Browsing by Subject "Variants"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Clinical Presentation and Outcome of Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 in the First and Second Waves in Saudi Arabia
    (Elsevier, 2022-05) AlBahrani, Salma; AlAhmadi, Nayef; Hamdan, Safa; Elsheikh , Noura; Osman, Assim; Almuthen , Sharifah; Almajed , Ghadeer N.; Alkhuraim , Arwa H.; Jebakumar, Arulanantham Zechariah; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Introduction The world had witnessed the occurrence of multiple waves of the SARS-CoV-2. Data comparing the clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized patients in Saudi Arabia during the first and second waves are lacking. This study compares the characteristics and the outcomes of patients in these 2 waves. Methods This is a retrospective case series of hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2. We compared epidemiological, demographic, laboratory, and clinical data. Results The study included hospitalized patients admitted up to February 28, 2021 as the first wave and those admitted from March 1, 2021 as the second wave. There were 378 patients in the first wave and 241 patients in the second wave. Patients in the first wave were significantly younger (mean age and SD of 47.5 ± 20 vs 55.3 ± 18.2 years; p <0.001). In relation to symptoms, shortness of breath, wheezes, myalgia, tachypnea, and respiratory distress were significantly more common in the second wave than the first wave. On the other hand, sore throat was more common in the first wave than the second wave. Patients in the second wave had higher mean values of lymphocytes count, platelet counts, and ALT than those in the first wave. Patients in the first wave were more likely to receive antibiotics and antiviral therapy and had higher death rate (16.2% vs 8.4%; p = 0.001). Conclusion The study showed that patients in the second wave were younger and had a lower rate of death than the first wave.
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    Implication of the emergence of the delta (B.1.617.2) variants on vaccine effectiveness
    (Springer, 2022-06) Al‑Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Koritala, Thoyaja; Alhumaid, Saad; Barry, Mazin; Alshukairi, Abeer N.; Temsah, Mohamad‑Hani; Al Mutair, Abbas; Rabaan, Ali; Tirupathi, Raghavendra; Gautret, Philippe; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Introduction: COVID-19 vaccines have been developed to compact the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and have been administered to people all over the world. These vaccines have been quite effective in reducing the possibility of severe illness, hospitalization and death. However, the recent emergence of Variants of Concern specifically the delta variant, B.1.617.2, had resulted in additional waves of the pandemic. Methods: We aim to review the literature to understand the transmission and disease severity, and determine the efficacy of the current COVID-19 vaccines. We searched Pubmed, Scopus, and Embase till August 4th 2021, and used the search terms "delta variant", "vaccinations"," breakthrough infections", and "neutralizing antibody". For the meta-analysis, 21 studies were screened in particular and five articles (148,071 cases) were included in the study, and only four were analyzed in the meta-analysis. Results: In this review, both in vitro and in vivo studies showed significant reductions in neutralization rates against delta variants for vaccinated individuals and convalescent patients with prior history of COVID-19. However, There was a lower incidence of infection with SARS-CoV-2 due to Delta variant was found after the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines. Conclusion: In fully vaccinated individuals, symptomatic infection with the delta variant was significantly reduced, and therefore, vaccinations play an important role to assist the fight against delta variant.
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    Spitzoid melanoma of childhood: a case series and review
    (Future Science Group, 2015-05) Batra, Sandeep; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Spitzoid melanomas (SM) and atypical Spitz tumors (AST) are rare pediatric neoplasms. We performed a retrospective, single-institution review and report our institutional experience. We identified 10 patients (median age: 12.5 years). A sentinel node biopsy (SNB) was performed in 8/10 (80%) patients, and interestingly 7/8 (87.5%) were found to be positive for malignant cells. A complete regional lymphadenectomy was performed in all SNB-positive patients, but only 2/8 (25%) were found to have additional lymph node spread. Adjuvant therapy was administered in 5/8 SLNB-positive and 2/2 (100%) regional LN-positive cases. All patients had excellent long-term outcomes (100% survival). This report highlights the excellent outcomes associated with SNB + pediatric SM and AST.