Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms syndrome secondary to isoniazid and ethambutol: a case report and literature review.

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome is a severe, potentially life-threatening condition precipitated by reaction of therapeutic drugs. The prevalence of potential antitubercular therapy (ATT)-induced DRESS is 1.2%. Case presentation: A 71-year-old female patient after 5 weeks of starting ATT complaints of fever, vomiting, dizziness, and generalized itchy maculopapular rash over the body. It was associated with marked eosinophilia (absolute eosinophil count 3094 cell/mm3, 36% in peripheral blood smear). Discussion: Fever, rash, lymphadenopathy, and internal organ involvement with marked eosinophilia constitute the major clinical manifestations of DRESS. RegiSCAR scoring system is usually used to diagnose DRESS. Identification of the culprit drug is based on the temporal correlation of symptoms with drug exposure and rechallenge test, patch test and lymphocytic transformation tests may be valuable adjunctive tools. Treatment includes withdrawal of offending agent and use of topical or systemic corticosteroids, antihistamines, cyclosporin or JAK inhibitor with clinical judgement. Conclusion: Clinicians from the tuberculosis burden region must be aware of DRESS associated with ATT and they must counsel the patient properly before prescription and manage them without delay if DRESS ensues.

Pattern of Tuberculosis, Trend and Outcome of Patients Registered at DOTS Centre of a Tertiary Care Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis is a common respiratory disease imposing significant health burden. Directly observed treatment short course strategy ensures patient compliance in tuberculosis treatment. The aim of this study was to assess pattern of tuberculosis, trend and outcome of patients registered at Directly observed treatment short course centre of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Tuberculosis patients of all age groups registered from July 2017 to June 2020 at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital Directly observed treatment short course centre were included. Data entry and analysis was done in SPSS version 20.0. Descriptive statistics was performed and results were interpreted in mean, frequency and percentage. RESULTS: A total of 2790 tuberculosis patients were included for final analysis. There were 1736 (62.2%) males. Mean age of patients was 37.94±20.28 years. Pulmonary tuberculosis was the most common type of tuberculosis seen in 948 (34%) patients. Fifty percent of total tuberculosis cases were confined to thorax. Tubercular pleural effusion and pleurisy (14.6%), central nervous system (13.2%), bone and joint (12.2%) were common forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The mean incident tuberculosis cases registered annually was 697.5±95.63. Nearly half (49.1%) of the patients completed tuberculosis treatment regimen while 43.3% were referred to other Directly observed treatment short course centre as per their convenience. CONCLUSIONS: This study reflects the trend and pattern of tuberculosis epidemiology at tertiary care hospital of Nepal. There is a huge burden of both pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital with slight annual variation in incident tuberculosis cases. Despite implementation of Directly observed treatment short course, the problem of non-compliance persists among the tuberculosis patients.

Post-COVID syndrome: A prospective study in a tertiary hospital of Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: The post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome is defined as the persistence of symptoms after viral clearance and the emergence of new symptoms after a few months following recovery from COVID-19. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of post-COVID-19 syndrome and the risk factors that contribute to its development. METHODS: This study was conducted prospectively in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), located in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu. The patients were followed up for three months. RESULTS: The post-COVID status of 300 patients admitted to the COVID emergency of TUTH was studied. The mean age of the patients was 46.6±15.7 years, and the proportion of male (56%) was slightly higher than female (44%). Most of the patients (81.7%) had fever on their presentation to the emergency which was followed by fatigue (81.3%) and cough (78.3%). During the post-COVID phase, fatigue was the most common persistent symptom, with 34% experiencing fatigue after 60 days and 28.3% even after 90 days from the onset of symptoms. Univariate logistic regression showed sore throat (OR 4.6; 95% CI (2.8-7.6)), rhinitis (OR 3.6; 95% CI (2.1-5.9)), fatigue (OR 3.7; 95% CI (1.8-7.6)), diarrhea (OR 4.1; 95% CI (2.4-6.9)), anosmia (OR 6.7; 95% CI (3.9-11.3)), ageusia (OR 7.8; 95% CI (4.5-13.4)) and shortness of breath (OR 14.9; 95% CI (1.8-119.6)) at admission were all predictors of post-COVID syndrome after three months. CONCLUSION: Even after recovering from COVID-19, people with COVID-19 may develop symptoms. As a result, COVID-19's long-term consequences should not be neglected, as they may lead to increased morbidity among patients, consumption of financial resources, and added burden on the health system.

Anchored fallopian tube through the drain tube: A rare case report.

Anchored fallopian tube through the drain tube is rare. We present a case of a 27-year-old female patient who underwent right salpingectomy with the fenestrated drain tube in the pelvic cavity. Postoperatively, the drain could not be removed. Laparotomy revealed the left fallopian tube entering through the fenestration of the drain tube.

Optic neuropathy induced by ethambutol: A rare case from Nepal.

Introduction: Ethambutol is a drug used against tuberculosis and causes side effects like problems with vision, which may lead to optic neuropathy. It has a low prevalence of 1% and typically develops after 4-12 months of its medications. Case presentation: Here, we report a case of a 42-year-old male with ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy after six weeks of initiations of ethambutol. Discussion: Nutritional and tobacco/alcohol, ischemia, compressive, demyelinating, and genetic optic neuropathies were all ruled out as differential diagnosis for toxic optic neuropathy. Because our patient did not have vasculopathy and his vision loss was progressive on follow up and bilateral, rather than acute and unilateral, as is more usual with an ischemic disease, ischemic optic neuropathy was ruled out. Finally, because hereditary optic neuropathy usually manifests at a younger age and is expressed in many generations which was not the case in our patient, it was effectively ruled out as the cause of optic neuropathy. Conclusion: This case highlights that ethambutol toxicity is rare in cases of new onset pulmonary tuberculosis where ethambutol has been administered for only 2 months.

Acute Lower Limb Ischemia in COVID-19 Patient with Delayed Presentation.

Thromboembolism is a common complication of SARS-CoV-2, which generally involves venous thromboembolism, although there have been reported cases of arterial thrombosis affecting cerebral, coronary, and visceral arteries, as well as arteries in the extremities. We discuss a case of a 45-year-old diabetic man with COVID-19 who developed late-onset acute lower limb ischemia.

Case report of a spontaneous pneumothorax after the recovery from COVID-19 pneumonia: A delayed complication.

This case demonstrates pneumothorax as a consequence of COVID-19 and emphasizes the significance of follow-up of the COVID-19 patients.

Retroperitoneal Fibrosis as a presentation with masked multiorgan involvement of IgG4-related disease-demystifying the diagnosis: A case report from Nepal.

The timely diagnosis of the disease helps in preventing the progression of RF and unnecessary interventions that may mislead the diagnosis. Biopsy and serum IgG4 both can be non-specific.