Anxiety and depression level of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in two hospitals in Banten province, Indonesia.

Purpose: Anxiety and depression can be found in patients diagnosed with multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The purpose of this research is to measure the level of anxiety and depression in new patients with MDR-TB. Methods: One hundred two new patients newly diagnosed with MDR TB in two hospitals in Banten province, Indonesia, are measured for depression and anxiety symptoms. The measurements used the Indonesian language version of the Zung Anxiety Self-Assessment Scale Questionnaire and the Indonesian version of Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale Questionnaire for Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients that have been validated. The results include the demographic data presented descriptively as tables and charts. Results: The mean age of the patients is 39,57+12,48 years. The monthly income of the patients is 54,9% low and 45,1% medium with no high income. Male is 61,8%, and 38,2% are female. The mean score of the anxiety index is 57,32+10,23. The mean score of the depression index is 55,02+12,36. The percentage of patients with no anxiety is 13,7%, minimal to moderate anxiety 46,1%, marked to severe anxiety 33,3%, and most extreme anxiety 6,9%. Conclusions: A significant proportion of patients newly diagnosed with MDR-TB experience anxiety and depression.

The risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 antibody level differences in healthcare workers post vaccination in Siloam hospitals: A nationwide multicenter study.

Background: Several vaccines have been approved against COVID-19, and 5 have been used in Indonesia. Due to the decrease in antibody levels 3 to 6 months after the second dose of CoronaVac, healthcare workers received the third booster of mRNA vaccine (mRNA-1273) to increase the antibody level. This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors of anti-S-RBD IgG levels differences in healthcare workers. Methods: This study is a retrospective cohort study of 576 healthcare workers without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection who received 2 doses of CoronaVac and the third dose of mRNA-1273 6 months after the second dose. Blood samples were obtained 2nd, 6th, 12th, and 24th weeks after the second dose of CoronaVac vaccine administration, with mRNA-1273 booster on week 20. Quantitative measurements of IgG antibodies were performed with Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S immunoassay. We identify the baseline factors predicting post-vaccination antibody titers using univariate and multivariate linear regression analysis. Results: This study comprised 576 participants aged 32 years old, 72.05% female, and 45.84% from high-risk occupation subgroups. The median antibodies titer level on the 2nd, 6th, 12th, and 24th weeks after the second vaccine dose administration were 40.99 u/mL, 42.01 u/mL, 54.78 u/mL, and 23,225 u/mL. Antibody levels trended highest in female and younger age group (20-29 years old). Conclusions: The third dose of vaccine increased the quantitative SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG antibody titers and eliminated differences in antibodies titer by gender.

Cohort study of the APACHE II score and mortality for different types of intensive care unit patients.

OBJECTIVES: Find the discriminant and calibration of APACHE II (Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation) score to predict mortality for different type of intensive care unit (ICU) patients. METHODS: This is a cohort retrospective study using secondary data of ICU patients admitted to Siloam Hospital of Lippo Village from 2014 to 2018 with minimum age ≥17 years. The analysis uses the receiver operating characteristic curve, student t-test and logistic regression to find significant variables needed to predict mortality. RESULTS: A total of 2181 ICU patients: men (55.52%) and women (44.48%) with an average age of 53.8 years old and length of stay 3.92 days were included in this study. Patients were admitted from medical emergency (30.5%), neurosurgical (52.1%) and surgical (17.4%) departments, with 10% of mortality proportion. Patients admitted from the medical emergency had the highest average APACHE score, 23.14±8.5, compared with patients admitted from neurosurgery 15.3±6.6 and surgical 15.8±6.8. The mortality rate of patients from medical emergency (24.5%) was higher than patients from neurosurgery (3.5%) or surgical (5.3%) departments. Area under curve of APACHE II score showed 0.8536 (95% CI 0.827 to 0.879). The goodness of fit Hosmer-Lemeshow show p=0.000 with all ICU patients' mortality; p=0.641 with medical emergency, p=0.0001 with neurosurgical and p=0.000 with surgical patients. CONCLUSION: APACHE II has a good discriminant for predicting mortality among ICU patients in Siloam Hospital but poor calibration score. However, it demonstrates poor calibration in neurosurgical and surgical patients while demonstrating adequate calibration in medical emergency patients.

