Emerging infectious diseases
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Nov 2003
Coronavirus-positive nasopharyngeal aspirate as predictor for severe acute respiratory syndrome mortality.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has caused a major epidemic worldwide. A novel coronavirus is deemed to be the causative agent. ⋯ The RT-PCR-positive patients had significantly more shortness of breath, a lower lymphocyte count, and a lower lactate dehydrogenase level; they were also more likely to have bilateral and multifocal chest radiograph involvement, to be admitted to intensive care, to need mechanical ventilation, and to have higher mortality rates. By multivariate analysis, positive RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal aspirate samples was an independent predictor of death within 30 days.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Nov 2003
Severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus infection.
Whether severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection can be asymptomatic is unclear. We examined the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV among 674 healthcare workers from a hospital in which a SARS outbreak had occurred. A total of 353 (52%) experienced mild self-limiting illnesses, and 321 (48%) were asymptomatic throughout the course of these observations. None of these healthcare workers had antibody to SARS CoV, indicating that subclinical or mild infection attributable to SARS-CoV in adults is rare.
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Emerging Infect. Dis. · Nov 2003
Case ReportsLevofloxacin treatment failure in Haemophilus influenzae pneumonia.
We describe the first case of failure of oral levofloxacin treatment of community-acquired pneumonia caused by Haemophilus influenzae. The strain showed cross-resistance to fluoroquinolones and carried four mutations in quinolone resistance-determining regions of DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV genes.