Circulating activated neutrophils in COVID-19: An independent predictor for mechanical ventilation and death.

Objectives: Critical illness in COVID-19 is attributed to an exaggerated host immune response. Since neutrophils are the major component of innate immunity, we hypothesize that the quantum of activated neutrophils in the blood may predict an adverse outcome.

Design: In a retrospective study of 300 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19, we analyzed the impact of neutrophil activation (NEUT-RI), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the established clinical risk factors of age, diabetes, obesity and hypertension on the clinical outcome.

Pneumonia with Worsening Pleural Effusion Despite Treatment with Appropriate Antimicrobials: Case report.

is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia. As pneumonia is usually a mild and self-limiting disease, complications such as pleural effusion occur only rarely. We report a 22-year-old woman who presented to the Emergency Medicine Department of the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, in 2017 with an eight-day history of fever associated with coughing, chills and rigors.