Infectious Diseases

Recent debates around “vaccine passports,” or formal/mandatory certification of vaccination, point towards a potential widening societal divide between those who are vaccinated and those who are not. Those with certification of COVID-19 immunisation might be permitted to travel, work, go to the gym, play sports, attend entertainment events, dine in restaurants, and ultimately, return to “normal” life.

In our opinion piece, we discuss the implications of imposing vaccine passports & certifications for COVID-19. We argue that vaccine passports can contribute to vaccine hesitancy in two ways: either by increasing citizens’ concerns or by encouraging vaccine uptake. We also stress the urgent need for coordinated, global policy on vaccination passports or certification, and for complementary policies at national and local levels.

Background and objective
Neutrophils are primarily responsible for activating the immune system, and systemic inflammation destroys CD4+ T lymphocytes and increases suppressor CD8+ T lymphocytes, thereby leading to an increased neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). An increase in the apoptosis of lymphocytes leads to lymphopenia and elevated thrombopoietin (THPO) promotes megakaryocyte production. The reflections of these inflammatory changes can be vital in gauging the progression of the disease.

This study aimed at examining the prognostic value of normal and derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, lymphocyte-to-monocyte, platelet-to-lymphocyte, and mean platelet volume (MPV)-to-platelet count ratios in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methodology
This was a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted in the wards of Chigateri General Hospital, Davangere for a period of two months. Complete blood count was ordered for all patients at the time of admission along with confirmation of the disease by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Results
The final study population consisted of 100 patients. The mean age of patients who survived (43 years) was significantly lower than the mean age of non-survivors (59.1 years), with a p-value of <0.001. NLR was raised in 60% of the population and was significantly higher in patients who survived the disease, with a p-value of 0.004. The platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) also followed a similar trend with a p-value of 0.017. Even though the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) also mimicked the trend, the statistical association was not significant (p-value: 0.09). The derived NLR and MPV-to-platelets ratios were not found to be significantly associated with mortality in this study.

Discussion
Younger patients had better clinical outcomes in our study population compared to the geriatric age group. A significant correlation between LMR and mortality was observed when a cut-off of 2.5 was considered as a differentiating benchmark.

Conflicting trends were observed in NLR and PLR in our study; however, LMR was in accordance with most other studies. The phase that a patient is in with regard to the natural history of the disease also influences the blood cell ratios. Nonetheless, all three ratios can be used as crucial screening and prognostic tools as they are readily available with the help of a complete hemogram. This is an investigation modality that is widely accessible even in remote areas and resource-limited settings.

Conclusion
These hematological ratios can facilitate in categorizing the disease severity and progression in patients, thereby enabling us to make appropriate and informed clinical decisions. Since the second wave of the novel coronavirus is on the verge of arrival, it is imperative to channel resources for the patients early in their disease course to ultimately prevent complications and reduce mortality.

Healthcare is seen as one of the most important areas for networked enterprise applications & services. Much effort is put into IT to achieve better efficiency & quality of service. Especially the fields of patient general & preventive education are associated with desirable outcomes like greater satisfaction and compliance of the patient. This work addresses the issue of more efficient handling of doctor-patient relationship. Health Care Bot for General diseases Patients Using Machine Learning uses agent technology to extend patient-doctor relationship beyond the physical & logistical limitation of face-to-face consultations. Objective was to give patients possibility to let them (pre)access & enter information speaking "natural" language and evaluate the impact. Second objective was to provide a conversation overview & screening objective for the doctor.

