Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a highly contagious and rapidly spreading disease with significant fatality in the elderly population, has swept across the world since 2019. Since its first appearance, the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has undergone multiple mutations, with Omicron as the predominant circulating variant of concern at the moment. The gold standard for diagnosis of COVID-19 by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect the virus is laborious and requires well-trained personnel to perform sophisticated procedures. Also, the genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 that arise regularly could result in false-negative detection. Meanwhile, the current COVID-19 treatments such as conventional medicine, complementary and alternative medicine, passive antibody therapy, and respiratory therapy are associated with adverse effects. Thus, there is an urgent need to discover novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. Over the past 30 years, nucleic acid-based aptamers have gained increasing attention and serve as a promising alternative to the antibodies in the diagnostic and therapeutic fields with their uniqueness of being small, nonimmunogenicity, and thermally stable. Aptamer targeting the SARS-CoV-2 structural proteins or the host receptor proteins represent a powerful tool to control COVID-19 infection. In this review, challenges faced by currently available diagnostic and therapeutic tools for COVID-19 are underscored, along with how aptamers can shed a light on the current COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the critical factors affecting the discovery of high-affinity aptamers and their potential applications to control COVID-19 infection.
We describe the HIV risk perception, sexual behavior, and HIV prevalence among 423 men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) clients who received voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services at a community-based center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The mean age was 29 years old. One hundred one (23.9%) clients rated themselves as low risk, 118 (27.9%) as medium risk, 36 (8.5%) as high risk, and 168 (39.7%) were unsure of their risk. Twenty-four (9.4%) clients tested HIV positive (4 (4%) low risk, 9 (7.6%) medium risk, 11 (30.6%) high risk, and 13 (7.7%) unsure risk). We found a positive correlation between risk perception and HIV infection in this study. Clients with high HIV risk perception have 17x the odds of testing HIV positive compared to low risk clients. High HIV risk perception was significantly associated with multiple sex partners, multiple types of sex partners, alcohol use before intercourse, unprotected sex beyond 6 months, and inconsistent condom use during anal sex compared to low risk clients. There were no statistically significant differences between medium risk and unsure risk clients compared to low risk clients. Strategies should be targeted towards change in sexual practices among those who are perceived to be at high risk.
Background. Corneal blindness from healed infected keratitis is one of the most preventable causes of monocular blindness in developing countries, including Malaysia. Our objectives were to identify the causative fungi, predisposing risk factors, the proportion of correct clinical diagnosis, and visual outcome of patients treated in our hospital. Methods. A retrospective review of medical and microbiology records was conducted for all patients who were treated for fungal keratitis at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia from January 2007 until December 2011. Results. Forty-seven patients (47/186, 25.27%) were treated for fungal keratitis during the study period. This demonstrated that the incidence of fungal keratitis has increased each year from 2007 to 2011 by 12.50%, 17.65%, 21.21%, 26.83%, and 28.57%, respectively. The most common predisposing factors were injury to the eye followed by use of topical steroid, and preexisting ocular surface disease. Fusarium species were the most common fungal isolated, followed by Candida species. Clinical diagnosis of fungal keratitis was made in 26 of the 41 (63.41%) cases of positive isolates. Of these, in eleven cases (23.40%) patients required surgical intervention. Clinical outcome of healed scar was achieved in 34 (72.34%) cases. Conclusions. The percentage of positive fungal isolated has steadily increased and the trend of common fungal isolated has changed. The latest review regarding fungal keratitis is important for us to improve patients' outcome in the future.
Ocular parasitosis in human is more prevalent in geographical areas where environmental factors and poor sanitary conditions favor the parasitism between man and animals. Lesions in the eye can be due to damage directly caused by the infectious pathogen, indirect pathology caused by toxic products, or the immune response incited by infections or ectopic parasitism. The epidemiology of parasitic ocular diseases reflects the habitat of the causative parasites as well as the habits and health status of the patient. An ocular examination may provide clues to the underlying disease/infection, and an awareness of the possibilities of travel-related pathology may shed light on an ocular presentation. This paper is a comprehensive review of the parasitic diseases of the eye. The majority of the clinically important species of parasites involved in eye infection are reviewed in this paper. Parasites are discussed by the disease or infection they cause.