Clinical and molecular epidemiological features of critically ill patients with invasive group A Streptococcus infections: a Belgian multicenter case-series.

Background: Recent alerts have highlighted an increase in group A streptococcal (GAS) infections since 2022 in Europe and the United States. Streptococcus pyogenes can cause limited skin or mucosal disease, but can also present as severe invasive disease necessitating critical care. We performed a multicenter retrospective study of patients with GAS infections recently admitted to Belgian intensive care units (ICUs) since January 2022.

Severity of COVID-19 among Hospitalized Patients: Omicron Remains a Severe Threat for Immunocompromised Hosts.

The Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in the general population in the context of a relatively high immunity gained through the early waves of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), and vaccination campaigns. Despite this context, a significant number of patients were hospitalized, and identifying the risk factors associated with severe disease in the Omicron era is critical for targeting further preventive, and curative interventions. We retrospectively analyzed the individual medical records of 1501 SARS-CoV-2 positive hospitalized patients between 13 December 2021, and 13 February 2022, in Belgium, of which 187 (12.

Comparison of the QuantiFERON-TB® Gold Plus on LIAISON® XL and T-SPOT.TB for the diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in a low tuberculosis incidence population.

The current study compared the QuantiFERON-TB® Gold Plus on LIAISON® XL to the T-SPOT.TB for the diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection on 125 patient samples. A high agreement of qualitative results (90%) was observed between both methods with 3% major discrepancies, half of which were false negative results with the T-SPOT.