Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major causative agent of prenatal and perinatal infections and may lead to important complications on pregnancy. Objective: To find out the sero-prevalence of CMV IgM and IgG and its association with the history of abortion and / or intra-uterine death, as well as, to study the association between the mentioned prevalence with some socio-demographic variables. Patients and Methods: A case-control study was performed during the period between October 2018 to April 2019 in Erbil city (Kurdistan region, Iraq) on 75 pregnant women with history of abortion and / or intra-uterine death; and 75 healthy women with normal pregnancy who served as a control group. The women had been referred to the central laboratory department of the Maternity Teaching Hospital for the detection and evaluation of sero-prevalence of CMV specific IgM and IgG markers. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Health Sciences College, Hawler Medical University and informed consent was obtained from the patients and controls. Results: The sero-prevalence of CMV-specific IgG was 100% in each of the study groups. The sero-prevalence of CMV-specific IgM was 8% among women with abnormal pregnancy, while, none of the women of the control group had a positive IgM. No significant association was detected between CMV-specific IgM sero-prevalence and any of the studied sociodemographic factors as well as risk factors including abortion, intrauterine death and hypertension (p>0.05).
Conclusion:The association was detected between the CMV-specific IgM sero-prevalence and history of abortion and / or intra-uterine death but no significant may be due to small sample size in the present study.
Background COVID-19 primarily presents as a respiratory tract infection, but studies indicate that it could be considered a systemic disease that can spread to affect multiple organ systems, including respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hematopoietic, neurological, and immune systems. Objective To describe and analyze the clinical and hematological characteristics of 300 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Erbil, Kurdistan. Methods This retrospective study included 300 patients of any age admitted to hospital due to confirmed COVID-19 between September 2020 and February 2021. Cases were diagnosed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays of nasopharyngeal swab specimens. Results The highest proportion of patients were aged 21–40 years. The most common symptoms among the patients were myalgia (66.7%), fatigue (62.3%), headache (50.7%), and chest pain (52.7%). Differences in hematological and biochemical parameters were observed between deceased and recovered patients. Only the mid-range absolute count percentage (MID%) was significantly higher in the recovered patients than in the deceased ones (6.41% vs. 4.48, p = 0.019). Death was significantly higher among older patients (>40 years) than younger ones (≤40 years) (6.8% vs. 1.3%, p = 0.015), diabetic than non-diabetic (10.8% vs. 3%, p = 0.047), and those having chronic diseases than those without chronic diseases (10.6% vs. 2.1%, p = 0.006). Conclusions Different hematological and biochemical parameter findings were observed among the COVID-19 patients. Low MID%, older age, and presence of diabetes mellitus and chronic disease were significantly associated with death among COVID-19 patients.
Background:Globally, rotavirus infection, which results in gastroenteritis, is one of the major health problems. Millions of children are infected with the disease. Viral gastroenteritis must be recognized early because it causes wasteful antibiotic use and hospitalizations for kids.
Objective: To investigate the frequency of rotavirus in stool samples from children with acute gastroenteritis.
Patients and Methods: Cross-sectional study consisting of one hundred fifty-three fresh stool samples collected from children less than 5 years were admitted to Raparin pediatric hospital in Erbil city between November 2021 and April 2022. Rotavirus antigens were detected by Rapid test.
Results: Rotavirus antigen was detected at an estimated rate of 61 (40%) in 153 studied cases. The frequency of rotavirus among male and female patients was 44.1% and 33.3% respectively. According to age of infants, rotavirus was detected most frequency in eight months of age. As well as the frequency rate among rural and urban patients was 40% and 39.8% respectively. Rotavirus was detected among vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients by the frequency 26.3% and 54.8% respectively. The highest frequency rate was detected in January 46.4%. Detection of rotavirus by age group was and vaccinations were significant in this study by p-value of 0.001. Conclusion: The most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in children in our area is rotavirus . Rotavirus infection is most frequently occurring during the winter season and among children between 6 months to 24 months.
Conclusion: In this study we found cigarette smoking was more commonly practiced than water pipe .Nicotinic stomatitis is more prevalent in cigarette smoking and its incidence increased with duration and frequency of the habit.
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