From Investigating a Case of Cellulitis to Exploring Nosocomial Infection Control of ST1 Using Genomic Approaches.

can cause a large panel of symptoms besides the classic pneumonia presentation. Here we present a case of fatal nosocomial cellulitis in an immunocompromised patient followed, a year later, by a second case of Legionnaires' disease in the same ward. While the first case was easily assumed as nosocomial based on the date of symptom onset, the second case required clear typing results to be assigned either as nosocomial and related to the same environmental source as the first case, or community acquired.

Successful Treatment of Spondylodiscitis and Infectious Sacroiliitis due to using Meropenem as Salvage Therapy.

Unlabelled: Infectious sacroiliitis is a rare disease that can occur in conjunction with other osteoarticular infections. Furthermore, it is very unusual for to be identified in an osteoarticular infection, with spondylodiscitis being the most frequent such infection. We report a case of spondylodiscitis with infectious sacroiliitis due to infection with treated successfully with meropenem as salvage therapy.

Mortality Rate and Predictors Among Patients with COVID-19 Related Acute Respiratory Failure Requiring Mechanical Ventilation: a Retrospective Single Centre Study.

Aim: The objective of the study was to assess mortality rates in COVID-19 patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who also requiring mechanical ventilation. The predictors of mortality in this cohort were analysed, and the clinical characteristics recorded.

Material And Method: A single centre retrospective study was conducted on all COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit of the Epicura Hospital Center, Province of Hainaut, Belgium, between March 1st and April 30th 2020.

Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in Hospital Environment: Working in a COVID-19 Ward Is a Risk Factor for Infection.

Health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of acquiring the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection (SARS-CoV-2). The aim of the study is to determine the SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates during the first epidemiologic peak among HCWs of a south Belgian hospital and to identify risks factors for infection. All hospital staff who worked during the first epidemiological peak were asked to answer a questionnaire regarding demographical data, function, type of working unit, type of contact with patients, eventual symptomatology, and the positivity of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing or immunoassay.

Predictive Accuracy of COVID-19 World Health Organization (WHO) Severity Classification and Comparison with a Bayesian-Method-Based Severity Score (EPI-SCORE).

Assess the predictive accuracy of the WHO COVID-19 severity classification on COVID-19 hospitalized patients. The secondary aim was to compare its predictive power with a new prediction model, named COVID-19 EPI-SCORE, based on a Bayesian network analysis. : We retrospectively analyzed a population of 295 COVID-19 RT-PCR positive patients hospitalized at Epicura Hospital Center, Belgium, admitted between March 1st and April 30th, 2020.

Hydroxychloroquine in a G6PD-Deficient Patient with COVID-19 Complicated by Haemolytic Anaemia: Culprit or Innocent Bystander?

Unlabelled: Hydroxychloroquine has been used worldwide as a first-line treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Little is known about COVID-19 and its effects on patients with congenital red blood cell disorders. We report a case of haemolytic anaemia in a 32-year-old patient and a fortuitous highlighting of G6PD deficiency.

Sudden Development of Subcutaneous Nodules Shortly after Radioiodine Treatment for Thyroid Cancer Caused by Self-Limiting Sarcoidosis.

Background: arcoidosis is a multisystemic disease producing non-caseating granulomas. The aetiology and pathogenesis are unknown. We herewith report an atypical case of cutaneous sarcoidosis.

Objective Olfactory Findings in Hospitalized Severe COVID-19 Patients.

Objective: We investigate the prevalence of the self-reported and objective sudden loss of smell (SLS) in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: Severe COVID-19 patients with self-reported SLS were recruited at hospitalization discharge. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 1420 European patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019.

Background: The clinical presentation of European patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection is still unknown.

Objective: To study the clinical presentation of COVID-19 in Europe.

Methods: Patients with positive diagnosis of COVID-19 were recruited from 18 European hospitals.

An Atypical Case of Vasculitis: When 'Occult' 18FDG-PET Scan Findings Create a Classification Dilemma.

Unlabelled: We describe a 66-year old patient with a recurrent ulcer on her right ankle. Biopsy revealed medium-vessel vasculitis consistent with cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa. There were no signs or symptoms suggestive of systemic vasculitis, but a 18FDG-PET scan showed areas of increased uptake around the large arteries and the pelvic and shoulder girdles.

Heparin-binding-hemagglutinin-induced IFN-gamma release as a diagnostic tool for latent tuberculosis.

Background: The detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a major component of tuberculosis (TB) control strategies. In addition to the tuberculosis skin test (TST), novel blood tests, based on in vitro release of IFN-gamma in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antigens ESAT-6 and CFP-10 (IGRAs), are used for TB diagnosis. However, neither IGRAs nor the TST can separate acute TB from LTBI, and there is concern that responses in IGRAs may decline with time after infection.

Regulatory T cells depress immune responses to protective antigens in active tuberculosis.

Rationale: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death, and the role of T-cell responses to control Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections is well recognized. Patients with latent TB infection develop strong IFN-gamma responses to the protective antigen heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA), whereas patients with active TB do not.

Objectives: We investigated the mechanism of this difference and evaluated the possible involvement of regulatory T (Treg) cells and/or cytokines in the low HBHA T-cell responses of patients with active TB.

Heparin-binding hemagglutinin, from an extrapulmonary dissemination factor to a powerful diagnostic and protective antigen against tuberculosis.

Interactions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with macrophages have long been recognized to be crucial to the pathogenesis of tuberculosis. The role of non-phagocytic cells is less well known. We have discovered a M.

Effector functions of heparin-binding hemagglutinin-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes in latent human tuberculosis.

Background: Most individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis do not develop tuberculosis (TB) and can be regarded as being protected by an appropriate immune response to the infection. The characterization of the immune responses of individuals with latent TB may thus be helpful in the definition of correlates of protection and the development of new vaccine strategies. The highly protective antigen heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA) induces strong interferon (IFN)- gamma responses during latent, but not active, TB.

Optimal kinetics for quantification of antigen-induced cytokines in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by real-time PCR and by ELISA.

Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has recently been described as a new tool to measure and accurately quantify mRNA levels. In this study, we have applied this technique to evaluate cytokine mRNA synthesis induced by antigenic stimulation with purified protein derivative (PPD) or heparin-binding haemagglutinin (HBHA) in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected individuals. Whereas PPD and HBHA optimally induced IL-2 mRNA after respectively 8 and 16 to 24 h of in vitro stimulation, longer in vitro stimulation times were necessary for optimal induction of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) mRNA, respectively 16 to 24 h for PPD and 24 to 96 h for HBHA.