Meningitis due to Gemella sp. in a patient with severe ENT conditions: case report and review of the literature.

In June 2022, a 73-year-old man with a history of laryngeal and esophageal carcinoma was admitted to the emergency unit with sudden fever, confusion, and general condition deterioration. Initial assessments showed a fever of 38.5 °C, elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) at 209 mg/L, and a neutrophil count of 10.

A very low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection but a high prevalence of other respiratory virus infections in children admitted to paediatric emergency departments.

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of infections by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and other respiratory viruses among children admitted to paediatric emergency departments (PEDs).

Methods: From April to July 2020, a prospective, multicentre cohort study was conducted in the PEDs of eight French university hospitals. Regardless of the reason for admission, a nasopharyngeal swab sample from each child was screened using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses.

Hair analysis interpretation in post-mortem situations: Key considerations and proposals to overcome main hurdles.

In the analytical challenge of post-mortem toxicological investigations of victim's drug history, hair analysis constitutes a useful tool. Nevertheless, in addition to usual limitations of hair result interpretation, there are additional pitfalls in post-mortem situations. This manuscript aims to address post-mortem hair analysis interpretation difficulties and proposals to overcome them.

Spatial and Temporal Virus Load Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2: A Single-Center Cohort Study.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused an ongoing pandemic. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and has been applied to different specimen types. Understanding the virus load and virus detection frequency in different specimen types is important to improve diagnosis and estimate the duration of potential infectivity.

Preanalytical Issues and Cycle Threshold Values in SARS-CoV-2 Real-Time RT-PCR Testing: Should Test Results Include These?

Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, clinical laboratories worldwide are overwhelmed with SARS-CoV-2 testing using the current gold standard: real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays. The large numbers of suspected cases led to shortages in numerous reagents such as specimen transport and RNA extraction buffers. We try to provide some answers on how strongly preanalytical issues affect RT-PCR results by reviewing the utility of different transport buffer media and virus inactivation procedures and comparing the literature data with our own recent findings.