The current pandemic of COVID-19 infection worries the world, due to high morbidity and mortality. Various strategies for infection control, including nutritional interventions, have been considered, given the extremely rapid spread of the disease, the lack of specific effective and safe antiviral treatment and the difficulty of having a vaccine in the near future. Vitamin C, long known for its antioxidant and anti-infective effects, has been analyzed from the perspective of biochemical mechanisms with potential benefits in patients with severe COVID-19 infection. Favorable clinical results have been reported after intravenous administration of high doses of Vitamin C, but confirmation of these data requires extensive studies.
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Conclusion DRV/r administered in combination with other ARV medications in subtype F HIV-1 infected subjects in naturalistic settings proved to be an effective and safe treatment in Romania.Trial registration NCT01253967
The oral mucosa is a mirror of the state of health for the whole organism, representing a natural barrier to infection, an entry gate for a large number of pathogens, a site for microbial multiplication and for initiating disease- specific pathological processes, expressed by lesions, signs and symptoms characteristic for diagnosis. The new global threat to public health, COVID-19 infection can be customized within the oral pathology. The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is characterized by high contagiousness, airborne transmission, directly through inhaled drops or, indirectly, through the use of contaminated objects. The survival of the virus on surfaces, depending on their structure, varies from 4 hours to 9 days. The initiation of infection is possible through the binding of viruses in site of host cells, due to receptor affinity and an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE2), distributed in the epithelium, alveoli, ascular endothelium, lung pneumocytes and macrophage. The severity of the infection varies from asymptomatic forms to severe complications, with high motility. In the absence of a treatment or vaccine with proven efficacy, to be approved for use in practice, prevention is limited to respecting hygiene and social spacing, proper use of protective equipment and limiting services and procedures at risk of dispersing aerosols and saliva.
Background: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) has a substantial mortality even with anti-tuberculous treatment, in HIV-non-infected patients. Purpose of the study. The objectives were to describe clinical and laboratory differences of TBM in HIV-infected versus HIV non-infected patients and to assess risk factors of death in HIV-infected patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients admitted to four infectious diseases hospitals in Romania, between 2001 and 2011, with TBM. Patients were defined as having TBM according to a consensus definition published by Marais et al. [1] and further divided into three categories of TBM (definite, probable and possible). Results: We identified 162 patients with TBM of which 47 (29%) tested positive for HIV infection. Sixty-six patients had definite, 53 probable and 43 possible TBM. Out of the 47 HIV-infected patients 25 had definite, 17 probable and 5 possible TBM. TBM in HIV-infected patients vs. HIV non-infected patients was significantly associated in multivariable analysis with younger age (p=0.01), in-hospital mortality (p<0.001), absence of meningean syndrome (p=0.021), and absence of cranial nerve palsy (p=0.036). HIV-infected patients who died had a median CD4 count of 61 cells/mm3 (IQR 21-132) vs. 135 cells/mm3 (IQR 61–255) in patients who survived (p=0.014). HIV infection was diagnosed before TBM episode in 35 (75%) patients. Twenty-four (51%) HIV-infected patients had concomitant extra-central nervous system tuberculosis. Conclusions: HIV infection is associated with increased mortality in patients with TBM. Most of our patients with TBM were late presenters. Death in HIV infected patients was associated with a lower median CD4 count
Coronaviruses are ARN viruses with high variability, widespread in nature in many animal species and in humans, which can cause diseases with varying degrees of severity, from mild forms to severe forms, with high mortality. The COVID-19 emergency evolves into a pandemic, being the main public health concern worldwide. The main manifestations are respiratory, pneumonic, but extrarespiratory symptoms may be present. Hygiene measures are the only ways to prevent now, because there is no a vaccine or antiviral treatment approved for use in patients with COVID-19. Several therapeutic strategies are under study for the new SARS-CoV-2.
The wide concept of health does not benefit of a single definition, but of multiple definitions and this plurality is related to the knowledge assimilated and the socio-economic dynamics. This is due to the fact that health is an ongoing process, its notion changing with the passage of time. Thus, at international level, health is nowadays defined considering multiple criteria. In the last decade, the analysis of relevant statistical data presents an unfavourable evolution for the three major components of population dynamics: natality, mortality and external migration, accompanied by the deterioration of the entire demographic construction and tendencies of heading towards an imminent demographic drift. Humans protect themselves against the microbial aggression by using their inborn barriers and mechanisms that are completed and modulated by acquired barriers and mechanisms. For a microorganism to reach the internal environment and generate an infectious process, it must get through and overcome these barriers. In order to overcome these barriers, the infectious agent must first adhere to the surface of epithelial cells and then pass through the epithelium. Local defence mechanisms help limit the infection and present the antigen to the regional lymphatic ganglions, contributing at the initiation of the immune response. On the other hand, the infectious agent present in the lymphatic system causes lymphangitis and satellite adenitis, which stand as a filter in the infections� way. The study included 127 patients with bacterial infections that were studied from 2014 to 2018. Infection can be caused by certain species of germs whose main feature is pathogenicity. Specific infections are caused by a foreign infectious agent that has accidentally reached the oral cavity causing oral lesions (appear in the secondary phase of the general infection). Specific infections are individualized, caused by a single microbe (monomicrobial) while the non-specific ones are associated (polymicrobial).
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