BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is resulted from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which initiated in China in December 2019. Parasites are efficient immune modulators because their ability to stimulate an immune response in infected persons. AIM: This study aims to detect if there is a probable relationship between intestinal parasitic infections and COVID-19. METHODS: Ninety patients consulted at Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital (Al-Shifa center) from October 2020 till April 2021, confirmed infection with COVID-19 by PCR. Stool examination was done for detecting intestinal parasites. RESULTS: From 90 patients, males were 63 (70%), with median age 32 years, while females were 27 (30%), with age 24–44 years. Asymptomatic patients were 8.1 (9%), patients with moderate symptoms 22.5 (25%) cases, while the rest were 59.4 (66%) cases who required enter to the intensive care unit, with symptoms including cough (80%), dyspnea (74%), fever (56%), headache (43%), chest pain (37%), sore throat (35%), myalgia (32%), diarrhea (27%), and hemoptysis (3%). CONCLUSION: There is inverse relationship between parasitic infection and COVID-19 infections, and it is significant to understand the action between parasites and microbiome, also its function in COVID-19 pathogenicity.
Worldwide, hundreds of millions of people have been infected with COVID-19 since December 2019; however, about 20% or less developed severe symptoms. The main aim of the current study was to assess the relationship between the severity of Covid-19 and different clinical and laboratory parameters. A total number of 466 Arabs have willingly joined this prospective cohort. Out of the total number, 297 subjects (63.7%) had negative COVID-19 tests, and thus, they were recruited as controls, while 169 subjects (36.3%) who tested positive for COVID-19 were enrolled as cases. Out of the total number of COVID-19 patients, 127 (75.15%) presented with mild symptoms, and 42 (24.85%) had severe symptoms. The age range for the partic
... Show MoreCOVID-19 is a unique viral infectious illness that causes a variety of symptoms and health hazards, particularly to the respiratory system and has been declared a worldwide pandemic. The disease is characterized by a cytokine release in severe conditions. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine, mediates an important immunomodulatory process. Also, vitamin D was identified to have a role in the innate immunity of individuals. Our study was designed to find the role of IL-6 and vitamin D in COVID-19 patients, as well as, to see whether there is a link between vitamin D deficiency and cytokine syndrome development. The study included 90 COVID-19 patients and 30 control people from Baghdad, Iraq. The age of the participants was non-s
... Show MoreThrombosis is a common clinical feature associated with morbidity and mortality in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients. Cytokine storm in COVID-19 increases patients' systemic inflammation, which can cause multiple health consequences. In this work, we aimed to indicate the effect of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination on the modulation of monocyte chemoattractant protein-3 (MCP-3), matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels, and other systemic inflammatory biomarkers that associates with COVID-19 severity in patients who suffers from thrombosis consequences. For this purpose, ninety people were collected from Ibn Al-Nafees Hospital and divided into three groups each of which contained 30 people, 15
... Show MoreBackground: Age progression is regarded as a critical risk factor in morbidity and mortality because of a weakened immune system. Although various studies have dealt with electrolyte imbalance in COVID-19 patients, the outcomes of these studies were partially understood. Objective: The current study aims to determine some biochemical parameters in old Iraqi COVID-19 patients and highlight the outcomes according to the aging role in the development of COVID-19 by suggesting new mechanisms. Materials and methods: forty COVID-19 patients were enrolled in the current study and divided into two groups: Gm includes (20) men, and Gf includes (20) women. The parameters (Na+, K+, Cl-, LDH, and Hb ) were determined in sera of patients and c
... Show MoreCoronavirus disease (Covid-19) has threatened human life, so it has become necessary to study this disease from many aspects. This study aims to identify the nature of the effect of interdependence between these countries and the impact of each other on each other by designating these countries as heads for the proposed graph and measuring the distance between them using the ultrametric spanning tree. In this paper, a network of countries in the Middle East is described using the tools of graph theory.
Persuasion is an indispensable skill in everyday life; that is why, it has aroused researchers’ interest. This study aims to investigate the most frequently used persuasive strategies in texting WHO COVID-19 Virtual Press Conferences and explore how these strategies are employed to achieve persuasive messages.To this end, a text of WHO COVID-19 Virtual Press Conferences has been chosen randomly to be analyzed based on Dillard and Shen’s (2013) “Persuasive strategies in Health Campaigns”. A qualitative method has been adopted in analyzing the selected data to investigate the credibility and validity of the persuasive strategies used in such a domain. Findings have shown that most of the persuasive appeals based on the adopted mode
... Show MoreElectronic learning was used as a substitute method for learning during the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct scientific materials and perform student assessment; this study aimed to investigate academic staff opinions toward electronic education. A cross-sectional study with a web-based questionnaire distributed to academic staff in different medical colleges in Iraq. After de-identification, data were collected and analyzed with statistical software to determine the significance between variables. A total of 256 participants were enrolled in the study: 83% were not satisfied or neutral to online learning, 80% showed a poor benefit from delivery of the practical electronic knowledge and 25% for theoretical sessions with a significant difference
... Show MoreA total of (90) blood samples were collected from male patients infected with Toxoplasmosis who recovered from COVID- 19 and attended Kamal Alsamiraai Hospital from 15 January to 15 September 2021. We measured anti-Toxoplasma antibodies (IgG and IgM) detected by ELISA, whereas Anti-COVID-19 antibodies (IgG and IgM) were estimated using Elisa and Afilias. The semen characteristics were also studied among fertile, healthy individuals (control group) and sub-fertile patients. Results showed that the mean sperm count was high among the control group (40.5±1.3x 106/ml) compared with that of the sub-fertile patients (10.3±1.75 and 8.8±1.9 x 106/ml for oligozoospermia, and oligoasthenozoospermia respectively), and it was the highest (44.7±1.4
... Show MoreThis study aimed to evaluate the preparedness and adherence of community pharmacists to the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Health Advisory COVID-19 guidelines for pharmacists (July 2020) during COVID-19 pandemic. This was a cross-sectional study based on electronic survey using google form, which was distributed from November 19, 2020 to January 1, 2021 using social media platforms. The survey measured 21 pharmacy preventive measures (PM). A multivariate regression analysis was used to identify factors influencing pharmacy implementing of PM. Hand disinfection after serving patients represented the main adopted measure (89.3%). Surprisingly, only 35.4% of participants implemented the proper ways of hand disinfection during fa
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