Cargando…
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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
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 |
_version_ | 1783725851980857344 |
---|---|
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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8297396 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT kimdosup acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT kojaehoon acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT peckkyongran acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT baekjinyang acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT moonheewon acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT kihyunkyun acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT yoonjihyun acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT kimhyojin acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT choijeonghwa acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT parkgaeun acovid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT kimdosup covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT kojaehoon covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT peckkyongran covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT baekjinyang covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT moonheewon covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT kihyunkyun covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT yoonjihyun covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT kimhyojin covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT choijeonghwa covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators AT parkgaeun covid19exposureatadentalclinicwherehealthcareworkersroutinelyuseparticulatefilteringrespirators |