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A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators

Asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients produce a considerable amount of virus and transmit severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through close contact. Preventing in-hospital transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is challenging, since symptom-based screeni...

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Autores principales: Kim, Dosup, Ko, Jae-Hoon, Peck, Kyong Ran, Baek, Jin Yang, Moon, Hee-Won, Ki, Hyun Kyun, Yoon, Ji Hyun, Kim, Hyo Jin, Choi, Jeong Hwa, Park, Ga Eun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8297396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208462
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126481
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author Kim, Dosup
Ko, Jae-Hoon
Peck, Kyong Ran
Baek, Jin Yang
Moon, Hee-Won
Ki, Hyun Kyun
Yoon, Ji Hyun
Kim, Hyo Jin
Choi, Jeong Hwa
Park, Ga Eun
author_facet Kim, Dosup
Ko, Jae-Hoon
Peck, Kyong Ran
Baek, Jin Yang
Moon, Hee-Won
Ki, Hyun Kyun
Yoon, Ji Hyun
Kim, Hyo Jin
Choi, Jeong Hwa
Park, Ga Eun
author_sort Kim, Dosup
collection PubMed
description Asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients produce a considerable amount of virus and transmit severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through close contact. Preventing in-hospital transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is challenging, since symptom-based screening protocols may miss asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic patients. In particular, dental healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of exposure, as face-to-face contact and exposure to oral secretions is unavoidable. We report exposure of HCWs during dental procedures on a mild symptomatic COVID-19 patient. A 32-year-old male visited a dental clinic at a tertiary care hospital. He experienced mild cough, which started three days before the dental visit, but did not report his symptom during the entrance screening. He underwent several dental procedures and imaging for orthognathic surgery without wearing a mask. Seven HCWs were closely exposed to the patient during dental procedures that could have generated droplets and aerosols. One HCW had close contact with the patient during radiologic exams, and seven HCWs had casual contact. All HCWs wore particulate filtering respirators with 94% filter capacity and gloves, but none wore eye protection or gowns. The next day, the patient experienced dysgeusia and was diagnosed with COVID-19 with high viral load. All HCWs who had close contact with the patient were quarantined for 14 days, and polymerase chain reaction and antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 were negative. This exposure event suggests the protective effect of particulate filtering respirators in dental clinics. The recommendations of different levels of personal protective equipment (PPE) for dental HCWs according to the procedure types should be established according to the planned procedure, the risk of COVID-19 infection of the patient, and the outbreak situation of the community.
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spelling pubmed-82973962021-07-23 A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators Kim, Dosup Ko, Jae-Hoon Peck, Kyong Ran Baek, Jin Yang Moon, Hee-Won Ki, Hyun Kyun Yoon, Ji Hyun Kim, Hyo Jin Choi, Jeong Hwa Park, Ga Eun Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients produce a considerable amount of virus and transmit severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through close contact. Preventing in-hospital transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is challenging, since symptom-based screening protocols may miss asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic patients. In particular, dental healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of exposure, as face-to-face contact and exposure to oral secretions is unavoidable. We report exposure of HCWs during dental procedures on a mild symptomatic COVID-19 patient. A 32-year-old male visited a dental clinic at a tertiary care hospital. He experienced mild cough, which started three days before the dental visit, but did not report his symptom during the entrance screening. He underwent several dental procedures and imaging for orthognathic surgery without wearing a mask. Seven HCWs were closely exposed to the patient during dental procedures that could have generated droplets and aerosols. One HCW had close contact with the patient during radiologic exams, and seven HCWs had casual contact. All HCWs wore particulate filtering respirators with 94% filter capacity and gloves, but none wore eye protection or gowns. The next day, the patient experienced dysgeusia and was diagnosed with COVID-19 with high viral load. All HCWs who had close contact with the patient were quarantined for 14 days, and polymerase chain reaction and antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2 were negative. This exposure event suggests the protective effect of particulate filtering respirators in dental clinics. The recommendations of different levels of personal protective equipment (PPE) for dental HCWs according to the procedure types should be established according to the planned procedure, the risk of COVID-19 infection of the patient, and the outbreak situation of the community. MDPI 2021-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8297396/ /pubmed/34208462 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126481 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kim, Dosup
Ko, Jae-Hoon
Peck, Kyong Ran
Baek, Jin Yang
Moon, Hee-Won
Ki, Hyun Kyun
Yoon, Ji Hyun
Kim, Hyo Jin
Choi, Jeong Hwa
Park, Ga Eun
A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators
title A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators
title_full A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators
title_fullStr A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators
title_full_unstemmed A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators
title_short A COVID-19 Exposure at a Dental Clinic Where Healthcare Workers Routinely Use Particulate Filtering Respirators
title_sort covid-19 exposure at a dental clinic where healthcare workers routinely use particulate filtering respirators
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8297396/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208462
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126481
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