The current challenges affecting the quality of care of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East: Perspectives from local experts and future directions.

Objective: This report aimed to reflect the experts' views regarding the challenges affecting the quality of care for people living with HIV in the Middle East. Besides, we integrated experts' opinions and recommendations to offer future directions to improve the quality of care and the overall landscape of HIV in the Middle East.

Methods: This review article is based on a comprehensive literature search and the outcomes of several regional meetings that discussed the challenges faced by patients living with HIV in the Middle East.

Epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia.

Background: The aim of this study is to describe the clinical and demographic characteristics of COVID-19 patients, and the risk factors associated with death in Saudi Arabia to serve as a reference to further understand this pandemic and to help in the future decisions and control of this global crisis.

Methods: This multicenter, retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted on 240,474 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected retrospectively through the Health Electronic Surveillance Network at the Ministry of Health.

Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: A national retrospective study.

Background: The global battle to contain the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic rages on. Previous studies described the clinical characteristics of COVID-19, but knowledge gaps remain in the Middle East region. Identifying these features will help in mapping the disease and guiding pandemic management.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, Saudi Arabia, 2017-2018.

We characterized exposures and demographics of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus cases reported to the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health during July 1-October 31, 2017, and June 1-September 16, 2018. Molecular characterization of available specimens showed that circulating viruses during these periods continued to cluster within lineage 5.

Scope and extent of healthcare-associated Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus transmission during two contemporaneous outbreaks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2017.

Objective: To investigate a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak event involving multiple healthcare facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; to characterize transmission; and to explore infection control implications.

Design: Outbreak investigation.

Setting: Cases presented in 4 healthcare facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: a tertiary-care hospital, a specialty pulmonary hospital, an outpatient clinic, and an outpatient dialysis unit.

The Global Meningococcal Initiative meeting on prevention of meningococcal disease worldwide: Epidemiology, surveillance, hypervirulent strains, antibiotic resistance and high-risk populations.

Introduction: The 2018 Global Meningococcal Initiative (GMI) meeting focused on evolving invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) epidemiology, surveillance, and protection strategies worldwide, with emphasis on emerging antibiotic resistance and protection of high-risk populations. The GMI is comprised of a multidisciplinary group of scientists and clinicians representing institutions from several continents.

Areas Covered: Given that the incidence and prevalence of IMD continually varies both geographically and temporally, and surveillance systems differ worldwide, the true burden of IMD remains unknown.

A Comparative Study of Clinical Presentation and Risk Factors for Adverse Outcome in Patients Hospitalised with Acute Respiratory Disease Due to MERS Coronavirus or Other Causes.

Middle East Respiratory syndrome (MERS) first emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and remains a global health concern. The objective of this study was to compare the clinical features and risk factors for adverse outcome in patients with RT-PCR confirmed MERS and in those with acute respiratory disease who were MERS-CoV negative, presenting to the King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh between October 2012 and May 2014. The demographics, clinical and laboratory characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with RT-PCR confirmed MERS-CoV infection was compared with those testing negative MERS-CoV PCR.

Acute viral respiratory infections among children in MERS-endemic Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2012-2013.

The emergence of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Saudi Arabia has intensified focus on Acute Respiratory Infections [ARIs]. This study sought to identify respiratory viruses (RVs) associated with ARIs in children presenting at a tertiary hospital. Children (aged ≤13) presenting with ARI between January 2012 and December 2013 tested for 15 RVs using the Seeplex RV15 kit were retrospectively included.

Molecular Epidemiology of Hospital Outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2014.

We investigated an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during March 29-May 21, 2014. This outbreak involved 45 patients: 8 infected outside KFMC, 13 long-term patients at KFMC, 23 health care workers, and 1 who had an indeterminate source of infection. Sequences of full-length MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV) from 10 patients and a partial sequence of MERS-CoV from another patient, when compared with other MERS-CoV sequences, demonstrated that this outbreak was part of a larger outbreak that affected multiple health care facilities in Riyadh and possibly arose from a single zoonotic transmission event that occurred in December 2013 (95% highest posterior density interval November 8, 2013-February 10, 2014).

Characterisation of MRSA strains isolated from patients in a hospital in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is spreading worldwide and poses a serious public health problem, being present in hospital settings and communities. However, from the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula few molecular typing data on MRSA strains are currently available. In order to obtain data on the population structure of MRSA in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 107 clinical and environmental MRSA isolates were genotyped using a microarray-based assay.

Septic arthritis due to Mycobacterium szulgai in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus: case report.

Mycobacterium szulgai is a rare human pathogen that mainly causes pulmonary diseases. We report the first case of M. szulgai causing septic arthritis in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus.