Cystic Echinococcosis in Northern New Hampshire, USA.

In April 2022 and December 2022, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services confirmed 2 cases of locally acquired human pulmonary cystic echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus tapeworms. Both patients reported dressing locally hunted moose and exposure to dogs.

Comparison of Two Automated Immunoassays for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Antibodies.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel member of the coronavirus family that caused the global coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The prevalence remains largely unknown because of early testing supply shortages. Although it cannot currently be used to determine level of immunity, antibody testing can contribute to epidemiological studies, identify convalescent plasma donors, or satisfy curiosity about previous exposure to the virus. METHODS: 407 samples collected from hospitalized inpatients with and without a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, 170 remnant clinical specimens collected and frozen prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, and paired serum and plasma samples from 23 convalescent plasma donors were used to determine performance characteristics of the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG and Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 assays. The sensitivity, specificity, imprecision, interferences, and sample stability were determined. These assays were then used to characterize the antibody response in serial samples from 20 SARS-CoV-2 positive inpatients. RESULTS: Both assays exhibited 100% specificity (95% CI; 99.05-100.00), giving no positive results in 170 specimens collected before July 2019 and 215 specimens from patients without a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Differences between platforms were most notable in SARS-CoV-2 positive samples. Roche offered higher sensitivity in convalescent plasma donors at 95.7% (95% CI; 78.1-99.9) versus 91.3% (95% CI; 72.0-98.9) but Abbott detected antibodies in 2 immunocompromised patients whereas Roche did not. The Roche and Abbott platforms also exhibited different trends in antibody signal for a subset of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Both the Abbott and Roche platforms offer excellent specificity but different trends in antibody signal may reflect qualitative differences in the types of antibodies recognized by the 2 assays. Negative serologic results do not exclude previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Benefit of preoperative flexible endoscopy for patients undergoing weight-reduction surgery in Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Little information is available to demonstrate the importance of flexible endoscopic examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract in obese patients prior to the weight-reduction surgery. In spite of the controversies, there are more evidences to support the value of preoperative endoscopy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the benefit of preoperative endoscopy in morbidly obese patients who have planned to undergo bariatric surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of morbidly obese patients who were admitted to our hospital from November 2004 to January 2007 and underwent flexible esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) prior to the weight-reduction surgery were reviewed. The endoscopic findings and demographic data were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients underwent EGD preoperatively. The mean age was 34.6 years (range: 18-52 years), their mean BMI was 57 (range: 35-92) with a maximum weight of 280 kg. Majority were females (64%). Endoscopic findings included gastritis in 44 patients (67.7%), hiatus hernia in 8 (12%), gastric erosions in 7 (10.7%), reflux esophagitis in 4 (6%) and normal EGD findings in 15 patients (23%). There was no significant increase in reflux esophagitis in this group of patients. Sixty percent of the patients had comorbid medical conditions with diabetes mellitus being the most common. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that it might be necessary to perform preoperative EGD in patients undergoing bariatric surgery, although it possibly will not alter the surgical intervention. Prospectively conducted studies with larger number of patients are required to further explore the need of EGD in this subset of patients.