Data-Driven Prediction for COVID-19 Severity in Hospitalized Patients.

Clinicians urgently need reliable and stable tools to predict the severity of COVID-19 infection for hospitalized patients to enhance the utilization of hospital resources and supplies. Published COVID-19 related guidelines are frequently being updated, which impacts its utilization as a stable go-to resource for informing clinical and operational decision-making processes. In addition, many COVID-19 patient-level severity prediction tools that were developed during the early stages of the pandemic failed to perform well in the hospital setting due to many challenges including data availability, model generalization, and clinical validation.

Nocardiosis at an Organ Transplant Center in Saudi Arabia: 15 years' experience.

Background: Nocardiosis is a rare infection that affects immunocompromised patients on immunosuppressive medications used for transplantation and cancer therapy. Such therapies are becoming more widely available in the Middle East region. Yet, reports on nocardiosis are scarce.

Clinical manifestations and treatment outcomes of human brucellosis at a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Brucellosis, which has profound public health and economic consequences, is endemic to Saudi Arabia. is transmitted to humans by direct contact with infected animals or by consumption of unpasteurized dairy products. Manifestations of brucellosis are protean and require a combination of drugs to prevent the emergence of resistance.

Successful Use of Rifamycin-Sparing Regimens for the Treatment of Active Tuberculosis in Lung Transplant Recipients.

Objectives: Tuberculosis is an important opportunist infection that can complicate the posttransplant course of solid-organ transplant recipients. Lung transplant recipients are at higher risk of tuberculosis after transplant than are other solid-organ transplant recipients. Significant drug-drug interactions between antituberculous medications, especially rifampin, and immunosuppressant medications render treatment in this patient population especially challenging.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in living donor transplanted livers and donor-related tuberculosis in recipients: A retrospective longitudinal cohort study.

Objectives: Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA has been detected in multiple organs in people without active tuberculosis or a history of tuberculosis. Molecular testing for metabolic activity has suggested that M tuberculosis DNA represents viable bacilli. Whether transplanted organs with M tuberculosis DNA can result in tuberculosis in recipients has not been assessed.

Family cluster of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

We describe the clinical and genetic characteristics of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in a family cluster in the western region of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia diagnosed between 2012 and 2016. All cases had risk factors for tuberculosis acquisition and they were not household contacts of the index case. Genetic analysis detected both MDR-TB and pre-extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (pre-XDR TB) strains in the index case and confirmed tuberculosis transmission between two cases.

Pneumonia in HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Patients: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

Background: To describe the clinical presentations, treatment regimen, and outcomes of pneumonia (PJP) among immunocompromised patients at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Saudi Arabia.

Materials And Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, patients with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of PJP were included.

Results: During the study, 42 patients with confirmed PJP were identified.

The Saudi Thoracic Society guidelines for diagnosis and management of noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

This is the first guideline developed by the Saudi Thoracic Society for the diagnosis and management of noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. Local experts including pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, thoracic surgeons, respiratory therapists, and others from adult and pediatric departments provided the best practice evidence recommendations based on the available international and local literature. The main objective of this guideline is to utilize the current published evidence to develop recommendations about management of bronchiectasis suitable to our local health-care system and available resources.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis in solid organ transplantation: incidence before and after expanded isoniazid prophylaxis.

Background: The risk of tuberculosis is increased in solid organ transplantation. Rates remain high in developed and developing countries. We developed protocols to better identify transplant recipients at risk of tuberculosis and initiate interventions to prevent tuberculosis.

Successful treatment of multi-focal XDR tuberculous osteomyelitis.

We herein describe the nosocomial transmission of a pre-XDR or MDR case of pulmonary tuberculosis in a HIV-negative health care worker in an area endemic for MDR and XDR tuberculosis. Following inadequate therapy and non-compliance, he presented with extra-pulmonary XDR tuberculosis in the form of multi-focal osteomyelitis and encysted pleural effusion. He was cured after two years of treatment with various anti-tuberculous drugs in addition to interferon gamma.

HIV-Care Outcome in Saudi Arabia; a Longitudinal Cohort.

Background: Clinical characteristics of HIV-1 infection in people inhabiting Western, Sub-Saharan African, and South-East Asian countries are well recognized. However, very little information is available with regard to HIV-1 infection and treatment outcome in MENA countries including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

Methods: Clinical, demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of 602 HIV-1 infected patients followed in the adult Infectious Diseases Clinic of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a tertiary referral center were longitudinally collected from 1989 to 2010.

Viral hepatitis B and C in HIV-infected patients in Saudi Arabia.

Background And Objectives: Hepatitis B and C are among the leading causes of death in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Prevalence data on viral hepatitis B and C in HIV-infected people in the region of Middle East and North Africa are scarce. We report the prevalence of viral hepatitis B and C in HIV-infected patients in Saudi Arabia.

Mycobacterium abscessus peritonitis associated with laparoscopic gastric banding.

Background: Mycobacterium abscessus is a rapidly growing Mycobacterium that is a common water contaminant in the environment. We report a case of M. abscessus infection with band erosion following laparoscopic gastric banding.

Natural course of epilepsy concomitant with CNS tuberculomas.

Background: Epilepsy is relatively common in CNS tuberculomas, but its natural course is unclear.

Aim: To determine the prevalence and prognosis of epilepsy in patients with seizures related to CNS tuberculomas.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients with CNS tuberculomas who presented at our institution between 1983 and 2001.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 in two Saudi families.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2), the second retrovirus that causes the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans, is limited in its distribution to West Africa. We report cases in two Saudi families with HIV-2 infection and AIDS, resulting in death of the index cases-the husbands, while the wives and a daughter were maintained on antiretroviral therapy. When HIV viral loads were undetectable in initial assays, further testing confirmed the presence of HIV-2.

Evolution of tigecycline resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae in a single patient.

Carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae infections carry serious clinical and infection-control implications. Isolates possessing such hydrolyzing enzymes have been described in the United States and around the world. Besides being resistant to carbapenems, they usually confer resistance to fluoroquinolones, piperacillin-tazobactam, and extended-spectrum cephalosporins.

Saudi guidelines for testing and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is a common disease in Saudi Arabia. As most cases of tuberculosis are due to reactivation of latent infection, identification of individuals with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) who are at increased risk of progression to active disease, is a key element of tuberculosis control programs. Whereas general screening of individuals for LTBI is not cost-effective, targeted testing of individuals at high risk of disease progression is the right approach.

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV: experience at a referral hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Background And Objectives: The rate of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 has been reported to be high in Saudi Arabia. We report the rate of such transmission among a cohort of HIV-infected women enrolled in an HIV program at a tertiary care facility in Riyadh.

Methods: All HIV-infected women who became pregnant and delivered during their follow-up between January 1994 and June 2006 were included in this study.

CD4 validation for the World Health Organization classification and clinical staging of HIV/AIDS in a developing country.

Objectives: To validate the World Health Organization (WHO) clinical staging and classification of HIV/AIDS using CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts in the setting of a developing country.

Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of HIV-infected adults at the national HIV referral clinic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Four hundred HIV-infected individuals were reviewed.

Snake venom preparation for drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus.

Resistance of human immunodeficiency virus to antiretroviral therapy is a major concern. As new therapies are few, progress to acquired immune deficiency syndrome will ensue. We report a patient with multidrug-resistant HIV, high viral load, and low CD4 count who took a snake venom preparation while maintained on antiretroviral therapy.