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Objectives(s): To characterise the clinical profile, aetiology and treatment responsiveness of 'Australian Lyme', or Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks. Methods: Single-centre retrospective case analysis of patients referred to the Infectious Diseases Unit at Austin Health – a tertiary health service in Heidelberg, Australia – between 2014 and 2020 for investigation and treatment of suspected Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks. Patients were included if they had debilitating symptoms suggested by either themselves or the referring clinician as being attributed to ticks. Results: Twenty-nine Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks cases were included in the analysis. Other than Lyme disease (83%), the most common prior medical diagnoses were Epstein–Barr virus (38%), chronic fatigue syndrome (28%) and fibromyalgia (24%). Prior histories of anxiety (48%) and depression (41%) were common. The most frequently reported symptoms included fatigue (83%), headache (72%) and arthralgia (69%). National Association of Testing Authorities/Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia–accredited serology was not diagnostic of acute infective causes, including Lyme disease, in any patient. Of 25 cases with available data, 23 (92%) had previously been prescribed antimicrobials, with 53% reporting benefit from them. The most common diagnoses made by our hospital were chronic fatigue syndrome (31%), migraines (28%) and fibromyalgia (21%). Only one patient's symptoms were not accounted for by other diagnoses. Conclusion: This is the first case series of patients with Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks. They had high rates of other medically unexplained syndromes, and no evidence of acute Lyme disease, or any common organic disease process. Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks remains medically unexplained, and may therefore be due to an as yet unidentified cause, or may be considered a medically unexplained syndrome similar to conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newborn infants are among those most severely affected by humanitarian crises. Aid organisations increasingly recognise the necessity to provide for the medical needs of newborns, however, this may generate distinctive ethical questions for those providing humanitarian medical care. Medical ethical approaches to neonatal care familiar in other settings may not be appropriate given the diversity and volatility of humanitarian disasters, and the extreme resource limitations commonly faced by humanitarian aid missions. In this paper, we first systematically review existing guidelines relating to the treatment and resuscitation of newborns in humanitarian crises, finding little substantive ethical guidance for those providing humanitarian healthcare. We next draw on paradigm cases and published literature to identify and describe some of the major ethical questions common to these settings. We divide these questions into quality of life considerations, allocation of limited resources, and conflicting cultural norms and values. We finally suggest some preliminary recommendations to guide ethical decision-making around resuscitation of newborns and withdrawal of treatment in humanitarian settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the authors discuss the issues on the use of novel analytical tools like the artificial intelligence depression detectors (AIDD) in diagnosing or predicting mental illnesses such as depression. Other topics include the novel conception of health-related digital autonomy (HRDA), the significant risks on privacy and confidentiality of social media use, as well as the increased risk of depressive symptoms, suicide, anxiety and social isolation when using social media.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Drug-resistant infections; Antimicrobial drugs; Global health; Global burden of disease; Public health; Anti-infective agents. Reliable estimates of the current and future disease burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are essential to combat the global drug-resistant infection crisis [[1]]. Major, recent efforts to estimate AMR burden include the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2016 study [[4]], the Review on AMR [[1]], and a 2015 study conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) [[5]]. Initiatives that enhance monitoring capacity for resistant infections, and bolster the accuracy of AMR burden estimates, will provide essential information to guide policy and prevent a calamity of this scale. [Extracted from the article]