Introduction: The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has created a global concern for public health. Having sufficient data is the first step to understand the behavior of contagious diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Although various studies have assessed COVID-19 features, there are many limitations about patients’ characteristics, complications, and outcomes in different countries including Iran. The present study reported launching an electronic database for COVID-19 patients in Fars province, Iran. Method: A comprehensive web-based multicenter registry was designed and launched by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in order to collect all information about COVID-19 hospitalized patients in Fars province, Iran. Results: In this registry, patients’ demographic characteristics, chest computed tomography scan findings, laboratory tests, complications during hospitalization, treatments, and disease course in Intensive Care units are recorded on a web-based electronic database. The virtual statues of the patient’s family are evaluated by telephone calls, and the proceeding will be implemented for quarantine and hospitalization if required. Conclusion: The registry is hoped to help all scientists to understand the current challenges and be prepared for possible future waves of the epidemic. Finally, this registry is a resource for all researchers who are interested in coronavirus and plays an important role in supporting the scientific community on the frontlines of combating the virus.

Background: Influenza is one of the most important viral diseases with high mortality and morbidity that can have a great impact on public health and economy. Objective: To investigate the clinical and epidemiological features of influenza virus A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B infection in Fars province, southern Iran, in 2015-2019. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we assessed the archived data of

Background and objectives Although malnutrition is globally widespread among children, there is no consensus on the most effective intervention for improving a child's growth. The present study is designed to investigate the effects of nutritional support basketson growth indices of malnourished children. Methods This is a field trial conducted on 3667 malnourished children (0–60 months) for 9months, between 2017 and 2018, in Fars province of Iran. Weight-for-age, height-for-age, weight-for-height and body mass index-for age indices were assessed before and after the intervention with nutritional support baskets, which contains 600 kcal/day. Results The baseline prevalence of moderate/severeunderweight, stunting and wasting were 31.5%, 33.3% and 28.9%, respectively. After the intervention, the prevalence non-significantly reduced to 25.5%, 31.7% and 20.35%, respectively (p > 0.05). The intervention is associated with a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight and wasting in 0–23 months children, and a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in 24–60 months children. Furthermore, the intervention is associated with a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in girls, and a non-significant reduction in the prevalence of underweight and wasting in boys. Conclusions Nutrition support was effective in improving malnutrition indices of children; however, the results were non-significant. Further studies with longer period and control group areneeded to support the effectiveness of nutrition support in children.

Vaccines are undeniably an important tool for controlling infectious disease outbreaks, and they are the most certain way to end the epidemic risk. This brief report describes the characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths among breakthrough and unvaccinated cases hospitalized in Fars province in the south of Iran. This cross-sectional study was performed to compare breakthrough and unvaccinated death cases in Fars, Iran (February 2, to August 19, 2021). Among 444,728 fully vaccinated people, 60,800 breakthrough cases were detected. Thus, 501 died, of which 297 (297/501) cases were hospitalized and compared with the unvaccinated dead group. The median age for breakthrough and unvaccinated cases was estimated 79 and 65 y, respectively. All signs and symptoms of COVID-19 were more frequent in the unvaccinated group. Decreasing O2 saturation (less than 93%) happened more often in the unvaccinated group significantly. Unvaccinated dead patients had significantly shorter hospital stays. These patients received 66.63% Sinopharm, 0.67% Sputnik, 0.67% COVIran Barekat, and 31.99% AstraZeneca vaccines. None of them were health-care staff. Equitable access to safe and effective vaccines is critical to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. As vaccine uptake increases, we observed a decrease in mortality and protection from severe forms of the disease.