High mortality in adults hospitalized for active tuberculosis in a low HIV prevalence setting.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of adults hospitalized for tuberculosis in a higher-income region with low HIV prevalence. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on all adults hospitalized for pulmonary and/or extrapulmonary tuberculosis in an acute-care hospital in Hong Kong during a two-year period. Microscopy and solid-medium culture were routinely performed. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was made by: (1) positive culture of M. tuberculosis, (2) positive M. tuberculosis PCR result, (3) histology findings of tuberculosis infection, and/or (4) typical clinico-radiological manifestations of tuberculosis which resolved after anti-TB treatment, in the absence of alternative diagnoses. Time to treatment ('early', started during initial admission; 'late', subsequent periods), reasons for delay, and short- and long-term survival were analyzed. RESULTS: Altogether 349 patients were studied [median(IQR) age 62(48-77) years; non-HIV immunocompromised conditions 36.7%; HIV/AIDS 2.0%]. 57.9%, 16.3%, and 25.8% had pulmonary, extrapulmonary, and pulmonary-extrapulmonary tuberculosis respectively. 58.2% was smear-negative; 0.6% multidrug-resistant. 43.4% developed hypoxemia. Crude 90-day and 1-year all-cause mortality was 13.8% and 24.1% respectively. 57.6% and 35.8% received 'early' and 'late' treatment respectively, latter mostly culture-guided [median(IQR) intervals, 5(3-9) vs. 43(25-61) days]. Diagnosis was unknown before death in 6.6%. Smear-negativity, malignancy, chronic lung diseases, and prior exposure to fluoroquinolones (adjusted-OR 10.6, 95%CI 1.3-85.2) delayed diagnosis of tuberculosis. Failure to receive 'early' treatment independently predicted higher mortality (Cox-model, adjusted-HR 1.8, 95%CI 1.1-3.0). CONCLUSIONS: Mortality of hospitalized tuberculosis patients is high. Newer approaches incorporating methods for rapid diagnosis and initiation of anti-tuberculous treatment are urgently required to improve outcomes.

A "pre-seasonal" hospital outbreak of influenza pneumonia caused by the drift variant A/Victoria/361/2011-like H3N2 viruses, Hong Kong, 2011.

BACKGROUND: Beginning from late 2011 and early 2012, increasing circulation of antigenically drifted influenza A/Victoria/361/2011-like H3N2 viruses within genotype 3 of the A/Victoria/208/2009 clade have been reported in multiple European countries and elsewhere. Whether these emerging viruses are associated with increased disease severity is unclear. OBJECTIVES: To report the clinical and virological findings of a moderately severe hospital outbreak of A/Victoria/361/2011-like viruses that occurred in November 2011 in Hong Kong. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical and virological hospital outbreak investigation. RESULTS: The outbreak occurred in an adult psychiatric ward in November 2011, a time well before the usual local seasonal influenza winter peak. Altogether, 7 patients and 1 healthcare-worker were affected (mean age, 47 [range, 34-61] years). The attack rates among patients and healthcare-workers were 33% (7/21) and 7% (1/15), respectively. Pneumonia developed in 38% (3/8) of cases; none had underlying immunocompromised conditions. High nasopharyngeal viral loads were detected. All cases responded to antiviral treatment. Multiple amino acid mutations with reference to earlier A(H3N2) vaccine strains were mapped to key antigenic sites on hemagglutinin; however, no critical mutations on receptor binding sites were detected. Viral sequence variations jeopardized the performance of molecular diagnostic assays. CONCLUSIONS: Severe disease and pneumonia occurred in a substantial proportion of non-immunocompromised adults in a hospital outbreak attributed to the emerging antigenically drifted A/Victoria/361/2011-like H3N2 viruses. Close monitoring of the transmission of this drift variant is required. Further studies are also necessary to determine virus virulence.