Publications by authors named "Bermingham W"

The global polio eradication campaign has had remarkable success in reducing wild-type poliovirus infection, largely built upon the live attenuated Sabin oral poliovirus vaccine. Whilst rare, vaccine poliovirus strains may cause infection and subsequently revert to a neurovirulent type, termed vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV). Persistent, vaccine derived infection may occur in an immunocompromised host (iVDPV), where it is a recognised complication following receipt of the Sabin vaccine.

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Article Synopsis
  • In March 2020, the UK Primary Immunodeficiency Network created a registry to track outcomes of individuals with Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases (PID) and Secondary Immunodeficiency Diseases (SID) after infection with SARS-CoV-2, reporting 310 cases.
  • The overall mortality rate was 17.7%, with certain groups experiencing higher rates; for example, Common Variable Immunodeficiency Disease (CVID) had an infection fatality rate (IFR) of 18.3%.
  • Individuals with PID and SID faced greater risks in terms of inpatient mortality and generally died at younger ages than the broader population, with risk factors including older age, low lymphocyte count before infection, and existing co-morbidities
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Tuberculosis (TB) is the commonest cause of death by a single infectious agent globally and ranks amongst the top ten causes of global mortality. The incidence of TB is highest in Low-Middle Income countries (LMICs). Prompt institution of, and compliance with, therapy are cornerstones for a favourable outcome in TB and to mitigate the risk of multiple drug resistant (MDR)-TB, which is challenging to treat.

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Background: Patients with some types of immunodeficiency can experience chronic or relapsing infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). This leads to morbidity and mortality, infection control challenges, and the risk of evolution of novel viral variants. The optimal treatment for chronic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is unknown.

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Background: Understanding the T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is critical to vaccine development, epidemiological surveillance and disease control strategies. This systematic review critically evaluates and synthesises the relevant peer-reviewed and pre-print literature published from 01/01/2020-26/06/2020.

Methods: For this systematic review, keyword-structured literature searches were carried out in MEDLINE, Embase and COVID-19 Primer.

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Background A label of penicillin allergy is held by 6-10% of the general population and 15-20% of inpatients. > 90% of these labels are found to be spurious after formal allergy assessment. Carrying an unnecessary label of penicillin allergy is not benign.

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Background: Progress in characterising the humoral immune response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been rapid but areas of uncertainty persist. Assessment of the full range of evidence generated to date to understand the characteristics of the antibody response, its dynamics over time, its determinants and the immunity it confers will have a range of clinical and policy implications for this novel pathogen. This review comprehensively evaluated evidence describing the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 published from 01/01/2020-26/06/2020.

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SARS-CoV-2 serological tests are a subject of intense interest and have the potential to significantly enhance the diagnostic capability of healthcare services in the current pandemic. However, as with all novel assays, significant validation is required to understand the clinical relevance of results. We present the first study to assess clinician interpretation of SARS-CoV-2 serology scenarios.

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