Sixty-eight consecutive patients assessed for COVID-19 infection: Experience from a UK Regional infectious diseases Unit.

Background: Assessment of possible infection with SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 illness, has been a major activity of infection services since the first reports of cases in December 2019.

Objectives: We report a series of 68 patients assessed at a Regional Infection Unit in the UK.

Methods: Between 29 January 2020 and 24 February 2020, demographic, clinical, epidemiological and laboratory data were collected.

Effect of age, polymicrobial disease, and maternal HIV status on treatment response and cause of severe pneumonia in South African children: a prospective descriptive study.

Background: HIV-related pneumonia is the main cause of paediatric hospital admissions in southern Africa. We aimed to measure predictors of treatment failure and the cause of non-responsive pneumonia in children admitted to hospital with severe pneumonia in Durban, South Africa.

Methods: We investigated 358 children aged 1-59 months who presented with WHO-defined severe or very severe pneumonia.

Lack of association between the nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in HIV-1-infected South African children.

We investigated the nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in 355 children hospitalized with severe pneumonia. Of the children, 239 (67.3%) were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 positive; 169 (47.