Candesartan as a tentative treatment for COVID-19: A prospective non-randomized open-label study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate whether the addition of candesartan to the standard care regimen improved the outcome in patients with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: A prospective non-randomized open-label study was undertaken from May to August 2020 on 75 subjects (aged 18-70 years) hospitalized in Siloam Kelapa Dua Hospital. Uni- and multi-variable Cox regression analyses were performed to obtain hazard ratios (HRs). The primary outcomes were: (1) length of hospital stay; (2) time to negative swab; and (3) radiological outcome (time to improvement on chest X ray). RESULTS: None of the 75 patients with COVID-19 required intensive care. All patients were angiotensin-receptor-blocker naïve. In comparison with the control group, the candesartan group had a significantly shorter hospital stay [adjusted HR 2.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-5.29] after adjusting for a wide range of confounders, and no increased risk of intensive care. In the non-obese subgroup, the candesartan group had a shorter time to negative swab (unadjusted HR 2.11, 95% CI 1.02-4.36; adjusted HR 2.40, 95% CI 1.08-5.09) and shorter time to improvement in chest x ray (adjusted HR 2.82, 95% CI 1.13-7.03) compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: Candesartan significantly reduces the length of hospital stay after adjustment for covariates. All primary outcomes improved significantly in the non-obese subgroup receiving candesartan.

Experience of using tocilizumab for treatment in Indonesian patients with severe COVID-19.

COVID-19 is a public health emergency of international concern with millions confirmed cases globally including in Indonesia with more than two hundred thousand confirmed cases to date COVID-19. (1) COVID-19 has wide clinical manifestation ranging from asymptomatic, acute respiratory illness, respiratory failure that necessitates mechanical ventilation and support in an ICU, to MODS. (2) Several comorbidities have been demonstrated to be associated with the development of severe outcomes from COVID-19 infection, such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dyslipidemia, thyroid disease, and pulmonary disease. (3)-(5) Severe COVID-19 is associated with increased plasma concentrations of IL-6, resulting in cytokine storm. (6) Tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 inhibitor, might alleviates the cytokine storm, prevents significant lungs and organs damage, thus improving clinical outcomes. (7) Therefore, tocilizumab, might be one of the promising therapies for severe COVID-19. (8) However there were limited studies regarding the efficacy in COVID-19 patients, especially with control group. We would like to report our experience in using tocilizumab as treatment in severe COVID-19 patients in Indonesia, which is the first in Indonesia to the best of our knowledge.

Ecchymosis in critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient in Tangerang, Indonesia: a case report.

We have read with great interest the articles regarding cutaneous manifestations in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Studies showed 20.4% of COVID-19 patients developed cutaneous manifestations. COVID-19 causes vascular endothelial injury, vasculitis and prothrombotic state which might be the underlying cause of hemorrhagic cutaneous manifestations, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and multiple organ failures. To date, hemorrhagic cutaneous manifestations reported are chilblain-like lesion, purpura to ecchymosis, livedo reticularis, and dry gangrene. We present a case of ecchymosis in COVID-19-positive ICU hospitalized patient.

Happy hypoxia in critical COVID-19 patient: A case report in Tangerang, Indonesia.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a public health emergency of international concern with increasing cases globally, including in Indonesia. COVID-19 clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic, acute respiratory illness, respiratory failure that necessitate mechanical ventilation and support in an intensive care unit (ICU), to multiple organ dysfunction syndromes. Some patients might present with happy hypoxia, a condition where patients have low oxygen saturations (SpO2  < 90%), but are not in significant respiratory distress and often appear clinically well, which is confusing for the doctors and treatment strategies. Most infections are mild in nature and have a relatively low case fatality rate (CFR); however, critical COVID-19 patients who need support in ICU have high CFR. We would like to report a case of happy hypoxia in a critical COVID-19-positive ICU hospitalized patient who survived from Indonesia.

