multi-organ failure, leading to fulminant shock and eventually death. The most general assays used for antibody detection are direct IgG and IgM ELISAs and IgM capture ELISA. An IgM or rising IgG titer (four-fold) contributes to strong presumptive diagnosis. Currently neither a licensed vaccine nor an approved treatment is available for human use. Passive transfer of serum collected from survivors of Junin virus or Lassa virus, equine IgG product from horses hypervaccinated with Ebola virus, a “cocktail” of humanized-mouse antibodies (ZMapp), recombinant inhibitor of factor VIIa/tissue factor, activated protein C, RNA-polymerase inhibitors and small interfering RNA nano particles are among the therapies in development. Preclinical evaluation is also underway for various vaccine candidates. One is a chimpanzee adenovirus vector vaccine; other vaccines involve replication-defective adenovirus serotype 5 and recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus

Diarrhea as Initial Manifestation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): A Case Report

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease. The most common presentation is a female with fever, arthralgia, and malar rash. Diarrhea usually occurs as a side effect of medications. Although digestive tract involvement in SLE is common, its initial manifestation as diarrhea is rare. This paper describes one of the rare SLE manifestations as merely acute diarrhea and abdominal discomfort

Antibiotic use during the first 6 months of COVID-19 pandemic in Iran : a large-scale multi-centre study

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Although antibiotics are ineffective against viral infections, epidemiological studies have revealed that the COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in the overuse of antibiotics and disruption of antimicrobial stewardship programmes. We investigated the pattern of antibiotic use during the first 6 months of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Iran. METHODS: A multi‐centre retrospective study was designed to investigate the use of 16 broad‐spectrum antibiotics in 12 medical centres. The rate of antibiotic use was calculated and reported based on the Defined Daily Dose (DDD) per 100 hospital bed‐days. The bacterial co‐infection rate was also reported. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Totally, 43,791 hospitalized COVID‐19 patients were recruited in this study. It was found that 121.6 DDD of antibiotics were used per 100 hospital bed‐days, which estimated that each patient received approximately 1.21 DDDs of antibiotics every day. However, the bacterial co‐infections were detected only in 14.4% of the cases. A direct correlation was observed between the rate of antibiotic use and mortality (r[142] = 0.237, p = 0.004). The rate of antibiotic consumption was not significantly different between the ICU and non‐ICU settings (p = 0.15). WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: In this study, widespread antibiotic use was detected in the absence of the confirmed bacterial coinfection in COVID‐19 patients. This over‐consumption of broad‐spectrum antibiotics may be associated with increased mortality in hospitalized COVID‐19 patients, which can be an alarming finding