У статті наведено результати дослідження, яке вивчало зв’язок між сероварами Leptospira interrogans та ураженням легень у пацієнтів із лептоспірозом. Аналіз 395 медичних карт показав, що пневмонія виникала у 22% хворих і значно частіше — за тяжкого перебігу. У померлих пацієнтів легеневі прояви траплялися у третини випадків. Встановлено, що інфікування сероваром L. Kabura частіше асоціювалося з розвитком пневмонії, тоді як L. Pomona та L. Grippotyphosa частіше зустрічалися у пацієнтів без легеневих уражень. Натомість зв’язку з L. Icterohaemorrhagiae, відомим як високопатогенний серовар, виявлено не було.
Background: Leptospirosis is one of the most common bacterial zoonoses in the world. However, there is scarce available literature on public awareness of the infection and the main clinical symptoms of leptospirosis. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the level of leptospirosis awareness among the general population and individuals with occupational risk of the disease in Lviv Region, Ukraine. Material and methods: A leptospirosis questionnaire on potential risk factors, routes of transmission and ways of protection along with the demographic data was prepared, posted on Facebook and distributed as a printed version. The statistical analysis was performed using Fisher's two-sided test. Results: A total of 446 individuals completed the questionnaire. Of these, 364 persons had no occupational risk of acquiring leptospirosis, while 82 of them had it. The study showed the following levels of leptospirosis awareness among the participants: 193 out of 446 (43.3%) individuals knew what leptospirosis was, with 158/364 (43.4%) representing general population (Group 1) and 35/82 (42.7%) representing individuals with an occupational risk of acquiring leptospirosis (Group 2), p>0.05. Furthermore, a total of 55.8% of all the participants knew how they could contract leptospirosis: 194/364 (53.3%) in Group 1 and 55/82 (67.1%) in Group 2, p<0.05. The most common risk factors of acquiring leptospirosis observed in both groups were as follows: swimming in ponds and lakes with stagnant water (57.69% in Group 1and 79.26% in Group 2, p<0.01), and the presence of rodents in houses, basements and utility rooms as well as periodic visits to these premises by respondents (45.6% of the respondents in Group 1 and 58.53% of the respondents in Group 2, p<0.01). Conclusions: Outreach campaigns should be implemented to raise the awareness of leptospirosis, both among the general population and among the individuals at increased risk of exposure.
Background: Human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) is a vector-borne natural focal disease that is not officially registered in Ukraine. The first 13 cases of HGA in adults in Ukraine were identified in 2007. The purpose of our study was to develop a predictive model of HGA based on clinical and laboratory characteristics to develop a three-level standard case definition of HGA.
Materials and Methods: Researchers examined 498 patients with suspected tick-borne infections and carried out a retrospective clinical and epidemiological analysis of 60 cases recruited from Lviv regional infectious disease hospitals. Logistic regression was used to create a model of the probability of the diagnosis of HGA depending on the presence of certain clinical and laboratory factors that, when examined, together may help to confirm a case of HGA. For logistic regression, eight clinical and laboratory factors were selected: history of tick bite, hyperthermia, signs of pharyngitis, changes in chest X-ray picture (enhancement of the pulmonary pattern and enlargement of the lung root boundaries), increased bilirubin (>21 lmol/L), increased alanine aminotransferase (ALT >36 U/L), erythema migrans, and detected Lyme disease.
Results: In the presence of all eight factors, the probability of HGA is 95.7%. When the five main signs are absentsigns of pharyngitis, changes in chest X-ray picture, increased bilirubin and ALT, and a history of tick bite the probability of HGA in the patient dramatically decreases to 6.8%, meaning that HGA might be excluded.
Conclusions: Based on the analysis of epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory signs, criteria for establishing a suspected, probable, and confirmed diagnosis of HGA have been developed to improve diagnosis
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the dominant pathogen of acute respiratory infections (ARI) became the coronavirus. Cases of coronavirus disease are registered throughout the year, with increase in the incidence in the autumn-winter period. Since the fall of 2022, the appearance of the type A influenza virus has been noted, which caused a severe course of the flu in patients. The aim of our study was to compare the distribution of laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 and influenza. From January 2022 to April 2023, 4,205 nasopharyngeal swab specimens from Lviv Regional Infectious Disease Hospital inpatients with suspected ARI were examined by PCR. Also, from November 2022 to April 2023, 392 samples from the above-described patients were also examined for influenza. Covid-19 was laboratory confirmed in 1238 cases (29.5%). The age of the patients ranged from 2 to 94 years. One of the highest levels of laboratory-confirmed cases was recorded in January 2022 where 309 positive out of 578 collected cases (53.5%), with a decrease to 10% in June. An increase of morbidity was observed in August (46.8%) and September (56.5%). Since October, a decrease in the indicator (32.2%) was registered, followed by a drop in the level of laboratory-confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease to 5.2% in November and 1.9% in December. Since January 2023, there has been an increase in incidence rates with a peak (39.5%) in February and a subsequent gradual decline to 17.6% in April 2023. However, since November, the number of confirmed cases of influenza has increased sharply to 53.4% and 35.3% in December. Hospitalized patients with influenza had a severe course of the disease. Three patients had positive tests for Coronavirus and influenza A at the same time. From January to April 2023, no laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza A were reported, which corresponds to the increase in the incidence of Covid-19. Thus, in the structure of ARI, along with the coronavirus, the type A influenza virus plays an active role, both in terms of the number of cases and the severity of the course. That is, it can be possible that these pathogens compete with each other
У структурі захворюваності на гострі респіраторні інфекційні хвороби поряд з COVID-19, захворюваність на який в 2022 році наближалась до показників сезонних респіраторних хвороб, активну роль в епідемічному процесі восени 2022 року відігравав вірус грипу типу А, як за кількістю випадків, так і за важкістю перебігу. Ймовірно, ці два збудники конкурують між собою за популяцію. В осінній період 2022 року вірус грипу повернувся в екологічну нішу, у якій протягом 2020-2022 років стійко утримувався SARS-CoV-2