Utility and Evaluation of Applied Project Management Processes Within a Large Multicountry Health Systems Development Project Conducted During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

The increasing trends in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continue to pose a significant threat to human health, with grave consequences in low- and middle-income countries. In collaboration with local governments and microbiology laboratories in South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, the Capturing Data on Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns and Trends in Use in Regions of Asia (CAPTURA) project worked to identify gaps and expand the volume of existing AMR data to inform decision-makers on how to best strengthen their national AMR surveillance capacity. This article describes overall project management processes and the strategies implemented to address the disruptive impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the project activities across diverse contexts in different countries. Also, it assesses in-country team's feedback on the conduct of activities and their overall impact on project completion. The strategies employed were tailored to the specific context of each country and included increased communication and collaboration among consortium partners and in-country teams, as well as hiring of additional in-country team members. This paper highlights the importance of local representation and capacities as well as real-time (virtual) engagement with stakeholders, ensuring close monitoring of the local situation and ability to tailor context-specific mitigation strategies to continue project implementation during disruptive external circumstances.

Oral mucosal leishmaniasis presenting as a nonhealing chronic oral growth: A case report.

Oral mucosal leishmaniasis is a rare finding posing challenges in the diagnosis and treatment in a nonendemic setting. This disease is present in dental clinics as nonhealing chronic growth. Timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment are crucial to prevent further complications and death.

Limited Secondary Transmission of the Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) by Asymptomatic and Mild COVID-19 Patients in Bhutan.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is growing concordance and persisting conflicts on the virus and the disease process. We discuss limited transmissibility of the virus by asymptomatic and mild cases of COVID-19 patients in Bhutan. We followed up the secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the contacts of asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients in Bhutan. Bhutan had 33 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country as of May 29, 2020. Of these, 22 (67%) were females. Except the first two cases (American tourists), the rest were Bhutanese living outside the country. The mean age of the Bhutanese patients was 26.3 (range 16-33) years. Close contacts of 27 of the 33 cases were followed up for signs and symptoms and COVID-19 positivity. The first two cases had 73 and 97 primary contacts, respectively, and equal number of secondary contacts (224). From the third case, a mandatory 21-day facility quarantine was instituted, all primary contacts were facility quarantined, and there were no secondary contacts. In total, the 27 cases had 1,095 primary contacts and 448 secondary contacts. Of these, 75 individuals were categorized as definite high-risk contacts. Secondary transmission occurred in seven high-risk contacts. Therefore, the overall secondary transmission was 9.0% (7/75) and 0.6% (7/1,095) among the high-risk and primary contacts, respectively. No transmission occurred in the secondary contacts. In contrast to several reports indicating high transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in contacts of confirmed cases, the mostly young, asymptomatic, and mild cases of COVID-19 in Bhutan showed limited secondary transmission.

Polymorphobacter arshaanensis sp. nov., containing the photosynthetic gene pufML, isolated from a volcanic lake.

An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, yellowish, rod-shaped bacterium, designated DJ1R-1T, was isolated from water sample from a volcanic lake, located on Da Hinggan Ling Mountain, PR China. Growth of DJ1R-1T optimally occurred at pH 7.0, at 22-25 °C and with 0-0.5 % (w/v) NaCl concentration. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that DJ1R-1T was clustered into the genus Polymorphobacter, and showed 96.5 %, 95.9 % and 95.6 % similarities to Polymorphobacter fuscus D40PT, Polymorphobacter multimanifer 262-7T and Polymorphobacter glacialis B555-2T, respectively. The predominant polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified aminophospholipid, three unidentified aminolipids and one unidentified phospholipid. The major fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c / C18 : 1ω6c, 40.0 %), summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c / C16 : 1ω6c, 25.6 %) and C16 : 0 (13.7 %). The respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. The DNA G+C content was 65.0 % according to the genomic sequencing results. On the basis of the results of the phylogenetic analysis, physiological and biochemical properties comparisons, DJ1R-1T was proposed to represent a novel species of the genus Polymorphobacter, with the name Polymorphobacter arshaanensis. The type strain is DJ1R-1T (=CGMCC 1.13788T=KCTC 72014T).