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Aim: COVID-19 disease has a broad spectrum ranging from asymptomatic course to death. While data show that the prognosis of the disease will be poor in the presence of comorbidity, we witness the death of patients with no comorbidities in our clinical practice. This study aimed to investigate the effect of comorbidity on the clinical course and mortality of COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods: 155 Rt-PCR (+) adult patients hospitalized at İzzet Baysal State Hospital (Bolu, Turkey) diagnosed with severe and critical pneumonia between August 2020 and February 2021 were included in this singlecenter, retrospective study. The patients were divided into two groups with and without comorbidity, compared the severity of inflammation parameters, radiological involvement, and oxygen requirement, and evaluated their effects on mortality and hospitalization duration. Results: There was no significant difference in the severity of the computed tomography (CT) involvement, the oxygen requirement, inflammation markers, and duration of hospitalization in patients with comorbidities compared to those without. When we evaluated the patients with comorbidities in general and their subgroups, the relationship with mortality was not significant. The severity of CT involvement, high oxygen requirement, and inflammation markers such as lymphocyte, lymphocyte ratio, LDH, CRP, troponin, ferritin levels were found to be associated with mortality. Conclusions: In this study, we found that the presence of comorbidity did not affect mortality and duration of stay and that the severity of radiological involvement, the severity of hypoxemia, and the increase in inflammation markers were the determinants of mortality.

Throughout the history of mankind, tuberculosis (TB) has caused serious illness and still continues to do so. Archaeobiological studies indicated that TB in humans dates back to 4000-8000 BC, and cases were shown to be due to Mycobacterium bovis subsp.bovis rather than Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Moreover, this situation was thought to begin with domestication of animals, consumption of their milk, and living together in the same environment with them. Over time, with the consumption of boiled milk and with the establishment of separate animal shelters, M.bovis subsp. bovis infection began to be seen rarely. Today, M.bovis infection is mostly transmitted from animals to humans and very rarely from humans to other humans. The most significant means of transmission of the infection are to the gastrointestinal tract via consumption of raw milk and to the respiratory system via droplet infection from the animals with disease. In this study, it was planned to investigate the cause of occurrence of TB in cattles in Düzce in the past few years along with the presence of bovine type TB in cases of human tuberculosis. We aimed to carry out subtype determination of the M.tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains isolated in our mycobacteriology laboratory between the years 2004-2014, and evaluate the clinical and sociodemographic data of patients in whom M.bovis subsp. bovis was detected. The strains that were selected for the study have been isolated from radiometric BACTEC™ 12B broth and/or Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) media between 2004-2009, and BACTEC™ MGIT™ (Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube) and/or LJ media between 2009-2014 periods. The GenoType MTBC Kit (Hain-Lifescience GmbH, Germany) was used in the study for determination of the subspecies. Extraction and amplification of DNA and hybridizations were performed according to test procedure in order to investigate the presence of subtypes of the MTBC species in skimmed milk from collections stored at -20°C. In the study, MTBC strains isolated from 220 patients (217 adults, 3 children; 145 male, 75 female) were evaluated and 217 (98.6%) of them were identified as M.tuberculosis/M.canettii and three (1.4%) as M.bovis subsp. bovis. When the distribution of the isolates were evaluated according to the years, it was noted that three (2.8%) cases out of 106 patients within the last three years, were found to be infected with M.bovis subsp. bovis, while none were detected in the 114 cases from the previous years. This data emphasized a parallel course with the reported cases of cattle tuberculosis in recent years. The risk factors, clinical and sociodemographic features, treatment process, outcomes, and mycobacteriological findings of those three patients were reviewed. Accordingly, the first case was a 63-year-old female with diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure, who was dealing with animal husbandry. She was diagnosed as miliary TB on July 2012 and completed her treatment schedule. The second case, who was also dealing with animal husbandry was a 85-year-old male with prost...

OBJECTIVE: Since the lung is the most affected organ by COVID-19 disease, we aimed to evaluate the pulmonary function test, presence of hypoxemia, and Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale in 3- to 6-month post-COVID period. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale, pulse oxygen saturation, and pulmonary function test were evaluated in 67 outpatients/inpatients after 3-6 months following COVID-19 (positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction on nasopharyngeal swab) disease. Pre-COVID pulmonary function test parameters were available in 33 patients, and these were compared with post-COVID pulmonary function test parameters. Results: We found 20.9% (14 patients) restrictive and 11.9% (8 patients) obstructive patterns in pulmonary function test. Of those with forced vital capacity < 80%, 53.3% were patients without known lung diseases. When pulmonary function test values before and after COVID-19 were compared, only a loss of 130 mL in forced expiratory volume in 1 second was determined ( P = .005). About 65.4% of the patients with dyspnea were in the group without a lung disease ( P = .002) and 66.7% of patients with forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity of <80% had dyspnea complaint ( P =  0.048, P =  0.012). Oxygen saturation was lower in patients with lung disease ( P = .012) and was significantly lower in patients with forced vital capacity < 80% ( P = .023). No correlation was found between Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale and pulmonary function test parameters ( P > .05). Smoking, hospitalization, oxygen support, and the severity of computed tomography involvement did not impact pulmonary function test. Conclusion: In post-COVID patients, the major disorder in the respiratory function test was determined as a restriction. However, advanced tests such as lung volumes and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO) measurement and high-resolution lung tomography are needed to differentiate in terms of physical functional limitation or parenchymal fibrosis.

An extremely rare disease with a slow course, actinomycosis has a high mortality risk when not properly treated. Pulmonary actinomycosis is clinically and radiologically analogous with tuberculosis, foreign body aspiration, lung abscess, or lung cancer. Therefore, it often causes misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis. A 65-year-old male patient, being followed up with the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung adenocarcinoma, was admitted to our outpatient clinic with complaints of chronic cough. On chest CT, a cavitary lesion in the upper lobe of the right lung was observed. Sputum Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) was negative for 3 consecutive times, fungal direct examination was negative, and there was no growth in mycobacterium culture and fungal culture. Flexible bronchoscopy revealed a raised, hard, white-colored lesion on the mucosa obliterating the apical and anterior segment bronchial entrance of the right lung upper lobe. A diagnosis of actinomycosis was made with sulfur granules seen in the pathology as a result of biopsy and lavage. Detection of sulfur granules in biopsy is essential for the diagnosis of actinomycosis, and a nearly complete response is usually obtained with long-term antibiotic treatment. Alternative methods such as surgical debridement should be considered in cases that do not respond to antibiotic treatment.