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Background: Lymphopenia is an important but nonspecific laboratory indicator of COVID-19. Objectives: To describe epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of the first cases of the COVID-19 referred to a center dedicated to COVID-19 patients in Iran. Methods: This research is a retrospective cross-sectional study on 100 confirmed cases with COVID-19, hospitalized from February 25 to March 10, 2020, in Qaemshahr Razi Hospital in Mazandaran Province, Iran. The main demographic data, clinical features, including outcomes, laboratory findings, and therapeutic protocols, were collected in a structured form and analyzed. Results: The Mean±SD age of the patients was 56.7±15.6 years. Fifty-nine percent (n=59) of the patients were male. Nineteen percent (n=19) were admitted to the ICU. The median (IQR) time from disease onset to hospital admission was 5 (3-7) days. The most common symptoms were fever (73%), dyspnea (67%), dry cough (61%), and myalgia (61%). The severity of the disease was moderate in most patients (n=54). The average hospital stay for patients was 7 days. The non-survivor cases in comparison to survived ones were from a higher age group (65 vs 52 years; P=0.001), had a higher frequency of underlying diseases (68.4% vs 39.5%; P=0.039), had a lower peripheral capillary O2 saturation at the time of admission (79% vs 94%; P

Background: Nematodes of Trichostrongylus genus are mainly parasites of herbivores, although human infections in sporadic form ‎ have been reported worldwide‎. Herein we reported an outbreak of trichostrongyliasis in Qaemshar city in Mazandaran province, north of Iran from May to June 2020. Methods: The investigation was designed as a retrospective cross-sectional study on an outbreak occurred in Qaemshahr city in the north of Iran. The diagnosis of trichostrongyliasis cases was confirmed by hypereosinophilia and existence of Trichostrongylus ‎ eggs in the stool. Results: Trichostrongyliasis ‎ diagnosed in twelve patients. The age range of patients was ‎10-78 years old. 83.5% of the patients were female and ‎75% of them lived in the rural area. ‎ The most common ‎‏ ‏signs and symptoms of patients were abdominal pain‎ 91.6%, diarrhea 83.3%, ‎vomiting 41.6%, nausea 50%, anemia ‎‎‎‎8.3% and chill ‎ ‎16.6% respectively. ‎ These patients undertook a course of treatment consisting of antihelminth ‎drug ‎for adult ‎and albendazole for children.‎ Symptoms of trichostrongyliasis ‎ improved completely after therapy‎. Conclusions: Our study indicated that trichostrongyliasis may be a major parasitic aetiology for gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain among rural residents in endemic areas with outbreak presentations.

Background and Purpose: Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is a serious fungal infection that especially affects patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In this regard, the present retrospective study aimed to analyze the clinical and laboratory features and therapeutic outcomes of patients with CM admitted to two teaching referral centers in the north of Iran during 2011-19. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on all the hospitalized patients diagnosed with CM in two therapeutic centers of infectious diseases in the north of Iran. The required data, such as demographic characteristics and clinical and paraclinical features of patients, were extracted and entered in the information forms. Finally, the collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 16). Results: For the purpose of the study, records of 12 confirmed CM patients were evaluated in this research. Based on the results, 75% of the patients were male. Moreover, the average age of the subjects was 40.33± 8.93 years old and 66.6% of them (n=8) were HIV-positive. Other underlying diseases among HIV-positive patients included infection with hepatitis C virus (25%) and a history of tuberculosis (25%). In total, three HIV-negative patients suffered from Hodgkin lymphoma (25%), sarcoidosis (25%), and asthma (25%) and one patient (25%) had no underlying disease. Headache (75%), weakness, and fatigue (75%) were the most common symptoms among the participants. The cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) count in all HIV-positive patients was less than 100 cells/μl. There was no significant difference between symptoms in HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients. Besides, no significant difference was observed between the groups of HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients regarding the period between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis of CM, the length of hospital stay, and the duration of antifungal medication consumption. In total, three patients (25%) expired, and six patients recovered. The CM recurred in two HIV-negative and one HIV-positive subjects; the two HIV-negative patients were treated, while the HIV-positive patient expired due to this recurrence. Conclusion: Clinical features and cerebrospinal fluid parameters were not different in HIV-positive and HIV-negative participants. Despite the fact that CM is not common in Iran, due to the increasing number of immunosuppressive patients, the differential diagnosis of CM should be considered for patients with signs and symptoms of infection in the central nervous system.