Publications by authors named "Luka Laura"
This study explores the correlation between immunological and clinical characteristics in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with detectable severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in feces, analyzing data from 251 patients admitted to Mostar University Clinical Hospital (UCH) from December 2021 to January 2022. Methods involved reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) from nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs and feces, alongside serological tests for anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgGs. Demographic and clinical data were collected through questionnaires and medical records.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess the severity of symptoms, duration of infection and viral loads of health-care workers (HCWs) who tested positive for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during Omicron's prevalence, in regard to vaccination and previous infection.
Methods: During 2 weeks of highest rate of COVID-19 cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the positive nasopharyngeal swabs were analysed in 141 HCWs by reverse transcription quantitative PCR, targeting four different genes: RdRp, E, N and nsp14. Uniformed questionnaire was used to collect relevant sociodemographic and epidemiological data from HCWs divided into four groups: unvaccinated/not previously infected (group 1); unvaccinated/previously infected (group 2); vaccinated/not previously infected (group 3); and vaccinated/previously infected (group 4).
Article Synopsis
- The study focuses on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Brucella melitensis strains isolated from patients in Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighting significant human health concerns due to brucellosis.
- Among the 108 strains analyzed, a notable 84.3% showed resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in standard broth, while over 90% were resistant to azithromycin in multiple testing environments.
- The findings suggest that alternative testing methods, like enriched broth, may improve understanding of antimicrobial resistance, indicating a need for further genomic studies to investigate the underlying mechanisms of resistance in these bacteria.