I. Pendahuluan Saat ini, media sosial merupakan wadah yang popular dalam berkomunikasi dan bertukar informasi. Berbagai topik informasi seperti sosial, politik, ekonomi, kesehatan, pertahanan, keamanan dan lain-lain saling disebarkan (sharing) kepada sesama pengguna media social. Data per Januari 2019 menunjukkan pengguna media social sebanyak 7.7 milyar. Facebook merupakan pengguna terbanyak yaitu 2.3. Sedangkan, di Indonesia sebanyak 132 juta pengguna internet, 40 % didominasi oleh pengguna media sosial seperti Facebook, Linkedln, Pinterest, Instagram, dan Twitter. Dari beberapa media sosial yang ada, Twitter merupakan salah satu media sosial yang cukup banyak digunakan. Saat ini, pengguna Twitter di dunia sebanyak lebih dari 500 juta pengguna, sementara di Indonesia sebanyak 29 juta pengguna milyar (TetraPakIndex, 2017). Berdasarkan banyaknya pengguna media sosial tersebut maka jumlah data yang tersimpan di media sosial juga semakin banyak. Sehingga para peneliti banyak melakukan penelitian dengan memanfaatkan data media sosial ini. Opinion mining (OM) atau sentiment analysis (SA) merupakan salah satu metode analisa data media sosial yang mengolah sebuah informasi yang terkandung dalam teks. OM/SA ini merupakan cabang ilmu dari text mining. Tujuan dari analisa suatu teks adalah untuk melihat pendapat atau kecenderungan opini terhadap sebuah masalah atau objek oleh seseorang seperti kecenderungan berpandangan atau beropini negatif atau positif. Beberapa penelitian terkait OM/SA telah dilakukan oleh peneliti (Rozi, Pramono, & Dahlan, 2012) telah melakukan penelitian pada opini publik terhadap Perguruan Tinggi. Penelitian ini mengembangkan sub proses document subjectivity dengan teknik Part-of-Speech (POS) dan target detection menggunakan teknik Hidden Makov Model (HMM) kemudian dianalisa menggunakan metode Naïve Bayes (NB). Sebanyak 575 data teks telah digunakan. Hasil percobaan menunjukkan bahwa nilai precission dan recall untuk subproses document subjectivity adalah 0.99 dan 0.88, untuk subproses target detection adalah 0.92 dan 0.93, serta untuk subproses opinion orientation adalah 0.95 dan 0.94. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa metode NB dapat digunakan dalam menganalisa opini publik Perguruan Tinggi. Pada penelitian yang dikerjakan (Adiyana & Hakim, 2015), melakukan analisis OM mengenai topik-topik terkait "KPK dan JOKOWI" pada pencarian twitter dengan menerapkan Algoritma clustering menghasilkan ukuran asosiasi kata dengan nilai korelasi tidak kurang dari 0.30, kata-kata yang berasosiasi dengan kata KPK adalah kata Polri dan Lapor. Sedangkan kata-kata yang INFORMASI ARTIKEL AB S T R A K Histori Artikel Diterima : Direvisi : Diterbitkan : Antisipasi dan penanganan penyakit difteri dengan tepat sangat diperlukan oleh Pemerintah Indonesia. Oleh karena itu, informasi dari masyarakat terkait penyakit difteri sangat diperlukan oleh instansi yang berwenang. Hasil dari analisa informasi tersebut dapat menjadi salah satu rujukan dalam mengevaluasi antisipasi dan penanganan kepada masyarakat. Dalam penelitian ini, sebanyak 290 informasi terkait penyakit difteri dari masyarakat telah diambil dari data media sosial yaitu Twitter. Sedangkan, analisa data telah dilakukan menggunakan metode kecerdasan buatan berbasis semantic analysis yaitu Naïve Bayes (NB). Dalam percobaan ini, data yang dikenali telah diklasifikasikan ke dalam opini negatif dan positif. Berdasarkan hasil analisa data menunjukkan bahwa sebesar 94.5% bernilai negatif dan 5.5% bernilai positif. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa masyarakat menganggap layanan Pemerintah terhadap penanganan penyakit difteri masih kurang percaya.

— Background: Lassa hemorrhagic fever is caused by the Lassa virus. An outbreak of Lassa fever was reported from Kano state in December 2015. Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program Residents were deployed to verify the existence of the outbreak and to describe the socio-demographic characteristics and management outcome of the cases. Methods: We defined suspected and confirmed case using established protocols. We actively searched for cases across the state and line-listed them accordingly. We administered a semi-structured questionnaire to adults in affected settlements. We described the outbreak in time, place, and person. We collected blood samples from suspected cases and submitted to a reference laboratory for Lassa fever detection using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Results: A total of 39 suspected and four confirmed cases were identified. The median age for suspected cases was 20 years with an age range of 2-80 years. Case fatality rate was 100% among confirmed cases. Of the 39 suspected cases, 27 (69%) had their blood samples taken for laboratory confirmation (PCR). Four samples tested positive for Lassa fever. Of 102 adults interviewed, 81 (79%) practiced bush burning while 84 (81%) practiced open food preservation. Only 22% had any knowledge on prevention of Lassa fever. The index case was seen on the 48th epidemiologic week of 2015. The highest number of suspected cases were seen on 52nd week of 2015 and the 3rd week of 2016, while the highest number of deaths were recorded in the 3rd week of 2016. Conclusion: Our investigation found a confirmed Lassa fever outbreak in Kano state, with a high case fatality rate (CFR: 100%) in confirmed cases. Poor knowledge of Lassa fever transmission and risky practices such as bush burning and open preservation of food items in affected settlements may have aided the spread of this Lassa fever outbreak.

A survey of the prevalence of human Taeniasis was conducted between the months of March to July, 2013 among school children in Bosso Local Government Area, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. Samples were randomly selected from the school pupils and analysed by Formol-ether sedimentation techniques. A total of 21(8.40%) of the samples were positive for Taenia saginata out of 250 samples collected. Infection was higher in males 13(10.40%) than females 8(6.40%). There was no significant difference (P> 0.05) in the infection rate of Taeniasis based on sex. Children in age group, 10-14 years i.e. 13(10.40%) of the samples had a higher infection rate than those of 5-9 years old 8(6.40%). It was observed that poor sanitation, poverty, eating of raw or undercooked beef and presence of scavenging pigs or cattle were obvious predisposing factors to high prevalence of human Taeniasis in the area.