Objectives/Hypothesis The emergence of a new coronavirus strain (SARS‐CoV‐2) in December 2019 from China led to a global pandemic. The lack of herd immunity against this virus and the possibility of viral spread from asymptomatic individuals is still a major challenge for the prevention of viral transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of the virus in different bodily secretions as a potential source of viral spread among patients infected with SARS‐CoV‐2. Study Design Cross Sectional Study. Methods The study included 38 COVID‐19 patients with a positive real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) test result for SARS‐CoV‐2, obtained from the combined nasopharyngeal–oropharyngeal swab samples. Saliva, tear, and cerumen samples were taken from the patients within 72 hours of the first RT‐PCR test. SARS‐CoV‐2 N1 and N2 gene regions were studied with single‐step RT‐PCR in all samples. Results Among the studied samples, the highest positivity rate was in saliva (76.3%) followed by tears (55.3%) and cerumen (39.5%). Viral load in saliva was also significantly higher compared to tears and cerumen (P < .001), while there was no significant difference between tears and cerumen. Higher viral load in combined nasopharyngeal–oropharyngeal swab samples was associated with higher viral load in tears, but not in saliva or cerumen. Half of the saliva, tear, and cerumen samples obtained from asymptomatic patients contained SARS‐CoV‐2 genome. Conclusions The virus was detected in the saliva, tears, and cerumen samples of both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The potential role of these bodily fluids on viral spread needs to be studied. Level of Evidence 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E1677–E1682, 2021

The authors aim to analyze the effects of oral antibiotic treatment for traumatic tympanic membrane perforations and to compare the outcomes of patients with traumatic tympanic membrane perforation after paper-patching procedure and spontaneous healing. In this study, 80 patients with traumatic tympanic membrane perforation diagnosed in the otorhinolaryngology emergency department and outpatient clinic from March 2010 to January 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. If the patient is diagnosed at first week and the edge of perforation is moist with blood, our routine procedure is paper-patching (group 1). However, if the patients reject treatment or delay in admission, the authors follow up patients for spontaneous closure (group 2). Some of the patients got oral antibiotics for 7 days (amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, 1000 mg 2 times/d) while some others did not. Closure rates and effectivity of oral antibiotics were evaluated and compared between 2 groups. In total, 80 patients were analyzed. The closure rates of perforations were 95.2% for group 1 (n = 42) and 81.6% for group 2 (n = 38). Although the paper-patched patients (group 1) perforation closure rate (95.2%) is higher than the nontreated patients (group 2) closure rate (81.6%), it is not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Antibiotic administered 55 patients had a significantly higher closure rate (94.5%) than the 25 patients who are not treated with antibiotics (76%) (P = 0.023; P < 0.05). In patients with traumatic tympanic membrane perforations, spontaneous closure rate is quite high. This study showed us that antibiotherapy and paper-patch treatments increase the healing rates.

Objective. We retrospectively investigated whether there is a relationship between Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and papillary thyroid carcinoma and studied the effect of HT on prognostic factors. Methods. 1080 patients, who underwent thyroidectomy in our hospital and received a diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma, were included in the study. In histopathological specimens, the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma was reconfirmed and non-neoplastic areas in the same specimen were evaluated in terms of HT. Results. HT was detected in non-neoplastic areas of specimens in 36.1% (n = 390) of 1080 patients with a diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma whereas HT was not observed in 63.9% (n = 690). There was a significant positive correlation between presence of HT and multifocal location (p < 0.05, χ2 = 38.5). There was no significant relationship between extrathyroidal tissue invasion and HT (p > 0.05). Conclusion.We assume that patients with HT developing papillary thyroid carcinoma have an increased risk of having multifocal tumour, and thus surgical intervention should be tailored according to this risk.