Currently, there is not any specific effective antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Although most of the COVID-19 patients have mild or moderate courses, up to 5%–10% can have severe, potentially life threatening course, there is an urgent need for effective drugs. Optimized supportive care remains the mainstay of therapy. There have been more than 300 clinical trials going on, various antiviral and immunomodulating agents are in various stages of evaluation for COVID-19 in those trials and some of them will be published in the next couple of months. Despite the urgent need to find an effective antiviral treatment for COVID-19 through randomized controlled studies, certain agents are being used all over the world based on either in-vitro or extrapolated evidence or observational studies. The most frequently used agents both in Turkey and all over the world including chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, favipiravir and remdesivir will be reviewed here .Nitazoxanide and ivermectin were also included in this review as they have recently been reported to have an activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and are licensed for the treatment of some other human infections.

Currently there is not an effective antiviral treatment for COVID-19, but a large number of drugs have been evaluated since the beginning of the pandemic, and many of them have been used for the treatment of COVID-19 despite the preliminary or conflicting results of the clinical trials. We aimed to review and summarize all of the current knowledge on the antivirals for COVID-19 There are 2 main drug groups for SARS-CoV-2: agents that target proteins or RNA of the virus or interfere with proteins or biological processes in the host that support the virus. The main drug groups include inhibitors of viral entry into the human cell (convalescent plasma, monoclonal antibodies, nanobodies, mini proteins, human soluble ACE-2, camostat, dutasteride, proxalutamide, bromhexin, hydroxychloroquine, umifenovir nitazoxanid, niclosamide, lactoferrin), inhibitors of viral proteases (lopinavir/ritonavir, PF-07321332, PF-07304814, GC376), inhibitors of viral RNA (remdesivir, favipiravir, molnupiravir, AT-527, merimepodib, PTC299), inhibitors of host proteins supporting virus (plitidepsin, fluvoxamine, ivermectin), and agents supporting host natural immunity (Interferons). When taking into account the results of all the available laboratory and clinical trials on the subject, monoclonal antibodies seem to be the most effective treatment for COVID-19 at the moment, and high-titer convalescent plasma also could be effective when administered during the early phase of the disease. As lopinavir/ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, merimepodib, and umifenovir were found to be ineffective in RCTs, they should not be used. Additional studies are needed to define the role of remdesivir, favipiravir, interferons, ivermectin, dutasteride, proxulutamide, fluvoxamine, bromhexine, nitazoxanide, and niclosamid in the treatment of COVID-19. Finally, the results of phase trials are waited to learn whether or not the newer agents such as molnupiravir, PF-07321332, PF-07304814, plitidepsin and AT-527 are effective in the treatment of COVID-19.

In order to define the current characteristics of infective endocarditis (IE) in Turkey, we evaluated IE cases over a 14-year period in a tertiary referral hospital. All adult patients who were hospitalized in our hospital with a diagnosis of IE between 2000 and 2013 were included in the study. Modified Duke criteria were used for diagnosis. The Chi-square test, Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Cox and logistic regression analysis were used for the statistical analysis. There were 325 IE cases during the study period. The mean age of the patients was 47 years. Causative microorganisms were identified in 253 patients (77.8%) and included staphylococci (36%), streptococci (19%), enterococci (7%), and Brucella spp (5%). A streptococcal aetiology was associated with younger age (1.2mg/dl (OR 2.15). Older age (>50 year) (OR 3.93), patients with perivalvular abscess (OR 9.18), being on dialysis (OR 6.22), and late prosthetic valve endocarditis (OR 3.15) were independent risk factors for enterococcal IE. Independent risk factors for mortality in IE cases were the following: being on dialysis (hazard ratio (HR) 4.13), presence of coronary artery heart disease (HR 2.09), central nervous system emboli (HR 2.33), and congestive heart failure (HR 2.15). Higher haemoglobin (HR 0.87) and platelet (HR 0.996) levels and surgical interventions for IE (HR 0. 33) were found to be protective factors against mortality. In Turkey, IE occurs in relatively young patients and Brucella spp should always be taken into consideration as a cause of this infection. We should first consider streptococci as the causative agents of IE in young patients, those with CRHD or congenital heart valve disease, and cases of community-acquired IE. Staphylococci should be considered first in the case of pacemaker lead IE, when there are high levels of creatinine, and in cases of healthcare-associated IE. Enterococci could be the most probable causative agent of IE particularly in patients aged >50 years, those on dialysis, those with late prosthetic valve IE, and those with a perivalvular abscess. The early diagnosis and treatment of IE before complications develop is crucial because the mortality rate is high among cases with serious complications. The prevention of bacteraemia with the measures available among chronic haemodialysis patients should be a priority because of the higher mortality rate of subsequent IE among this group of patients.

Although brucellosis is very common in the world and Türkiye, there are no evidence-based guidelines to guide the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. This guide has been prepared by the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases to provide evidence-based recommendations to physicians from different specialties interested in the diagnosis and treatment of brucellosis. The recommendations of the Clinical Practice Guide Development Guide of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) were taken as the basis for preparing this guide. The guideline preparation group determined 20 questions considered to be important in the diagnosis and treatment of brucellosis, and the publications that could answer these questions prepared in PICO (Population/Patient [P], Intervention [I], Comparison [C], Outcome [O]) format, were searched in ULAKBİM Tr Dizin, PubMed, Cochrane databases without date restrictions. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) Working Group method was used to rank the evidence and determine the strength of the recommendations for each PICO question and for each individual outcome. Meta-analyses of comparative clinical studies were performed to answer the PICO questions. Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses with data obtained from case reports and case series were conducted in the absence of comparative clinical studies. It is planned to update the recommendations at regular intervals in line with the results of new studies.

After a downward trend for more than 12 months, the incidence of COVID-19 has increased in the last months. Although COVID-19 is not as frequent as in the first years of the pandemic, case numbers are still very high, and it causes a significant number of deaths. COVID-19 is not seen with a predictable frequency, at least two times more deadly than the flu, continues as an epidemic, and has not reached the endemic level yet. Currently, the Omicron strains EG.5 and XBB.1.16 are dominant worldwide. Although BA.2.86 and FLip variants, including FL.1.5.1 are not widespread at the moment, both were shown to be highly immune-evasive and require close monitoring. Prevention of COVID-19 relies on vaccinations, surveillance, proper ventilation of enclosed spaces, isolation of patients, and mask usage. Currently, monovalent COVID-19 vaccines, including XBB.1.5 Omicron SARS-CoV-2, are recommended for both primary and booster vaccinations against COVID-19. Monovalent vaccines, including only original SARS-CoV-2 strain, and bivalent vaccines, including original virus plus BA4/5 variant, are no longer recommended against COVID-19. Booster vaccination with XBB.1.5 containing vaccine should be prioritized for patients at high risk for severe COVID-19. Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination does not seem to be effective in preventing COVID-19. At the current phase of the pandemic, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, remdesivir, molnupiravir, sotrovimab (for patients from XBB.1.5 variant dominant settings), and convalescent plasma can be considered for the treatment of high-risk early-stage outpatients with COVID-19, while hospitalized patients with more severe disease can be treated with dexamethasone, anti cytokines including tocilizumab, sarilumab, baricitinib, and tofacitinib and antithrombotic agents including enoxaparin. Remdesivir oral analogues and ensitrelvir fumarate are promising agents for treating acute COVID-19, which are in phase trials now; however, ivermectin, fluvoxamine, and metformin were shown to be ineffective.