A Chronic Autochthonous Fifth Clade Case of Candida auris Otomycosis in Iran.

Candida auris, a multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogen, has emerged globally with high morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised individuals and COVID19 hospitalized patients. Five major clades of C. auris have been previously described. The fifth clade is exclusively found in Iran where C. auris isolates are genetically distinct from other clades by > 200,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The origin of C. auris remains unclear, and limited clinical data are available at present regarding clade V infection or colonization. Herein, another case of otomycosis in Iran caused by an isolate of C. auris belonging to the fifth clade is reported. Genotyping revealed that the obtained C. auris isolate from Isfahan clustered with earlier clade V isolates from Babol, cities around 600 km separated, which indicates that C. auris clade V is established in Iran. C. auris is thought to exist more commonly in Iran, given that limited diagnostic capacity in the country has probably curbed the identification of more C. auris cases. Therefore, surveillance of the environment, patients and healthcare facilities in different geographical regions in Iran is urgently required.

Investigation of vitamin D levels in patients with Sudden Sensory-Neural Hearing Loss and its effect on treatment.

BACKGROUND: Due to high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the possible association with Sudden Sensory-Neural Hearing Loss (SSNHL) finding the main causes and appropriate treatments are highly essential. This study aimed to investigate vitamin D levels in patients suffering SSNHL and its effect on response to treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on two groups of case (34 SSNHL patients) and control (34 healthy subjects without risk of hearing loss). All patient information such as age, sex, audiogram illustration of hearing frequency and the level of vitamin D were recorded at baseline. Patients with SSNHL received routine treatments such as 10 days of 1 mg/kg/day steroid and the response or lack of complete response to treatment was recorded and analyzed according to the audiometry. RESULTS: Vitamin D level in SSNHL group with a mean of 19.28 ±â€¯9.56 ng/ml was significantly less than the control group (25.71 ±â€¯11.21 ng/ml; P value < 0.001). After treatment, 76.5% were completely recovered and 23.5% did not recover completely. Factors such as age, sex and level of initial hearing loss did not have a significant effect on the response to treatment, but the level of vitamin D in these patients had a significant relationship with the response to treatment (P value = 0.004); so that all patients with sufficient vitamin D level had completely recovered, versus 87.5% of patients with vitamin D deficiency and 12.5% of insufficient vitamin D had no response to treatment. CONCLUSION: According to the results of the present study, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with SSNHL was more than healthy people. SSNHL patients with deficient vitamin D had the highest percentage of no response to treatment.