Coronavirus disease 19 in minority populations of Newark, New Jersey.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to report the clinical features and outcomes of Black/African American (AA) and Latino Hispanic patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalized in an inter-city hospital in the state of New Jersey. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study of AA and Latino Hispanic patients with COVID-19 admitted to a 665-bed quaternary care, teaching hospital located in Newark, New Jersey. The study included patients who had completed hospitalization between March 10, 2020, and April 10, 2020. We reviewed demographics, socioeconomic variables and incidence of in-hospital mortality and morbidity. Logistic regression was used to identify predictor of in-hospital death. RESULTS: Out of 416 patients, 251 (60%) had completed hospitalization as of April 10, 2020. The incidence of In-hospital mortality was 38.6% (n = 97). Most common symptoms at initial presentation were dyspnea 39% (n = 162) followed by cough 38%(n = 156) and fever 34% (n = 143). Patients were in the highest quartile for population's density, number of housing units and disproportionately fell into the lowest median income quartile for the state of New Jersey. The incidence of septic shock, acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring hemodialysis and admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) was 24% (n = 59), 21% (n = 52), 33% (n = 82) respectively. Independent predictors of in-hospital mortality were older age, lower serum Hemoglobin < 10 mg/dl, elevated serum Ferritin and Creatinine phosphokinase levels > 1200 U/L and > 1000 U/L. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from an inter-city hospital's experience with COVID-19 among underserved minority populations showed that, more than one of every three patients were at risk for in-hospital death or morbidity. Older age and elevated inflammatory markers at presentation were associated with in-hospital death.

The Worm that Clogs the Lungs: Strongyloides Hyper-Infection Leading to Fatal Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

BACKGROUND Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal helminth. Parasitism is caused by penetration of the larvae through the skin. It is endemic in tropical and subtropical regions of the world and in the United States occurs in the southeastern region. It has a tendency to remain dormant or progress to a state of hyper-infection during immunosuppression. CASE REPORT We present the case of a 70-year-old Nigerian who developed fatal ARDS secondary to Strongyloides infection after been treated with steroids for treatment of autoimmune necrotizing myopathy. Despite adequate management with mechanical ventilation and appropriate antifungal therapy, the patient died on day 19 of hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS S. stercoralis is known to affect every organ in the body. ARDS is often an overlooked complication of Strongyloides hyper-infection, which is often deadly. Immediate diagnosis and treatment are important for patient survival.

The Effect of Interdisciplinary Team Rounds on Urinary Catheter and Central Venous Catheter Days and Rates of Infection.

Interdisciplinary team (IDT) rounds were initiated in the intensive care unit (ICU) in June 2010. All catheters were identified by location, duration, and indication. Catheters with no indication were removed. Data were collected retrospectively on catheter days and associated infections in a 20-month period before and after intervention with an aggregate of 19 207 ICU days before and 23 576 ICU days after institution of rounds. Results showed a statistically significant decrease in the number of indwelling urinary catheter (IUC) days (5304 vs 4541 days, P = .05) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates (4.71 vs 1.98 infections/1000 ICU days, P < .05). Central line days statistically increased after IDT rounds (3986 vs 4305 days, P < .05) but the catheter-related bloodstream infection rate trended down (3.5 vs 1.6 infections/1000 ICU days, P = .62). This analysis suggests that IDT rounds may have an impact on reducing the number of IUC days and associated infections.

Tigecycline-related pancreatitis: a review of spontaneous adverse event reports.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To provide clinicians with an understanding of the comparative occurrence of tigecycline and pancreatitis, and to provide any clinically relevant characteristics that may be useful in identifying the patients at risk. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. DATA SOURCE: Spontaneous reports in the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) database generated between January 1997 and December 2010. PATIENTS: Sixty-two patients who experienced pancreatitis while receiving tigecycline therapy. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Disproportionality analysis with bayesian correction methodology was used to compare tigecycline with all other agents listed in the AERS. Disproportionality analysis uses an adverse event relative reporting ratio (RRR) to compare the occurrence of a specific adverse event with an index drug of interest to the occurrence of the same adverse event with similar agents or with all other FDA-approved prescription drugs. The value was considered meaningful if the 5th percentile of the distribution of the RRR (RRR(05)) was 2 or greater. Our review identified 62 potential cases of tigecyline-related pancreatitis. An RRR(05) score of 10.4, 10.38, and 2.87 was determined for tigecycline-related pancreatitis compared with all other agents, systemic antibiotics, and select tetracyclines listed in the AERS, respectively. In addition, a sex-based RRR(05) score was higher in women versus men (14.432 vs 3.125) when tigecycline was compared with all agents in the AERS. CONCLUSION: Our analysis suggests a quantitative signal between tigecycline use and pancreatitis; however, given the limitations of our study, a cause-and-effect relationship cannot be inferred. Thus, additional rigorous scientific analyses are warranted to explore these findings.

Virologic Outcome of Using Tenofovir/Emtricitabine to Treat Hepatitis B in HIV-Coinfected Patients.

Goal. To study the effect of combination antiviral therapy with tenofovir and emtricitabine or lamivudine with and without prior monotherapy with lamivudine. Study. We reviewed charts of 31 HIV-/HBV-coinfected patients. Twelve 3TC-naïve patients initially received tenofovir plus emtricitabine. Nineteen epivir experienced patients who had previously failed epivir were given tenofovir plus emtricitabine. Results. Baseline median HBV DNA was similar in the epivir-naïve (5.8×10(7) copies/mL) and experienced group (7.3×10(7) copies/mL, P = .65). The median time to complete suppression of HBV was 466 days in the naïve group and 877 days in the experienced (P = .001). After 12 months, 6/10 (60%) naïve patients and 3/14 (21%) experienced patients had HBV DNA below the detectionlimit (P = .067). After 24 months, 5/5 (100%) naïve patients and 4/13 (31%) experienced patients had an undetectable HBV DNA level (P = .015). Conclusions. The median time to suppression of HBV DNA was significantly shorter among treatment naïve patients. There was a significantly greater proportion of naïve patients with suppressed HBV DNA at 24 months. Our results support using initial dual therapy in those with HIV/HBV coinfection.