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Background: Respiratory tract infections are one of the most important infections among military personals, worldwide. The present study aimed to survey the prevalence of bacterial and viral main etiological agents causing respiratory tract infections among the military personnel in Iran. A crosssectional study was performed from September 2020 to February 2021. Nasopharyngeal swabs were taken from patients, military personnel with respiratory tract infection symptoms. Detection of COVID-19 was performed with one step qRT-PCR method. TaqMan probe-based real-time PCR assay was used for the detection of in uenza A and B viruses. The prevalence of adenovirus and M. pneumoniae were determined using nested PCR. Moreover, B. pertussis and S. pyogenes were identi ed by conventional PCR assay. The detection of H. in uenzae was performed by multiplex PCR method.Results: Overall, 145 patients were included. Among viral pathogens, COVID-19, in uenza A virus, and adenovirus were identi ed in 85.5%, 4.1%, and 1.4% of patients, respectively. In uenza B virus was not detected among military personnel. The frequency of bacteria etiological agents was as follows: S. pyogenes (2%), M. pneumoniae (0.7%), H. in uenzae (0%), and B. pertussis (0%). Muscle aches (75.9%), headache (70.3%), lethargy (69%), cough (66.2%), stuffy nose (56.6%), fever (53.8%), and sore throat (53.1%) were amongst the most common clinical symptoms.Conclusions: Results showed that the military personals are the susceptible group to COVID-19 infection. Therefore, the accurate detection and implementation of control strategies such as vaccination are necessary.

Background: Neutropenia is a common side effect of chemotherapy and one of the most common causes of severe infection and mortality in patients with hematological malignancies. Some studies showed that antimicrobial prophylaxis resulted in lower febrile neutropenia (FN) episodes and mortality rates. Objectives: We aimed to determine the efficacy of prophylaxis with ciprofloxacin in patients with hematological malignancies. Methods: In a randomized double-blinded clinical trial from 1 March to 1 September 2016, we assigned patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia into two groups. We used the random permuted blocks method for randomization. The first group received oral ciprofloxacin at a dose of 500 milligrams daily until the neutrophil count reached 1000 cells per microliter or fever occurrence, defined as the primary outcome. The second group received a placebo in the same shape and size. We compared FN episodes and the mortality rate in these two groups by SPSS-22 software, using chi-square, Fischer's exact tests, and student t-test at P-value < 0.05. Results: Seventy-three males (60.8%) and 47 females (39.2%) entered our study. The mean age of the patients was 47 ± 14.6 years. Acute leukemia was the most common underlying malignancy in 81 out of 120 subjects (67.5%). Fever (P = 0.005) was significantly lower in the ciprofloxacin group, but the mortality rate (P = 0.783) did not differ between the two groups. Conclusions: We found that the prophylaxis with ciprofloxacin decreased FN in our patients but did not influence the mortality rate. We believe that antimicrobial prophylaxis may be helpful in neutropenic patients, especially in decreasing FN and its related comorbidity.

As the novel Coronavirus pandemic continues to affect people worldwide, immune-mediated inflammatory syndromes have been reporting related to this virus. We presented a case of novel Coronavirus pneumonia, who developed a purpuric rash, abdominal pain, and hematuria, diagnosed with Henoch–Schoenlein purpura.