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The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan

BACKGROUND: The rapidly growing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has challenged health systems globally. Here we report the first identified infections of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; aetiology of COVID-19) among recent international arrivals to Sudan a...

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Autores principales: Aljak, Elham R, Eldigail, Mawahib, Mahmoud, Iman, Elhassan, Rehab M, Elduma, Adel, Ibrahim, Abubakr A, Ali, Yousif, Weaver, Scott C, Ahmed, Ayman
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7788291/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33319246
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/traa151
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author Aljak, Elham R
Eldigail, Mawahib
Mahmoud, Iman
Elhassan, Rehab M
Elduma, Adel
Ibrahim, Abubakr A
Ali, Yousif
Weaver, Scott C
Ahmed, Ayman
author_facet Aljak, Elham R
Eldigail, Mawahib
Mahmoud, Iman
Elhassan, Rehab M
Elduma, Adel
Ibrahim, Abubakr A
Ali, Yousif
Weaver, Scott C
Ahmed, Ayman
author_sort Aljak, Elham R
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The rapidly growing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has challenged health systems globally. Here we report the first identified infections of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; aetiology of COVID-19) among recent international arrivals to Sudan and their contacts. METHODS: Suspected cases were identified clinically and/or epidemiologically. Samples from suspected cases and their contacts were tested in the National Influenza Centre following World Health Organization protocols. Two real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were used to detect and confirm SARS-CoV-2 infection. RESULTS: Seven cases of COVID-19, including two deaths, were confirmed in Sudan between 27 February and 30 March 2020. Suspected cases were identified and tested. As of 30 March, no local transmission was yet reported in the country. Fifty-nine percent of the suspected cases were international travellers coming from areas with current COVID-19 epidemics. Cough and fever were the major symptoms, presented by 65% and 60% of the suspected cases, respectively. By early April, an additional seven cases were confirmed through limited contact tracing that identified the first locally acquired infections in recent contact with imported cases. CONCLUSIONS: The high mortality rate of COVID-19 cases in Sudan might be due to limitations in test and trace and case management services. Unfortunately, infections have spread further into other states and the country has no capacity for mass community screening to better estimate disease prevalence. Therefore external support is urgently needed to improve the healthcare and surveillance systems.
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spelling pubmed-77882912021-01-12 The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan Aljak, Elham R Eldigail, Mawahib Mahmoud, Iman Elhassan, Rehab M Elduma, Adel Ibrahim, Abubakr A Ali, Yousif Weaver, Scott C Ahmed, Ayman Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg Original Article BACKGROUND: The rapidly growing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has challenged health systems globally. Here we report the first identified infections of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; aetiology of COVID-19) among recent international arrivals to Sudan and their contacts. METHODS: Suspected cases were identified clinically and/or epidemiologically. Samples from suspected cases and their contacts were tested in the National Influenza Centre following World Health Organization protocols. Two real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were used to detect and confirm SARS-CoV-2 infection. RESULTS: Seven cases of COVID-19, including two deaths, were confirmed in Sudan between 27 February and 30 March 2020. Suspected cases were identified and tested. As of 30 March, no local transmission was yet reported in the country. Fifty-nine percent of the suspected cases were international travellers coming from areas with current COVID-19 epidemics. Cough and fever were the major symptoms, presented by 65% and 60% of the suspected cases, respectively. By early April, an additional seven cases were confirmed through limited contact tracing that identified the first locally acquired infections in recent contact with imported cases. CONCLUSIONS: The high mortality rate of COVID-19 cases in Sudan might be due to limitations in test and trace and case management services. Unfortunately, infections have spread further into other states and the country has no capacity for mass community screening to better estimate disease prevalence. Therefore external support is urgently needed to improve the healthcare and surveillance systems. Oxford University Press 2020-12-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7788291/ /pubmed/33319246 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/traa151 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Original Article
Aljak, Elham R
Eldigail, Mawahib
Mahmoud, Iman
Elhassan, Rehab M
Elduma, Adel
Ibrahim, Abubakr A
Ali, Yousif
Weaver, Scott C
Ahmed, Ayman
The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan
title The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan
title_full The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan
title_fullStr The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan
title_full_unstemmed The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan
title_short The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan
title_sort first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of sars-cov-2 in sudan
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7788291/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33319246
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/traa151
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