Empathy and mental health in veterinary medicine.

In veterinary medicine, the relationship between empathy and mental health presents a complex and important aspect of professional well-being. Veterinarians are frequently exposed to numerous work-related stressors and are therefore more likely to experience mental health disorders and commit suicide. Due to the specific nature of the profession, veterinarians deal with negative patient outcomes, inform owners of unfavourable news, handle heavy workloads, and professional isolation. Psychological stress is a result of all these factors coming together, and it can lead to anxiety, depression, burnout, and even frequently reported suicide. Animal euthanasia has been recognised as a unique professional risk factor that can have harmful psychological effects on veterinary professionals.This paper explores the role of empathy in the mental health of veterinarians and other veterinary staff, and how this might contribute to their vulnerability to psychological stress and suicidal ideation. Empathy plays an important role in interpersonal interactions, while also influencing human-animal relationships, which adds a whole new level of complexity to the doctor-patient dynamic in this field. Veterinarians are responsible for providing compassionate care for both the animals they treat and their owners. They must manage the emotionally demanding work while preserving their mental health by balancing between providing empathetic care and sustaining their own emotional boundaries. To alleviate the negative effects of psychological stress, veterinary professionals require interventions such as peer support groups, stress management training, and mental health support programmes.

Excretion of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in feces has no prognostic benefit in the outcome of COVID-19: A clinical and immunological study

This study explores the correlation between immunological and clinical characteristics in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with detectable severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in feces, analyzing data from 251 patients admitted to Mostar University Clinical Hospital from December 2021 to January 2022. Methods involved reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) from nasopharyngeal swabs and feces, alongside serological tests for anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgGs. Demographic and clinical data were collected through questionnaires and medical records. The data analyses were performed using SPSS statistical software. Death occurred in 53 patients (21.1%, P < 0.001), mostly in the elderly (47/53, 88.7%, P = 0.001) and immunocompromised (19/53, 35.8%, P = 0.05), particularly those developing acute respiratory insufficiency (ARI) (46/53, 86.8%, P = 0.004), and severe/critical disease (46/53, 86.8%, P = 0.002). Among the patients with positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies (86/251, 34.3%, P < 0.001), 41 (47.7%) were vaccinated and 45 (52.3%) unvaccinated (P = 0.666), showing no significant differences in clinical outcomes or mortality. Unvaccinated patients with a negative antibody titer had a higher incidence of ARI (96/123, 78%, P = 0.029) and intensive care unit admission (22/123, 17.9%, P = 0.026), than those with a positive antibody titer. Forty-seven (62.7%) patients, out of the 75 hospitalized who provided a feces sample, were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA (P = 0.028), without statistical differences between fecal SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative groups regarding vaccination status (15/47, 31.9%, P = 0.493), antibody status (18/47, 38.3%, P = 0.628) or death outcome (5/47, 10.6%, P = 0.706). In conclusion, unvaccinated hospitalized patients with a severe COVID-19 presentation and a negative anti-spike SARS-CoV-2 IgG titer had adverse outcomes more frequently. This suggests cautious consideration for the diagnostic use of fecal samples compared to nasopharyngeal swabs.

Does pre-existing immunity determine the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection in health-care workers? Single-center experience.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the severity of symptoms, duration of infection and viral loads of health-care workers (HCWs) who tested positive for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during Omicron's prevalence, in regard to vaccination and previous infection. METHODS: During 2 weeks of highest rate of COVID-19 cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the positive nasopharyngeal swabs were analysed in 141 HCWs by reverse transcription quantitative PCR, targeting four different genes: RdRp, E, N and nsp14. Uniformed questionnaire was used to collect relevant sociodemographic and epidemiological data from HCWs divided into four groups: unvaccinated/not previously infected (group 1); unvaccinated/previously infected (group 2); vaccinated/not previously infected (group 3); and vaccinated/previously infected (group 4). RESULTS: We observed that occurrence of fever and smell or taste loss were more frequent in group 1 (86.4% and 25%) and group 3 (76.9% and 19.2%), in comparison to group 2 (64.4% and 6.7%) and group 4 (69.2% and 3.8%), (p = 0.023 and p = 0.003). Although statistically not significant, group 2 (61.9%), group 3 (65.4%), and group 4 (70.8%) experienced negativization within 7 days of positive RT-qPCR test, whereas 51.2% of HCWs from group 1 tested negative later on. There is no significant difference between all four groups regarding Ct values of analysed genes. CONCLUSION: During Omicron's prevalence, the vaccination had less substantial effect on symptomatic disease among HCWs, while fever and loss of smell or taste were considerably less likely to occur upon reinfection. Since viral loads and negativization periods do not seem to significantly vary, irrespective of pre-existing immunity, systemic vaccination and mask-wearing should still be considered among HCWs.

Antimicrobial resistance profiles of human Brucella melitensis isolates in three different microdilution broths: the first multicentre study in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

OBJECTIVES: Brucellosis is a ubiquitous emergent bacterial zoonotic disease causing significant human morbidity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So far, a high rate of resistant Brucella has been found worldwide. This study prospectively analysed the rates of resistance among human Brucella melitensis strains isolated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. METHODS: This study included 108 B. melitensis isolates from 209 patients diagnosed at five medical centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The resistance profiles of the B. melitensis isolates for the 13 most commonly used antimicrobials were studied in standard Brucella broth (BB) and cation-adjusted Mueller-Hinton broth (CAMHB) supplemented with 4% lysed horse blood or 5% defibrinated sheep blood. RESULTS: Of the 209 patients, B. melitensis blood cultures were positive for 111 (53.1%). Among the 108 isolates investigated, 91 (84.3%) were resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole on BB, but not on either CAMHB. Nearly all isolates (>90%) were resistant to azithromycin on BB and both CAMHBs. CONCLUSION: We observed a high rate of B. melitensis resistance to azithromycin. The high rate of resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole that we observed was related to BB, so an alternative broth should be used, such as the enriched CAMHBs in this study, for evaluating resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Whole-genome sequencing studies are needed to understand the development of antimicrobial resistance in B. melitensis strains isolated from humans.