Publications by authors named "Lavinia Maria Saraca"
Background: This study aims to investigate the activity of the remdesivir-nirmatrelvir combination against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and to report a case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cured with this combination.
Methods: A Vero E6 cell-based infection assay was used to investigate the in vitro activity of the remdesivir-nirmatrelvir combination. The SARS-CoV-2 strains tested were 20A.
Article Synopsis
- SARS-CoV-2 is the virus causing COVID-19, and it can lead to a dangerous inflammatory response known as a "cytokine storm" (CS), which significantly worsens patient outcomes.
- A new "Cytokine Storm Score" (CSs) has been proposed to identify COVID-19 patients at risk of severe hyperinflammation, enabling timely treatment to improve survival rates.
- Research conducted at St. Maria Hospital analyzed patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections to validate the CSs, aiming to promptly manage cases to prevent severe complications, such as intubation.
In recent years, a decrease in the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) has been recorded worldwide. However, an increase in TB cases has been reported in foreign people living in low-incidence countries, with an increase in extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) in the western region of the world. In the present work, a retrospective study was conducted in two Italian infectious diseases wards to evaluate the clinical characteristics of TB admission in the time period 2013-2017.
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- Listeria monocytogenes (LM) is an opportunistic pathogen that primarily causes meningitis, with brain abscesses being rare occurrences, only 73 reported cases from 1968 to 2017.
- The average age of affected patients is about 52 years, with a mortality rate of 27.3%; one-fifth of these patients had no identifiable risk factors.
- Treatment approaches varied, with surgery and longer medical therapy linked to lower mortality rates, suggesting that a combination of surgical intervention and extended treatment may improve outcomes.
Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the myocardium. Viruses, such as enterovirus, adenovirus, parvovirus B19, HHV6 or cytomegalovirus (CMV) and autoimmune diseases are recognized causes of myocarditis. We describe the clinical case of a young Indian woman with SLE and a concomitant acute CMV related myocarditis with favourable outcome after ganciclovir therapy.
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