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SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome
BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to health care systems worldwide. Data on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a hospital is rare and outbreaks among health care professionals are complex to control. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Over the course of 6 consecutive weeks we record...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7894092/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33617920 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2021.02.011 |
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author | Brandt, Maximilian Peter Jäger, Wolfgang Epple, Stefan Haferkamp, Axel Schröder, Annette |
author_facet | Brandt, Maximilian Peter Jäger, Wolfgang Epple, Stefan Haferkamp, Axel Schröder, Annette |
author_sort | Brandt, Maximilian Peter |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to health care systems worldwide. Data on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a hospital is rare and outbreaks among health care professionals are complex to control. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Over the course of 6 consecutive weeks we recorded data on an exponential outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 within our department. We reconstructed the assumed route of the spread of infection, and the employees’ acute and late symptoms. Increasing preventive measures (mandatory face masks, intense training in hygiene, physical distancing whenever possible, and termination of visits from outside the hospital) were implemented. RESULTS: Within 6 weeks, 13 employees were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. All individuals had a moderate course, not resulting in hospitalization. The majority of infections was discovered after testing contacts of known cases, prior to their onset of symptoms and was predominantly related to removal of face masks during breaks. Increasing preventive measures resulted in a decline and finally containment of transmission rates amongst the staff, confirmed by mass testing at week 6, with no further SARS-CoV-2 infection. Three individuals, all in their late 40s or older, have lasting or newly onset neurological symptoms 8 months after their infection. CONCLUSIONS: Outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 are particularly difficult to contain in a medical setting, where employees work in close physical proximity. Adherence to preventive measures, particularly face masks, seem to be effective. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7894092 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-78940922021-02-22 SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome Brandt, Maximilian Peter Jäger, Wolfgang Epple, Stefan Haferkamp, Axel Schröder, Annette Am J Infect Control Major Article BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to health care systems worldwide. Data on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a hospital is rare and outbreaks among health care professionals are complex to control. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Over the course of 6 consecutive weeks we recorded data on an exponential outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 within our department. We reconstructed the assumed route of the spread of infection, and the employees’ acute and late symptoms. Increasing preventive measures (mandatory face masks, intense training in hygiene, physical distancing whenever possible, and termination of visits from outside the hospital) were implemented. RESULTS: Within 6 weeks, 13 employees were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. All individuals had a moderate course, not resulting in hospitalization. The majority of infections was discovered after testing contacts of known cases, prior to their onset of symptoms and was predominantly related to removal of face masks during breaks. Increasing preventive measures resulted in a decline and finally containment of transmission rates amongst the staff, confirmed by mass testing at week 6, with no further SARS-CoV-2 infection. Three individuals, all in their late 40s or older, have lasting or newly onset neurological symptoms 8 months after their infection. CONCLUSIONS: Outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 are particularly difficult to contain in a medical setting, where employees work in close physical proximity. Adherence to preventive measures, particularly face masks, seem to be effective. Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. 2021-06 2021-02-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7894092/ /pubmed/33617920 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2021.02.011 Text en © 2021 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. |
spellingShingle | Major Article Brandt, Maximilian Peter Jäger, Wolfgang Epple, Stefan Haferkamp, Axel Schröder, Annette SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome |
title | SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome |
title_full | SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome |
title_fullStr | SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome |
title_full_unstemmed | SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome |
title_short | SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: Spread, containment and outcome |
title_sort | sars-cov-2 outbreak in medical employees in a large urologic department: spread, containment and outcome |
topic | Major Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7894092/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33617920 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2021.02.011 |
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