Background: Increased intestinal permeability, either due to the exposure to antigens in asthmatic patients or due to a barrier defect, play a critical role in susceptibility to environmental allergens. House dust mites allergy occurs more commonly than any other allergens among Egyptian asthmatic patients. Aim: To assess the relation between serum zonulin level as a marker of increased intestinal permeability and the severity of house dust mites allergic asthma. Methods: A case control study which included 96 subjects attending the allergy and immunology unit, microbiology and immunology department, Faculty of medicine, Zagazig University. They were divided into 48 house dust mites allergic asthma and 48 healthy control subjects. Results: On comparing the 2 studied groups, there was a statistically significant difference between the 2 groups concerning serum IgE and serum zonulin levels ( p=0.000, 0.000 respectively)The mean serum zonulin was equal to 258.3±153.01 ng/ml in the asthmatic group and 80±13 ng/ml in the control group. Serum zonulin level significantly increased with the increase of asthma severity (p˂0.001). The cut off value of serum zonulin was ≥ 198 ng/ml, and the area under the curve was 0.76. It displayed sensitivity equal to 80% and specificity equal to 71.4%. Its negative predictive value was equal to 83.3%. Conclusion: Intestinal barrier dysfunction contributes in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma. Serum zonulin level reflects an increase in intestinal permeability and acts as prognostic factor of severity in Asthma. Correction of the gut barrier defect may be an additional novel approach for Asthma.

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has affected countless countries all over the world with rapidly increasing case fatality reports and a highly variable clinical course. Since the evolution of the clinical condition of these patients is difficult to forecast, early identification of prognostic indicators is an essential foundation to regulate treatment plans and promptly identify the severity of patients’ conditions. Aim: To assess the correlation between CRP level on admission with the severity of the COVID-19, the risk for ICU admission and the findings in CT chest Method A retrospective cohort study where the clinical data of 276 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection were collected from El Obour Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital for Isolation records on admission from April 10, 2020 till July 30, 2020. Results Fever was the most common presenting symptom (total number 135; 41.7%), followed by cough (total number 133; 41.2%). High CRP levels were predictive of higher COVID-19 severity and ICU admission (p=0.000). Likewise, CRP levels were higher in patients with more chest affection as denoted by the CT chest findings (p=0.000). Conclusion Serum CRP is a simple and effective prognosticator which casts light on potentially critical patients. Consequently, it can be used to reduce the mortality of patients. Keywords: COVID-19, Hospital, CRP, ICU, severity.