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Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic now represents a major threat to public health. Health care workers (HCW) are exposed to biological risk. Little is currently known about the risk of HCW operating in pediatric wards for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim is to assess the prevalence of SAR...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8006005/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33806472 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pediatric13010017 |
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author | Caselli, Désirée Loconsole, Daniela Dario, Rita Chironna, Maria Aricò, Maurizio |
author_facet | Caselli, Désirée Loconsole, Daniela Dario, Rita Chironna, Maria Aricò, Maurizio |
author_sort | Caselli, Désirée |
collection | PubMed |
description | The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic now represents a major threat to public health. Health care workers (HCW) are exposed to biological risk. Little is currently known about the risk of HCW operating in pediatric wards for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim is to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCW in a third-level children’s hospital in Southern Italy. An observational cohort study of all asymptomatic HCW (physician, technicians, nurses, and logistic and support operators) was conducted. HCW were screened, on a voluntary basis, for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swab performed during the first wave of COVID-19. The study was then repeated, with the same modalities, at a 7-month interval, during the “second wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the initial screening between 7 and 24 April 2020, 525 HCW were tested. None of them tested positive. At the repeated screening, conducted between 9 and 20 November 2020, 627 HCW were tested, including 61 additional ones resulting from COVID-emergency recruitment. At this second screening, eight subjects (1.3%) tested positive, thus being diagnosed as asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2. They were one physician, five nurses, and two HCW from the logistic/support services. They were employed in eight different wards/services. In all cases, the epidemiological investigation showed convincing evidence that the infection was acquired through social contacts. The study revealed a very low circulation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCW tested with RT-PCR. All the infections documented in the second wave of epidemic of SARS-CoV-2 were acquired outside of the workplace, confirming that in a pediatric hospital setting, HCW education, correct use of personal protective equipment, and separation of the COVID-patient pathway and staff flow may minimize the risk derived from occupational exposure. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8006005 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-80060052021-03-30 Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy Caselli, Désirée Loconsole, Daniela Dario, Rita Chironna, Maria Aricò, Maurizio Pediatr Rep Article The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic now represents a major threat to public health. Health care workers (HCW) are exposed to biological risk. Little is currently known about the risk of HCW operating in pediatric wards for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim is to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCW in a third-level children’s hospital in Southern Italy. An observational cohort study of all asymptomatic HCW (physician, technicians, nurses, and logistic and support operators) was conducted. HCW were screened, on a voluntary basis, for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swab performed during the first wave of COVID-19. The study was then repeated, with the same modalities, at a 7-month interval, during the “second wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the initial screening between 7 and 24 April 2020, 525 HCW were tested. None of them tested positive. At the repeated screening, conducted between 9 and 20 November 2020, 627 HCW were tested, including 61 additional ones resulting from COVID-emergency recruitment. At this second screening, eight subjects (1.3%) tested positive, thus being diagnosed as asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2. They were one physician, five nurses, and two HCW from the logistic/support services. They were employed in eight different wards/services. In all cases, the epidemiological investigation showed convincing evidence that the infection was acquired through social contacts. The study revealed a very low circulation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCW tested with RT-PCR. All the infections documented in the second wave of epidemic of SARS-CoV-2 were acquired outside of the workplace, confirming that in a pediatric hospital setting, HCW education, correct use of personal protective equipment, and separation of the COVID-patient pathway and staff flow may minimize the risk derived from occupational exposure. MDPI 2021-03-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8006005/ /pubmed/33806472 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pediatric13010017 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Caselli, Désirée Loconsole, Daniela Dario, Rita Chironna, Maria Aricò, Maurizio Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy |
title | Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy |
title_full | Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy |
title_fullStr | Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy |
title_full_unstemmed | Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy |
title_short | Effectiveness of Preventive Measures in Keeping Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers in a Referral Children’s Hospital in Southern Italy |
title_sort | effectiveness of preventive measures in keeping low prevalence of sars-cov-2 infection in health care workers in a referral children’s hospital in southern italy |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8006005/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33806472 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pediatric13010017 |
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