Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever among health care workers, Turkey.

We investigated 9 cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (1 fatal, 2 asymptomatic) among health care workers in Turkey. Needlestick injuries were reported for 4 workers. Eight received ribavirin. In addition to standard precautions, airborne infection isolation precautions are essential during aerosol-generating procedures. For postexposure prophylaxis and therapy, ribavirin should be given.

Severity scoring index for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and the impact of ribavirin and corticosteroids on fatality.

BACKGROUND: Patients infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus present with a wide clinical spectrum. In observational studies, the effects of therapeutic agents are confounded by severity. We describe use of a clinical severity scoring index (SSI) for CCHF patients and assess the effect of ribavirin and corticosteroid therapy on the case-fatality rate, stratified by SSI. METHODS: The study group included hospitalized patients who received a diagnosis of CCHF at the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Clinic of Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital between 2004 and 2011. The SSI included platelet count, bleeding, fibrinogen level, activated partial thromboplastin time, and somnolence. The effects of ribavirin and corticosteroid on the case-fatality rate were studied by univariate and multivariate analysis, stratified by SSI. RESULTS: Two hundred eighty-one confirmed cases of CCHF were included in the study. Of 281 patients, 23 (8%) died. The mean age (±SD) of the patients was 47 ± 16 years. Forty-nine percent were female. The mean duration of stay at our clinic after onset of symptoms was 4.4 days, with a range of 1-14 days. In multivariate analysis of factors for the prediction of death, the SSI (odds ratio [OR], 3.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.09-5.13) and ribavirin use (OR, 0.04; 95% CI, .004-.48) were found to be statistically significant factors. CONCLUSION: The SSI is an accurate predictor of death and will therefore be a useful tool for case management and for drug-assessment studies. After stratification of cases by SSI, ribavirin was found to be effective in reducing the case-fatality rate, especially among moderately ill patients, whereas steroids were found to be beneficial particularly among patients with severe disease.

Neurobrucellosis: clinical and diagnostic features.

BACKGROUND: We describe the neurological involvement in brucellosis and revisited diagnostic criteria for neurobrucellosis. METHODS: Patients with laboratory-confirmed brucellosis who were consequently hospitalized were observed prospectively in a brucellosis-endemic region. The neurobrucellosis was diagnosed by any one of the following criteria: (1) symptoms and signs consistent with neurobrucellosis; (2) isolation of Brucella species from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and/or presence of anti-Brucella antibodies in CSF; (3) the presence of lymphocytosis, increased protein, and decreased glucose levels in CSF; or (4) diagnostic findings in cranial magnetic resonance imaging or CT. RESULTS: Lumbar puncture was performed in 128 laboratory-confirmed brucellosis cases who had neurological symptoms and signs, and 48 (37.5%) were diagnosed as neurobrucellosis. The sensitivity of tube agglutination (TA) in CSF was 0.94, specificity 0.96, positive predictive value 0.94, and negative predictive value 0.96. Brucella bacteria were isolated from CSF in 7 of 48 patients (15%). The mean age of 48 neurobrucellosis patients was 42 years (SD, 19 years), and 16 (33%) were female. The most common neurological findings were agitation (25%), behavioral disorders (25%), muscle weakness (23%), disorientation (21%), and neck rigidity (17%). Cranial nerves were involved in 9 of 48 patients (19%). One patient was left with a sequela of peripheral facial paralysis and 2 patients with sensorineural hearing loss. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with severe and persistent headache and other neurologic symptoms and signs should be considered for neurobrucellosis in endemic regions and to possibly receive longer therapy than 6 weeks. Brucella TA with Coombs test in CSF is sensitive and specific by using a cutoff of ≥1:8.

COVID-19 and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever: Is there any Similarity in Chest Radiology?

