نشریه بیماریهای عفونی و گرمسیری
پیاپی 96 (بهار 1401)

The COVID-19 epidemic is currently the most important global health challenge. The aim of this study was to estimate the population size of COVID-19 patients in Jahrom, Iran, in the spring of 2020 using network scale up method.

2753 people from Jahrom were included in the study by electronic questionnaire. People were asked if they knew anyone with COVID-19 on their social network (probability method)? If yes, how many people do they know (frequency method)?

Sixty percent (1592 people) of the subjects were women and the majority 76% (2028 people) resided in Jahrom. Seven percent (182 people) were from Khafr district. The estimated overall prevalence of COVID-19 by network scale up method was estimated to be 14.3(95% CI: 17.5, 11.2). The prevalence of COVID-19 was estimated to be 17% (95% CI: 19.9, 14.1) based on clinical signs. Among the covered sections, Jahrom city had the highest prevalence related to Khafr district with a prevalence of 42.9% (95% CI: 45.5, 13.5). According to calculations, the prevalence of COVID-19 was estimated at 14.7% in urban areas and 11.7% in rural areas.

The actual prevalence of COVID-19 in Jahrom county in the spring of 2020 was calculated several times as many as reported. Therefore, active diagnostics using extensive testing and diagnosis and isolation of asymptomatic patients can be useful for controlling the epidemic.

Due to potential toxicity and other concerns, the current generation believes in natural products instead of synthetic ones. Therefore, one of the emerging technologies is the extraction of extracts from various plant organs and there in the pharmaceutical and food industries. In this study, ethanolic extract of Laurus nobilis was obtained and its antioxidant and antimicrobial activity was investigated.

In this study, disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, minimum inhibitory concentration, and minimum bactericidal concentration were used to determine the antibacterial activity of L. nobilis ethanolic extract against Shigella dysenteriae, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, total phenol content, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity (based on DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging and β-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching tests) of the extract were investigated.

Concentration of 60 mg/ml of the extract caused the highest antimicrobial effect. The mean diameter of the growth inhibition zone was larger for Gram-positive bacteria than for Gramnegative bacteria, and lower concentrations of the extract were required to prevent the growth of or kill Staphylococcus aureus. The contents of total phenols and flavonoids in L. nobilis extract were 29.32 mg of gallic acid and 19.16 mg of quercetin per gram of extract. The extract quenched DPPH and ABTS free radicals by 70.60 and 66.50% and inhibited the bleaching of β-carotene/linoleic acid solution by 59.34%.

The results of showed that of ethanolic extract of Laurus nobilis L leaves the extract is rich in phenolic and flavonoid contents with high antioxidant and antimicrobial activity.

Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is one of the clinical challenges in medicine. Most causes of FUO include infectious diseases, malignancies, non-infectious inflammatory causes, and unknown factors, but this prioritization may change under the influence of various factors such as geographic area, age, and access to laboratory-diagnostic facilities. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of causes of FUO in this area in order to suggest a better clinical approach to achieve a faster diagnosis in patients with fever of unknown origin.

In this cross-sectional, descriptive study, we studied all files of patients who admitted to Dezful General Hospital with an initial diagnosis of FUO during 2018-2019. In descriptive statistics, for qualitative variables, frequency table (percentage) and graph and for quantitative variables, central and dispersion indices including mean and standard deviation were used.

The most common causes of FUO were infectious agents (50%), non-infectious (26.1%), unknown (13%) and malignancies (10.9%). Among the infectious agents, the highest frequency was related to the diagnosis of pneumonia, sepsis and extra pulmonary tuberculosis. About 71% of patients are diagnosed with non-invasive methods. No significant relationship was found between the four main causes of FUO and other variables during the analysis using Chi-Square Tests.

Although the pattern of causes of FUO in this study is compatible with most medical sources, but we suggest that in order to achieve a faster diagnosis of patients admitted with FUO in this area, always common and endemic diseases such as tuberculosis and thyroiditis and unusual clinical manifestations of some syndromes should be considered.

Rubia florida have various medicinal effects such as anti-cancer, antimicrobial and antioxidant and antiseptic properties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effect of ethanolic extract of R. florida against pathogenic bacteria Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Antimicrobial methods of disk diffusion agar, well diffusion agar, minimum inhibitory concentration, and minimum bactericidal concentration were used to evaluate the antibacterial effect of ethanolic extract of R. florida against Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

The antibacterial effect of the extract was concentration dependent and increasing its concentration increased the diameter of the growth inhibition zone. According to the results of disk diffusion agar and well diffusion agar tests, Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most sensitive bacterial strain to the extract. The diameter of growth inhibition zone in the presence of 40 mg/ml of extract for this strain in disk diffusion agar and well diffusion agar was 14.60 and 15.80 mm, respectively. In addition, the minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations for Gram-positive bacteria were lower than for Gram-negative bacteria.

Ethanolic extract of R. florida can be used as a natural antimicrobial agent to prevent the growth of pathogenic microorganisms.