Browsing by Author "Alzahrani, Nojoom A."

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    Clinical predictors of mortality of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection: A cohort study
    (Elsevier, 2019) Alfaraj, Sarah; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Alzahrani, Nojoom A.; Alanazi, Amal A.; Memish, Ziad A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background Since the emergence of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012, the virus had caused a high case fatality rate. The clinical presentation of MERS varied from asymptomatic to severe bilateral pneumonia, depending on the case definition and surveillance strategies. There are few studies examining the mortality predictors in this disease. In this study, we examined clinical predictors of mortality of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) infection. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of symptomatic admitted patients to a large tertiary MERS-CoV center in Saudi Arabia over the period from April 2014 to March 2018. Clinical and laboratory data were collected and analysis was done using a binary regression model. Results A total of 314 symptomatic MERS-CoV patients were included in the analysis, with a mean age of 48 (±17.3) years. Of these cases, 78 (24.8%) died. The following parameters were associated with increased mortality, age, WBC, neutrophil count, serum albumin level, use of a continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) and corticosteroid use. The odd ratio for mortality was highest for CRRT and corticosteroid use (4.95 and 3.85, respectively). The use of interferon-ribavirin was not associated with mortality in this cohort. Conclusion Several factors contributed to increased mortality in this cohort of MERS-CoV patients. Of these factors, the use of corticosteroid and CRRT were the most significant. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether these factors were a mark of severe disease or actual contributors to higher mortality.
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    The impact of co-infection of influenza A virus on the severity of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
    (Elsevier, 2017-05) Alfaraj, Sarah H.; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Alzahrani, Nojoom A.; Altwaijri, Talal A.; Memish, Ziad A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Ho and colleagues recently drew attention to the consequences of co-infection with Influenza and HIV.1 We present four cases of combined infection with influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection. Nasopharyngeal swabs or tracheal aspirates were tested for MERS-CoV using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).2, 3 Samples were tested for Influenza A, B and H1N1 by rapid molecular test (GenEXper for detection of flu A, B and 2009 H1N1, Cepheid).