Prevalence and Clinical Presentation of COVID 19 in Health Care Workers in Two Main Hospitals During the Pandemic in Shiraz, Iran

Autor: Marzieh Jamalidoust, Zahra Ashkan, Gholamreza Pouladfar, Sadaf Asaei, Nasrin Aliabadi, Pejman Abbasi, Mandana Namayandeh, Mazyar Ziyaeyan
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Archives of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 10
ISSN: 2322-1836
2322-1828
Popis: Background: Given that immunocompromised patients are more at risk for the infection of SARS-CoV-2, epidemiological data are critical for assessing the corresponding prevalence among health care workers (HCWs) and patients at health centers. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the staff of two hospitals that take care of immunocompromised patients, including pediatrics and adults with special medical conditions. Methods: This cross-sectional study includes all HCWs of the two hospitals; Abu Ali Sina Transplant Hospital (AASTH) and Amir al-Momenin Burn Injury Hospital (AABIH) in Shiraz, southern Iran, conducted from April 11, 2020, to June 16, 2021. The TaqMan real-time PCR assay was used to assess the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in the suspected HCWs. Results: Out of 1232 sampled HCWs, 694 (56%) were female. Two hundred sixty-five samples (21.5%) and 967 samples (78.5%) were prepared from AABIH, and AASTH, respectively. The results showed that 30% (373) of the clinically suspected employees had positive test results. There was a significant correlation between the risk of exposure to COVID-19 patients and the PCR positivity rate, which could be explained by the fact that 58% of the infected HCWs were in a high-risk group, 20% medium-risk, and the remaining 22% were low-risk (P < 0.0001). The rates of positive cases in females were higher than that among male counterparts (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In order to protect health care workers and reduce the prevalence and transmission of diseases, deficiencies must be identified and eliminated.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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