Browsing by Author "Alhetheel, Abdulkarim"

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    Epidemiological characteristics and initial clinical presentation of patients with laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection in an emergency department.
    (MRE Press, 2022) Al Aseri, Zohair; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Alnakhli, Mohammed; AlNooh, Abdullah; Alnassar, Abdulaziz; Alkhalid, Salah; Al Dughayman, Abdulaziz; Wani, Tariq; Alhetheel, Abdulkarim; Barry, Mazin; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Emergency departments have been implicated as a source of index cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infection. We describe the epidemiological characteristics and initial clinical presentation of patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in an emergency department at a hospital in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The records of all patients presenting to the emergency department who tested positive for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection on real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing from April 2014 to November 2019 were reviewed, and the outcomes were assessed. The clinical presentations and outcomes were compared according to sex. A total of 68 patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection were identified, of whom 40 (58.8%) were female, and 28 (41.2%) were male. The mean age was 50.7 (standard deviation: 16.4) years, and female patients were younger (44.7 ± 13.1 years) than male patients (59.4 ± 16.9 years). Nineteen of the 68 patients (27.9%) were asymptomatic of whom the majority (16/19, 84%) were female (p=0.012). The most common symptoms were fever (n=29, 42.6%), cough (n=25, 36.8%), upper respiratory tract infection (n=23, 33.8%), and pneumonia (n=15, 22.1%). Pneumonia, diarrhea, dyspnea, and vomiting/diarrhea were more common among male patients. Male patients were more likely than female patients to require hospital admission (78.6% vs. 30.0%), intensive care unit admission (64.3% vs. 15.0%), and invasive mechanical ventilation (32.1% vs. 10.0%). The most common presentation of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in this cohort was asymptomatic infection. A high proportion of asymptomatic infections has not been reported previously. The study did not identify typical clinical features of MERS patients. Male patients tended to develop more severe disease than female patients. A larger study is needed to confirm these findings.
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    Impact of MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 Viral Infection on Immunoglobulin-IgG Cross-Reactivity
    (MDPI, 2023-02-26) AlKhalifah, Joud Mohammed; Seddiq, Waleed; Alshehri, Mohammed Abdullah; Alhetheel, Abdulkarim; Albarrag, Ahmed; Meo, Sultan Ayoub; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Barry, Mazin; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has posed a considerable threat to public health and global economies. SARS-CoV-2 has largely affected a vast world population and was declared a COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, with a substantial surge of SARS-CoV-2 infection affecting all aspects of the virus' natural course of infection and immunity. The cross-reactivity between the different coronaviruses is still a knowledge gap in the understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This study aimed to investigate the impact of MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 viral infections on immunoglobulin-IgG cross-reactivity. Our retrospective cohort study hypothesized the possible reactivation of immunity in individuals with a history of infection to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) when infected with SARS-CoV-2. The total number of participants included was 34; among them, 22 (64.7%) were males, and 12 (35.29%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 40.3 ± 12.9 years. This study compared immunoglobulin (IgG) levels against SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV across various groups with various histories of infection. The results showed that a reactive borderline IgG against both MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 in participants with past infection to both viruses was 40% compared with 37.5% among those with past infection with MERS-CoV alone. Our study results establish that individuals infected with both SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV showed higher MERS-CoV IgG levels compared with those of individuals infected previously with MERS-CoV alone and compared with those of individuals in the control. The results further highlight cross-adaptive immunity between MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. Our study concludes that individuals with previous infections with both MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 showed significantly higher MERS-CoV IgG levels compared with those of individuals infected only with MERS-CoV and compared with those of individuals in the control, suggesting cross-adaptive immunity between MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV.