ABSTRACT
Purpose: Diagnosis of acute undifferentiated febrile illness (AUFI) has been a challenge and burden in clinical practice in the tropics. COVID-19 cases that present with fever alone may be difficult to distinguish from other AUFIs in the tropics. Malaria, Scrub Typhus and Dengue fever are among the most common endemic diseases in the tropics. With the availability of rapid sero-diagnostic tests for these infections, it has been observed that patient's samples frequently show seropositivity for two or more infections posing challenges in clinical diagnosis and treatment. This study was performed to determine the false-positive serological test (seropositivity) in COVID-19 patients for Scrub typhus, Dengue and Malaria. Material(s) and Method(s): The present study was a type of observational prospective study conducted from April 2020 to November 2020. A total of 574 febrile patients which were positive in Real time PCR for Covid-19, were included in the study. Result(s): Dengue IgM antibody positive for 124, Scrub typhus IgM antibody positive in 107 and no positive in malarial test, were found. Conclusion(s): Our experience suggests that false-positive in the serological test should be interpreted with caution and requires surveillance. There should be a continuous follow-up of these patients during COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of recognising false positive serological results in patients with COVID-19, especially in the resource-constrained tropical settings. Copyright © 2022 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background:The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coro- navirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has threatened health worldwide. Rapid and early laboratory diagnosis of COVID -19 is the main focus of treatment and effective infection control in the hospital as well as in the community. Molecular tests are the basis for confirmation of COVID-19 and are gold standard test. In addition to most common respiratory specimens such as nasopharyngeal & oropharyngeal swabs it has been frequently detected in saliva specimens. Methods:A total of 405 patients hospitalized in RIMS, Ranchi from August 14th to October 30th, 2020 with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included in this study. Both the nasopharyngeal & oropharyngeal swabs and saliva speci- mens were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR. Results:In this study 74.56% (302/405) patients were tested positive in both saliva and nasopharyngeal & oropharyngeal swab, 19.50% (79/405) patients tested positive naso- pharyngeal & oropharyngeal swab only and none of the patients tested positive in saliva only. Among 405 patients male and female were 261 (64.4%) and 144 (35.6%). SARS –CoV-2 was most commonly detected in the 46 to 60 years of age group 83.87% (78/93) followed by 16 to 30 years 74.6% (106/142) and 31 to 45 years 74.6% (89/123). Conclusions:This study indicated that saliva can be used as a promising non – invasive sample for diagno- sis, monitoring and control of COVID-19.