Purpose The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) caused an acute respiratory illness named COVID-19 and the disease spread all over the World. Fever, cough, fatigue, gastrointestinal infection symptoms form the main clinical symptoms. Pregnants and newborns form a vulnerable population and urgent measures must be addressed. Studies about the effect of COVID-19 on pregnant women, developing fetuses, and infants are limited. Various viral diseases can cause congenital or acquired, unilateral or bilateral hearing loss. Methods 37 infants whose mother was pregnant between March 2020 and December 2020 and were born after the diagnosis of COVID- 19 during pregnancy and 36 healthy infants were included in the study. Transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE), distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) and contralateral suppression of OAE (CLS OAE) tests were performed on all infants. Results According to the TEOAE results of patients and controls in the silent a statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups at 3 kHz and 4 kHz ( p < 0.05). Contralateral suppression of OAE test results of patients and controls a statistically significant difference was found in all frequencies (p < 0.05). Suppression was much more effective at all frequencies in the normal group than patient group. This difference was found to be more significant at higher frequencies (2,3 and 4 kHz) ( p < 0.001). Conclusions Our results suggest an insufficiency in medial olivocochlear efferent system in infants exposed to SARS-CoV-2 intrauterine. Cochlear functions should be examined in infants whose mothers had COVID-19.

Objective This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of viral load detected in the saliva of COVID-19 patients in the early stage of infection. Study design Oro-nasopharyngeal swab and saliva samples were collected from all patients simultaneously in the early stage of COVID-19. Viral loads were determined by extracting viral RNAs from saliva samples of patients whose ONP swabs were positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR. The demographic information, comorbidities, cycle threshold values, and one-month clinical courses were recorded and compared. Results The patients' clinical course was evaluated for one month; 56% of patients had mild disease, 26.4% had moderate disease, 9.6% had severe disease, and 8% had a critical/mortal disease. The average cycle threshold values of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva and ONP samples were measured as 22.28 and 24.19, respectively. Cycle threshold value of saliva was found to be significant in predicting disease severity (Eta coefficient 0.979). A statistically significant relationship was found between the disease's severity and the mean of ONP samples’ Ct-values (p < 0.05). Gender, age, body mass index, and co-morbidities were compared with the severity of the disease; no statistically significant difference was found. Conclusion Viral load detected in saliva in the early period of COVID-19 infection may have a prognostic value in showing the disease's course in patients over 45-year-old. Saliva is an easily obtainable, reliable material for COVID-19 screening.

Objectives: The neurotropic and neuroinvasive properties of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been described. It remains unknown how SARS-CoV-2 affects the audiovestibular system when it causes mild or severe disease. In this study, the sequelae effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the audiovestibular systems of different patient groups was investigated using objective and subjective test batteries. Methods: In this present study, we evaluated vestibulocochlear functions of patients who previously had Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) with pure tone audiometry, ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (o-VEMP), and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (c-VEMP) tests to identify possible sequelae by comparing them with the control group. Results: We found that the amplitude of p13-n23 was lower in both groups of patients than in the control group (p < 0.001). In the results of the left ear c-VEMP, the amplitude of p13-n23 was statistically different between the outpatient, inpatient, and control groups. The amplitude of p13-n23 was lower in both groups of patients than in the control group (p < 0.001). In the evaluation of the o-VEMP in the left ear, we observed a statistically significant difference in the latency of n10 (p = 0.006) and the amplitude of n10-p15 (p < 0.001) between the groups. The n10 latency was prolonged in both groups of patients compared to the control group and there was no statistically significant difference between groups of patients. Furthermore, the amplitude of n10-p15 was lower in both groups of patients compared to the control group and there were no statistically demonstrable differences between the groups of patients. Conclusions: In conclusion, our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may affect the vestibulocochlear system. But we could not find a direct relationship according to the severity of the disease.

Objectives Nasal bone fracture is a frequent entity consulted to the otolaryngologists, approximately accounting for 39% of all facial bone fractures. The most frequent mechanisms of injury consist of assault, sport-related injuries, falls, and motor vehicle accidents. In this study, we examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric nasal fractures. Methods Children with nasal fracture who applied to Malatya Training and Research Hospital during the year before the first case and the following year were included in this study. Data of 172 patients for the pre-pandemic period and 79 patients for pandemic were available and included in the study. Demographic information, clinical features, nasal fracture etiology, nasal fracture type, type and time of intervention, and other accompanying pathologies were recorded. Results While falls was the leading cause of fracture etiology before the pandemic (64 patients [37.21%]), assault seems to be the leading cause during the pandemic period (27 children [34.18%]). In the pre-pandemic period, the intervention for patients with nasal fractures was performed on an average of 5 days, while this period was calculated as an average of 6 days during the pandemic period. When the 2 groups are compared in terms of nasal fracture intervention time, it was seen that the intervention time was statistically significantly later in the pandemic period ( P < .001). According to the results of the analysis, the most cases in the pandemic period were seen in the fourth month, which indicated a-month period between 11 June and 11 July. Conclusions In conclusion, our number of nasal fracture cases was decreased during the pandemic period compared to the 1-year period before the pandemic. We observed the most common type IIA nasal fracture. We gave outpatient treatment to most of the patients. Our most common cause of fracture was assault. We intervened in our cases in an average of 6 days and preferred closed reduction most frequently. We could not find any study on the same subject in the literature, and we aimed to contribute to the literature with this study.

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