The economic burden of rotavirus hospitalization among children < 5 years of age in selected hospitals in Bangladesh

Supplementary material is available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X21013104#s0090 .Background: Rotavirus is a common cause of severe acute gastroenteritis among young children. Estimation of the economic burden would provide informed decision about investment on prevention strategies (e.g., vaccine and/or behavior change), which has been a potential policy discussion in Bangladesh for several years. Methods: We estimated the societal costs of children <5 years for hospitalization from rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) and incidences of catastrophic health expenditure. A total of 360 children with stool specimens positive for rotavirus were included in this study from 6 tertiary hospitals (3 public and 3 private). We interviewed the caregiver of the patient and hospital staff to collect cost from patient and health facility perspectives. We estimated the economic cost considering 2015 as the reference year. Results: The total societal per-patient costs to treat RVGE in the public hospital were 126 USD (95% CI: 116–136) and total household costs were 161 USD (95% CI: 145–177) in private facilities. Direct costs constituted 38.1% of total household costs. The out-of-pocket payments for RVGE hospitalization was 23% of monthly income and 76% of households faced catastrophic healthcare expenditures due to this expense. The estimated total annual household treatment cost for the country was 10 million USD. Conclusions: A substantial economic burden of RVGE in Bangladesh was observed in this study. Any prevention of RVGE through cost-effective vaccination or/and behavioural change would contribute to substantial economic benefits to Bangladesh.The economic burden study is part of the hospital-based rotavirus surveillance system supported by the USAID-Bangladesh, U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms of an Interagency Agreement with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); grant number: 1U51GH001209

Randomised trial of proton vs. carbon ion radiation therapy in patients with low and intermediate grade chondrosarcoma of the skull base, clinical phase III study

<p/> <p>Background</p> <p>Low and intermediate grade chondrosarcomas are relative rare bone tumours. About 5-12% of all chondrosarcomas are localized in base of skull region. Low grade chondrosarcoma has a low incidence of distant metastasis but is potentially lethal disease. Therefore, local therapy is of crucial importance in the treatment of skull base chondrosarcomas. Surgical resection is the primary treatment standard. Unfortunately the late diagnosis and diagnosis at the extensive stage are common due to the slow and asymptomatic growth of the lesions. Consequently, complete resection is hindered due to close proximity to critical and hence dose limiting organs such as optic nerves, chiasm and brainstem. Adjuvant or additional radiation therapy is very important for the improvement of local control rates in the primary treatment. Proton therapy is the gold standard in the treatment of skull base chondrosarcomas. However, high-LET (linear energy transfer) beams such as carbon ions theoretically offer advantages by enhanced biologic effectiveness in slow-growing tumours.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The study is a prospective randomised active-controlled clinical phase III trial. The trial will be carried out at Heidelberger Ionenstrahl-Therapie (HIT) centre as monocentric trial.</p> <p>Patients with skull base chondrosarcomas will be randomised to either proton or carbon ion radiation therapy. As a standard, patients will undergo non-invasive, rigid immobilization and target volume definition will be carried out based on CT and MRI data. The biologically isoeffective target dose to the PTV (planning target volume) in carbon ion treatment will be 60 Gy E ± 5% and 70 Gy E ± 5% (standard dose) in proton therapy respectively. The 5 year local-progression free survival (LPFS) rate will be analysed as primary end point. Overall survival, progression free and metastasis free survival, patterns of recurrence, local control rate and morbidity are the secondary end points.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Up to now it was impossible to compare two different particle therapies, i.e. protons and carbon ions, directly at the same facility in connection with the treatment of low grade skull base chondrosarcomas.</p> <p>This trial is a phase III study to demonstrate that carbon ion radiotherapy (experimental treatment) is not relevantly inferior and at least as good as proton radiotherapy (standard treatment) with respect to 5 year LPFS in the treatment of chondrosarcomas. Additionally, we expect less toxicity in the carbon ion treatment arm.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01182753</p

Combination antibiotic therapy for community-acquired pneumonia

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common and potentially serious illness that is associated with morbidity and mortality. Although medical care has improved during the past decades, it is still potentially lethal. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most frequent microorganism isolated. Treatment includes mandatory antibiotic therapy and organ support as needed. There are several antibiotic therapy regimens that include β-lactams or macrolides or fluoroquinolones alone or in combination. Combination antibiotic therapy achieves a better outcome compared with monotherapy and it should be given in the following subset of patients with CAP: outpatients with comorbidities and previous antibiotic therapy, nursing home patients with CAP, hospitalized patients with severe CAP, bacteremic pneumococcal CAP, presence of shock, and necessity of mechanical ventilation. Better outcome is associated with combination therapy that includes a macrolide for wide coverage of atypical pneumonia, polymicrobial pneumonia, or resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. Macrolides have shown different properties other than antimicrobial activity, such as anti-inflammatory properties. Although this evidence comes from observational, most of them retrospective and nonblinded studies, the findings are consistent. Ideally, a prospective, multicenter, randomized trial should be performed to confirm these findings

Cost-Effectiveness of Pooled Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing for Acute HIV Infection after Third-Generation HIV Antibody Screening and Rapid Testing in the United States: A Comparison of Three Public Health Settings

Angela Hutchinson and colleagues conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of pooled nucleic acid amplification testing following HIV testing and show that it is not cost-effective at recommended antibody testing intervals for high-risk persons except in very high-incidence settings