BMC Infectious Diseases

BackgroundObesity is a risk factor for severe dengue, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study compared clinical features, outcomes, and biomarkers between overweight/obese and healthy-weight patients with dengue infection. MethodsWe conducted an observational matched cohort study (2019-2022) including 75 overweight/obese patients and 75 matched healthy-weight patients with dengue (by age, sex, illness phase, and inpatient ward). The primary clinical outcome was overall severity per...

BackgroundHealthcare-associated carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) outbreaks are a major healthcare challenge. Epidemiological studies have identified patient-level risk factors for CPE transmission, and genomic studies have highlighted high-risk lineages or mobile genetic elements (MGEs); however, a unified dissemination risk-prediction framework is lacking. ObjectivesTo synthesise available data on epidemiological, microbiological and genomic risk factors to quantify healthcare-as...

IntroductionHemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a serious condition induced by Dengue virus which becomes fatal if not detected early and treated appropriately. So objectives of the present study are to observe the different patterns of presentations, clinical features and outcome of HLH induced by Dengue. MethodsIn this observational study, 14 patients admitted and diagnosed HLH as per diagnostic criteria, were included after informed written consent. Study conducted in a period of six...

BackgroundThe dynamics of HIV and ZIKV coinfection among pregnant women remain understudied, and its impacts on neonatal health still need to be defined. This gap is particularly concerning given the significant public health risks it can cause, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the Zika virus is still circulating. MethodsWe conducted a transversal ecological study using aggregated data from 2015 to 2023. To do so, we developed a compartmental model that included a Susceptibl...

BackgroundRespiratory viruses are major contributors to population mortality, but cause-of-death coding undercounts their impact. Ecological regression models linking viral circulation to mortality fluctuations can address this limitation. AimTo estimate the population attributable fraction (PAF) of mortality associated with influenza A and B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 in Ontario, Canada (1993-2024). MethodsWe analysed monthly all-cause mortality data with laboratory su...

IntroductionDengue has been prevalent in a regular fashion in Bangladesh and Chattogram for the last 6-7 years and is showing some serotype twisting. So, the objectives of the present study were to explore the burden of dengue serotypes in Chattogram. MethodsIn this study, 223 Dengue RT-PCR positive patients were evaluated for serotyping. Gender and age group, along with cycle threshold (CT) values, were also collected. Data after collection were compiled, analyzed, and plotted in Microsoft Exc...

Sepsis is a complex condition with a time-dependent evolution. Longitudinal biomarker dynamics could help us to better characterise sepsis. We hypothesised that the kinetics of biomarkers are associated with sepsis and with the intensity of organ dysfunction, and may have predictive capacity for patient survival. This single-centre, prospective, observational study included adult patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with suspected infection. Patients were included in the study i...

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to systematically describe the current status of patient delay among pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients in Huyanghe City, Xinjiang, from 2014 to 2024, and to examine factors associated with patient delay, thereby providing an evidence base for developing targeted interventions to reduce delays in care seeking and strengthen TB prevention and control. MethodsThis observational study was based on the Tuberculosis Patient Management Subsystem of the China C...

BackgroundReliable identification of early predictors of adverse outcomes was essential during the pre-vaccination phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies have comprehensively integrated clinical presentation, laboratory parameters including arterial blood gas analysis, and chest computed tomography (CT) findings within a single well-characterized cohort, particularly in underrepresented regions of Brazil. MethodsThis retrospective cohort study included 482 consecutive adults (median age 61...

Incidence of norovirus has strong seasonality in temperate and continental climates. Many studies have examined its association with climate variables, but evidence remains disparate. We address this gap by performing a systematic review to summarise and interpret the strength and directionality of associations between climate variables and norovirus incidence. Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed databases were screened for peer-reviewed studies on 2nd of December 2024. Articles were incl...

A concern in infectious disease modelling is how accurately population mixing is incorporated, as it shapes the type and frequency of contacts through which infection spreads, and consequently, estimated intervention effectiveness. Although synthesizing mixing patterns from diary-based surveys is an established framework, geographical information is poorly or sparsely captured. Here we propose a generalizable workflow to quantify geographical connectivity from job registry data covering over 8 m...

BackgroundSub-Saharan Africa has a high burden of disease due to antimicrobial resistance that is thought to be driven by a combination of sub-optimal antibiotic use and frequent exposures to AMR in different One Health compartments. We evaluated a community-based, co-created intervention bundle to improve antibiotic use and hygiene practices, targeting all community-level healthcare providers and communities. MethodsIn a cluster-randomised, controlled trial in 44 villages, we measured the inte...

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWO_ST_ABSBackgroundC_ST_ABSEnsuring appropriate access to essential antibiotics is a critical global public health goal. The UN General Assembly agreed that 70% of global antibiotic use should be WHO Access group. A standard method to estimate optimal antibiotic use based on burden of disease, resistance and local context is needed to inform national policies. MethodsUsing data from multiple global datasets, we clustered 186 countries, territories and areas (CTAs) into p...

BackgroundSevere Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS) is an acute infectious disease with high mortality. This study aimed to develop a quantitative scoring system for grading SFTS severity using dynamic clinical data. MethodsA retrospective study included 547 confirmed SFTS patients from two hospitals. Clinical data were collected over a 14-day course (divided into four phases). Patients were grouped into survivors (n=451) and non-survivors (n=96). Statistical analyses, including Kaplan...

BackgroundHospitals in high-burden tuberculosis (TB) settings are important sites of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) transmission, yet the impact of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures targeting crowding is poorly understood. We assessed the effects of simple interventions to reduce spatial clustering and airborne transmission in a Zambian hospital. Methods and findingsFrom June to August 2024, we prospectively collected clinical data on presumptive (symptom-based screening) and co...

BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children, often leading to hospitalisation in infants. In low-resource settings where routine RSV diagnostics are unavailable, clinical overlap with bacterial pneumonia frequently results in unnecessary antibiotic use, contributing to antimicrobial resistance. ObjectiveTo evaluate the frequency and clinical determinants of antibiotic use among RSV-positive children under two years at a tertiary...

BackgroundUnderstanding tuberculosis (TB) transmission dynamics is necessary to interrupt disease spread. We developed a model to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for factors associated with genetic relatedness, as proxy for transmission. MethodsWe build upon an existing iterative model that modifies genetically linked tuberculosis case data to better represent true transmission links. We incorporate bootstrapped logistic regression to calculate adjusted ORs with confidence intervals that ac...

Recent studies suggested that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) exposure may increase tuberculosis (TB) disease risk. We assessed the association between active HCMV infection and recent HCMV exposure with tuberculosis (TB) disease among TB-presumptive South African adults. This was a nested case-control analysis that utilized stored plasma and serum samples collected from adults ([≥]18 years) with presumptive TB self-presenting to primary care clinics in in the Kraaifontein District in Cape Town,...

IntroductionBuruli ulcer (BU) is a neglected tropical disease primarily affecting skin and sometimes bone. Standard therapy consists of rifampicin (RIF, once daily) plus clarithromycin (CLA, twice daily) over 8 weeks. Adding amoxicillin-clavulanate (AMX/CLV) may shorten treatment, but predicting treatment success before clinical trial implementation is challenging. AimsTo assess the probability of bacterial eradication following treatment with novel investigational BU regimens over different in...

BackgroundDetermining the impact of preventive interventions on future health and economic outcomes in a given population often requires parameterising disease models with forecast disease incidence, remission and case fatality rates. This paper outlines a method to specify these forecasts, using period estimates over several years from source data that are not necessarily coherent from a cohort perspective. MethodsFor a given chronic disease, the model is specified by first obtaining and smoot...