Objective: While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was continuing at full speed, patients with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), which is endemic in our region, apply to the emergency department simultaneously. The presence of computed tomography (CT) lesions suggesting COVID-19 in some CCHF patients has brought to our mind the question of whether there is CCHF lung involvement even though respiratory symptoms are not at the forefront. Methods: In this study, the findings of chest CT, demographic data and clinical symptoms of cases who had thorax tomography scan with suspicion of COVID-19 in the emergency department in the spring and summer of 2020 and were diagnosed with CCHF as a result of the evaluation and followed up in our clinic were compared with the findings of COVID-19 cases that were hospitalized and treated in the same period. Results: Seventy-seven COVID-19 and 25 CCHF cases were included in the study. Myalgia, headache, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting were significantly higher in CCHF patients ( p<0.05). Cough was significantly more common in COVID-19 patients ( p=0.034). Ground-glass opacity (GGO) was the most common tomography finding in CCHF, and cases without lung involvement were significantly higher (p=0.001). GGO, consolidation, vascularization, atelectasis band, reverse halo, air-bubble, nodule were significantly high in COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: During the epidemic period, no pathological finding was found in thoracic CT in most of the CCHF cases, and the presence of involvement in the lung tomography in cases with similar clinical and laboratory findings should primarily suggest the diagnosis of COVID-19.

Intravoxel incoherent motion parameters in the evaluation of chronic hepatitis B virus-induced hepatic injury: fibrosis and capillarity changes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) parameters in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-induced hepatic fibrosis using different calculation methods and to investigate histopathologic origins. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Liver biopsies from 37 prospectively recruited chronic hepatitis B patients were obtained. Twelve b-value (0-1000 s/mm2) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was performed with a 1.5 T scanner and was followed by blinded percutaneous liver biopsy. All biopsy specimens were evaluated with Ishak staging, and the microvascular density (MVD) was calculated. Patients were classified as having no/mild (F0-1), moderate (F2-3), or marked (F4-5) fibrosis. Pseudodiffusion (D*), the perfusion fraction (f), and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were calculated using all b-values, while true diffusion (D) was calculated using all b-values [D0-1000] and b-values greater than 200 s/mm2 [D200-1000]. Three concentric regions of interest (ROIs) (5, 10, and 20 mm) centered on the biopsy site were used. RESULTS: D* was correlated with the MVD (p = 0.015, Pearson's r = 0.415), but f was not (p = 0.119). D0-1000 was inversely correlated with Ishak stage (p = 0.000, Spearman's rs = - 0.685) and was significantly decreased in all the fibrosis groups; however, only the no/mild and marked fibrosis groups had significantly different D200-1000 values. A pairwise comparison of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of D0-1000 and D200-1000 showed significant differences (p = 0.039). D* was the best at discriminating early fibrosis (AUC = 0.861), while the ADC best discriminated advanced fibrosis (AUC = 0.964). CONCLUSION: D* was correlated with the MVD and is a powerful parameter to discriminate early hepatic fibrosis. D significantly decreased with advanced fibrosis stage when using b-values less than 200 s/mm2 in calculations.

Disseminated Nocardia farcinica infection presenting as a paravertebral abscess in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Disseminated Nocardia infections occur particularly in immunosuppressed hosts and are most often due to Nocardia farcinica, Nocardia nova, and Nocardia cyriacigeorgica. Here, we report an unusual case of disseminated N. farcinica infection presenting as a paravertebral abscess in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

[Malaria in Turkey and 14 years of clinical experience]. / Turkiye'de sitma ve 14 yillik klinik deneyimimiz.

In this retrospective study, the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 105 adult malaria patients, who had been hospitalized between the period of 1992 and 2006 were evaluated. Nineteen percent of the patients were female, and the mean age was 28 +/- 10 years. Fifty percent of the patients acquired the infection in Southeastern Anatolia, while they were on military duty. The most common complaints were rigor (93%), fever (90%), sweating (90%), headache (76%), nausea (45%), and fatigue (38%). The most common physical examination findings were splenomegaly (86%) and hepatomegaly (62%). Anemia was detected in 23%, leukopenia in 47%, thrombocytopenia in 73%, two fold increase in ALT or AST enzyme levels in 32% of the patients. Plasmodium vivax was detected in 101 (96%) patients, whereas P. falciparum was detected in 4 patients (4%). Although the number of malaria cases in Turkey is declining in recent years, the febrile patients with a history of travel to the endemic regions should raise the suspicion of malaria.