Management of necrotizing pneumonia with bronchopleural fistula caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.

We report the case of a 53-year-old male that presented to our hospital with a history of a brain tumour. He was hospitalized 10 days prior in another hospital. Before surgery, he complained of mild cough. Routine chest radiography demonstrated right upper lobe consolidation which was diagnosed as hospital-acquired pneumonia. Broad-spectrum empirical antimicrobial was initiated. After surgery, his clinical condition deteriorated and he felt breathlessness. Chest radiography and computed tomography (CT) scan without contrast revealed necrotizing and cavitating pneumonia complicated by bronchopleural fistula (BPF) and hydropneumothorax. Sputum culture revealed infection of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB). Despite optimal antibiotic therapy, BPF and hydropneumothorax failed to resolve and surgical approach was performed to debride the necrotic area and seal the fistula. After a month in the hospital, he was discharged and the serial chest X-ray showed good recovery of the lung.

GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin assay for molecular epidemiology of rifampicin-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in an Urban Setting of Banten province, Indonesia.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is the fourth leading cause of death in Indonesia. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that only 2% of the TB patients in Indonesia had only been tested with rapid diagnostics at the time of diagnosis, resulting in largely underdetected rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB). Utilization of GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin (MTB/RIF) assay as a point-of-care molecular assay to detect TB and RR-TB and serving its purpose in accordance with the first pillar of the WHO End-TB Strategy. Objective: This study investigated the use of GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay to determine the molecular epidemiology of RR-TB in an urban setting of Indonesia. Methods: All molecular epidemiological and microbiological databases were retrospectively examined from GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay results in Siloam Hospital Lippo Village. The sociodemographic characteristics and results of microbiological examinations consisting of Ziehl-Neelsen staining and GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay were analyzed. Results: During the study period, 600 cases were registered, and GeneXpert MTB/RIF tests were done in which the tests yielded 597 (99.5%) valid results; 62.0% were male and adult of age category; of whom 29 samples (4.9%) were found to be RR-TB, 186 samples (31.2%) were RIF sensitive, and remainders were negative. Conclusions: The results of GeneXpert MTB/RIF to be a fundamental diagnosis of RR-TB and subsequently to notify MDR-TB were satisfying and valuable in this study. This further increased and reinforced TB surveillance and national TB program to finally bring about WHO end-TB strategy one step closer in Indonesia.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance pattern against first-line drugs in patients from urban area.

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) infection is still a major public health burden in Indonesia. TB cases in Indonesia constitute 35% of all the TB cases detected worldwide and the prevalence of TB drug resistance in this country is approximately 3%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to first-line TB drugs among isolates from clinical specimens from a hospital in an urban area. METHODS: This laboratory-based study was conducted in Tangerang District, Indonesia, from January 2011 to December 2014. Sputum and other clinical specimens were obtained from patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. The specimens were stained with Ziehl-Neelsen, inoculated on Löwenstein-Jensen media for 6-8 weeks, and tested for sensitivity against first-line TB drugs [isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), ethambutol (EMB), and streptomycin (SM)]. RESULTS: All TB patients in this study lived in urban areas with male preponderance. Of the 127 M. tuberculosis isolates collected, 22% showed resistance to first-line TB drugs. Among these resistant isolates, 20.5% showed resistance to at least one of the first-line TB drugs and 0.8% showed multidrug resistance (MDR). Resistance to EMB, INH, RIF, and SM was seen in 6.3% 6.3%, 4.7%, and 1.6% of isolates, respectively. Polyresistance to EMB and INH, EMB and RIF, and EMB, INH, and RIF was seen in 0.8% of the isolates, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our study confirms that drug resistance, including MDR, observed against all first-line TB drugs was a real threat in the management of TB infection in Indonesia. The resistance pattern identified in this study could assist clinicians in providing appropriate treatment regimen to TB patients and improve their clinical outcome.