Clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in a low-prevalence, well resourced setting, Sydney, Australia.

Background: The Northern Sydney Local Health District was one of the first health regions to be affected by COVID-19 in Australia.

Aims: To describe the clinical characteristics, risk factors and outcomes in our low-prevalence Australian population.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 517 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases between January and June 2020.

Sonication versus Tissue Sampling for Diagnosis of Prosthetic Joint and Other Orthopedic Device-Related Infections.

Current guidelines recommend collection of multiple tissue samples for diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections (PJI). Sonication of explanted devices has been proposed as a potentially simpler alternative; however, reported microbiological yield varies. We evaluated sonication for diagnosis of PJI and other orthopedic device-related infections (DRI) at the Oxford Bone Infection Unit between October 2012 and August 2016.

Q fever cholecystitis in an unvaccinated butcher diagnosed by gallbladder polymerase chain reaction.

Acalculous cholecystitis has been described in association with Q fever. We describe the first known case of Q fever cholecystitis diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction on gallbladder tissue. The presence of Coxiella burnetii genome in the diseased gallbladder tissue argues for direct involvement of the organism in the pathogenesis of Q fever cholecystitis.