[Two leptospirosis cases and review of the national literature]. / Iki leptospiroz olgusu ve yerli literatürün gözden geçirilmesi.

In this report, two cases of leptospirosis admitted to our clinic in the same periods, have been presented. The first patient was a 29 years old male farmer, and the other was a 44 years old male prisoner. Both of them were from Middle Anatolian Region with the similar clinical findings (subfebrile fever, gastrointestinal complaints, ichterus in sclera, leucocytosis, and increased levels of liver enzymes, urea and creatine). The diagnosis was based on the antibody positivities against Leptospira with microscopic agglutination test which performed in the Etlik Central Veterinary Control and Research Institute. The first case was positive for L. grippotyphosa, and the second was positive for L. australis serovar bratislava at the titers of 1/800. Both of the patients were given empirical antibiotic treatment (ceftriaxone 2 x 1 gr, and ampicillin-sulbactam 4 x 1 gr, respectively), and discharged with complete healing. These cases led us to review the other leptospirosis cases in our country.

[Case report: cutaneous tuberculosis and tuberculous osteomyelitis]. / Olgu sunumu: deri tüberkülozu ve tüberküloz osteomiyeliti.

In this report, a 27 years old male patient diagnosed to have skin and bone tuberculosis (TB) has been presented. The patient admitted to the hospital with the complaints of fever, weight loss and night sweats. Patient's history revealed that following a trauma a skin lesion in the right ankle was developed and this was followed by the development of many lesions in different parts of the body. The lesions persisted despite the use of various antibiotics since a year. It has been recorded that his father has already been receiving anti-tuberculosis treatment. Osteomyelitis was detected in the distal part of right tibia by computerized tomography, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated from the specimens of skin lesion. The patient was immunocompetent, and there was no pulmonary involvement. Isoniazid (INAH), rifampin (RIF), ethambutol and morphozinamid therapy has been started and completed to 12 months with INAH and RIF. In the post-treatment follow-up of patient for one year, no relapse was detected. As a result, tuberculosis should be considered in patients with persistent skin lesions especially in endemic countries.

Transmitted antiretroviral drug resistance mutations in newly diagnosed HIV-1 positive patients in Turkey.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to determine the transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRMs) in newly diagnosed HIV-1 positive patients in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out between 2009 and 2014 and antiretroviral naïve 774 HIV-1 infected patients from 19 Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Departments in Turkey were included; gender: 664 (86%) male, median age: 37 (range; 1-77), median CD4+T-cell: 360 (range; 1-1320) count/mm(3), median HIV-RNA load: 2.10+E6 (range; 4.2+E2-7.41+E8) IU/mL. HIV-1 drug resistance mutations were detected by population based sequencing of the reverse transcriptase (codon 41-238) and protease (codon 1-99) domains of pol gene of HIV-1, and analyzed according to the criteria by the World Health Organization 2009 list of surveillance drug resistance mutations [1]. RESULTS: The patients had TDRMs to NRTIs (K65R, M184V), NNRTIs (K101E, K103N/S, G190A/E/S, Y181I/C, Y188H/L) and PIs (M46L, I54V, L76V, V82L/T, N83D, I84V, L90M). The prevalence of overall TDRMs was 6.7% (52/774). Resistance mutations were found to be 0.7% (6/774), 4.1% (32/774) and 2.1% (17/774) to NRTIs, NNRTIs and PIs drug groups, respectively. Three patients had NRTIs+NNRTs resistance mutations (M184V+K103N) as multi-class drug resistance. However, thymidine analogue resistance mutations (TAMs) determined two distinct genotypic profiles in the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase: TAM1: M41L, L210W and T215Y, and TAM2: D67N, K70R, K219E/Q, and T215F. The prevalence of TAM1 and TAM2 were 7.7% (60/774) and 4.3% (34/774), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The TDRMs prevalence of antiretroviral naïve HIV-1 infected patients may be suggested current situation of Turkey. These long-term and large-scale results show that the resistance testing must be an integral part of the management of HIV infection in Turkey.