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Abstract Background Reactivation of herpesviruses such as Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) in COVID-19 patients reported in many studies in different countries during the pandemic. We aimed to measure prevalence of this coinfection in Egyptian COVID-19 patients with elevated liver enzymes and its relation to the severity and the outcome of COVID-19 infection in those patients. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out on 110 COVID-19 patients with elevated liver enzymes regardless the severity of COVID-19 disease. All patients were subjected to medical history, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, high-resolution computed tomography chest (HRCT chest). Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) were determined by VCA IgM and CMV IgM respectively by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Of the included 110 patients with COVID-19 illness, 5 (4.5%) were Epstein–Barr virus seropositive and 5 (4.5%) were human cytomegalovirus seropositive. Regarding the symptoms, the incidence of fever in the EBV and CMV seropositive group was apparently higher than that in the EBV and CMV seronegative group. In lab tests, the platelets and albumin of EBV and CMV seropositive group decreased more significantly than EBV and HCMV seronegative group, and serum ferritin, D-dimer, and C-reactive protein show higher values in seropositive group than in seronegative group but not statistically significant. Seropositive group had received higher doses of steroids than seronegative group. The median of hospital stay in seropositive group was (15 days) nearly double that of seronegative group with statistically significant difference between both groups. Conclusion Coinfection of EBV and CMV in COVID-19 Egyptian has no effect on the disease severity or the clinical outcome of the disease. But those patients had higher hospital stay duration.

Abstract Background Patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are not systematically screened against depression as well as anxiety, although there are high prevalence and adverse influence on the quality of life. The aim of this work was to determine generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder prevalence in patients with IBD, and the secondary objective was to identify patient properties linked to higher psychiatric disorder rates. Results We determined anxiety and depression prevalence in 105 IBD patients (82 having ulcerative colitis and 23 suffering from Crohn’s disease) through a psychiatric interview using the Arabic version of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV Axis I diagnosis (SCID I), in addition to severity assessment of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A), respectively. Patient data, disease characteristics, and drug information were also gathered. We found a high depression prevalence of 56.2% (n = 59), followed by 37.1% (n = 39), with no significant association between IBD severity and anxiety and depression severity. Conclusion Depression and/or anxiety affected a large number of IBD patients. Such psychiatric disorders’ frequency would warrant detection as well as referral to psychiatric treatment.