Experiences of grief and moral sentiments in survivors of the armed conflict in Medellín, Colombia.

The objective of the study is to understand the experience of grief and moral sentiments in survivors of the armed conflict in the city of Medellín, Colombia, through qualitative research. In total, 32 people affected by different victimising acts in the context of the armed conflict participated. There is a direct relationship between moral sentiments and the processes of handling and processing loss. Moral sentiments frame the experience of emotions in the victim, after the events have occurred, which influence the way in which the pain experienced is processed. These sentiments permeate the processes of dealing with the incident in survivors, the ways in which they perceive themselves and the perpetrators, and the social stances they adopt to face life. We conclude that moral factors play a role in the emotional recovery of victims and are indicative the possibility or difficulty of processing the events that occurred.

Acute Intrathoracic Tuberculosis in Children and Adolescents with Community-Acquired Pneumonia in an Area with an Intermediate Disease Burden.

Tuberculosis (TB) in the pediatric population is a major challenge. Our objective was to describe the clinical and microbiological characteristics, radiological patterns, and treatment outcomes of children and adolescents (from 1 month to 17 years) with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by TB. We performed a prospective cohort study of a pediatric population between 1 month and 17 years of age and hospitalized in Medellín, Colombia, with the diagnosis of radiologically confirmed CAP that had ≤ 15 days of symptoms. The mycobacterial culture of induced sputum was used for the bacteriological confirmation; the history of TB contact, a tuberculin skin test, and clinical improvement with treatment were used to identify microbiologically negative TB cases. Among 499 children with CAP, TB was diagnosed in 12 (2.4%), of which 10 had less than 8 days of a cough, 10 had alveolar opacities, 9 were younger than 5 years old, and 2 had close contact with a TB patient. Among the TB cases, 50% (6) had microbiological confirmation, 8 had viral and/or bacterial confirmation, one patient had multidrug-resistant TB, and 10/12 had non-severe pneumonia. In countries with an intermediate TB burden, Mycobacterium tuberculosis should be included in the etiological differential diagnosis (as a cause or coinfection) of both pneumonia and severe CAP in the pediatric population.

Induced sputum as an adequate clinical specimen for the etiological diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the utility of induced sputum (IS) for the diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in pediatric population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included pediatric population aged between 1 month and 17 years who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of CAP in 13 hospitals in Colombia, in whom an IS sample was obtained. Gram staining, aerobic bacterial and mycobacterial culture tests, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for 6 atypical bacteria and 15 respiratory viruses were performed. We evaluated the quality of IS samples. RESULTS: IS samples were collected in 516 of 525 children included in this study. The median age was 32 months, 38.6% were younger than 2 years, and 40.9% were between 2 and 5 years. Two patients had transient hypoxemia during the procedure. The quality of the IS obtained was good in 48.4% and intermediate in 24.5%. Identification of a respiratory pathogen was achieved with an IS sample (with Gram staining, culture test, and PCR) in 372 of 516 children with CAP. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that IS is an adequate sample for the diagnosis of CAP in pediatric population that required hospitalization. The procedure was safe, well tolerated, and with better diagnostic yields compared with the rest of the samples obtained.

Experiences of Grief and Moral Sentiments in Survivors of the Armed Conflict in Medellín, Colombia. / Experiencias de duelo y sentimientos morales en sobrevivientes del conflicto armado en Medellín, Colombia.

The objective of the study is to understand the experience of grief and moral sentiments in survivors of the armed conflict in the city of Medellín, Colombia, through qualitative research. In total, 32 people affected by different victimising acts in the context of the armed conflict participated. There is a direct relationship between moral sentiments and the processes of handling and processing loss. Moral sentiments frame the experience of emotions in the victim, after the events have occurred, which influence the way in which the pain experienced is processed. These sentiments permeate the processes of dealing with the incident in survivors, the ways in which they perceive themselves and the perpetrators, and the social stances they adopt to face life. We conclude that moral factors play a role in the emotional recovery of victims and are indicative the possibility or difficulty of processing the events that occurred.