COVID-19 autopsies from the Ga-East municipal and the 37 military hospitals, Accra, Ghana
Ghana Med. J. (Online)
;
54(4): 52-61, 2020. ilus
Artículo
en Inglés
| AIM
| ID: biblio-1262313
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Since the declaration of COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a global pandemic on 11th March 2020, the number of deaths continue to increase worldwide. Reports on its pathologic manifestations have been published with very few from the Sub-Saharan African region. This article reports autopsies on COVID19 patients from the Ga-East and the 37 Military Hospitals to provide pathological evidence for better understanding of COVID-19 in Ghana.Methods:
Under conditions required for carrying out autopsies on bodies infected with category three infectious agents, with few modifications, complete autopsies were performed on twenty patients with ante-mortem and/or postmortem RT -PCR confirmed positive COVID 19 results, between April and June ,2020.Results:
There were equal proportion of males and females. Thirteen (65%) of the patients were 55years or older with the same percentage (65%) having Type II diabetes and/or hypertension. The most significant pathological feature found at autopsy was diffuse alveolar damage. Seventy per cent (14/20) had associated thromboemboli in the lungs, kidneys and the heart. Forty per cent (6/15) of the patients that had negative results for COVID-19 by the nasopharyngeal swab test before death had positive results during postmortem using bronchopulmonary specimen. At autopsy all patients were identified to have pre-existing medical conditions.Conclusion:
Diffuse alveolar damage was a key pathological feature of deaths caused by COVID-19 in all cases studied with hypertension and diabetes mellitus being major risk factors. Individuals without co-morbidities were less likely to die or suffer severe disease from SARS-CoV-2
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Índice:
AIM (África)
Asunto principal:
Autopsia
/
Condiciones Patológicas, Signos y Síntomas
/
COVID-19
/
Ghana
/
Hospitales Militares
Tipo de estudio:
Estudio pronóstico
/
Factores de riesgo
País/Región como asunto:
Africa
Idioma:
Inglés
Revista:
Ghana Med. J. (Online)
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Artículo
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