Search

Background The internet has made significant contributions towards health education. Analyzing the pattern of online behavior regarding meningitis and vaccinations may be worthwhile. It is hypothesized that the online search patterns in meningitis are correlated with its number of cases and the search patterns of its related vaccines. Methods This was an infodemiological study that determined the relationship among online search interest in meningitis, its worldwide number of cases and its associated vaccines. Using Google Trends™ Search Volume Indices (SVIs), we evaluated the search queries “meningitis,” “pneumococcal vaccine,” “BCG vaccine,” “meningococcal vaccine” and “influenza vaccine” in January 2021, covering January 2008 to December 2020. Spearman rank correlation was used to determine correlations between these queries. Results The worldwide search interest in meningitis from 2008 to 2020 showed an average SVI of 46 ± 8.8. The most searched topics were symptoms, vaccines, and infectious agents with SVIs of 100, 52, and 39, respectively. The top three countries with the highest search interest were Ghana, Kazakhstan, and Kenya. There were weak, but statistically significant correlations between meningitis and the BCG (ρ = 0.369, p ρ = 0.183, p Conclusion The relationships among the Google SVIs for meningitis and its related vaccines and number of cases data were inconsistent and remained unclear. Future infodemiological studies may expand their scopes to social media, semantics, and big data for more robust conclusions.

Our study aimed to determine the profile of Guillain���Barr�� syndrome (GBS) in the Philippines, compare the outcomes who received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), and determine the factors related to hospital stay and late motor recovery. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult GBS patients admitted to the Philippine General Hospital from 2009 to 2019. We included 105 patients with confirmed GBS diagnoses. The median age was 43 years (interquartile range 32 to 56); the female-to-male ratio was 1.62:1; the predominant variant was acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (n = 40, 38.1%). The difference in outcomes of patients in the IVIg (n = 44) and TPE (n = 24) groups (walking with aid/GBS-disability scores/ventilator dependency at 1 month, duration dependent on the ventilator, intensive care unit stay, and hospital stay) were not statistically significant, except for mild disability at 1 month (p = 0.009). Pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and dysautonomia were significantly related to a prolonged hospital stay. No predetermined variables were associated with late motor recovery. After adjusting for age and sex, the cumulative hazard risk for late motor recovery was 0.69 (95% CI 0.27���1.74). Our study presented the first comprehensive information regarding the features and outcomes of GBS patients in the Philippines. AIDP ��� Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy; AMAN ��� Acute motor axonal neuropathy; AMSAN ��� Acute motor and sensory axonal neuropathy; GBS ��� Guillain���Barr�� syndrome; GBS-DS ��� Guillain���Barr�� syndrome disability scale; ICU ��� Intensive care unit; IVIg ��� Intravenous immunoglobulin; MFS ��� Miller���Fisher syndrome; PGH ��� Philippine General Hospital; TPE ��� Therapeutic plasma exchange.