ABSTRACT
Background: The emergence of a novel coronavirus causing acute respiratory syndrome called coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) in late 2019 in China has now become a global concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2020 declared the novel coronavirus outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern. The morphology and chemical structure of the novel coronavirus are very similar to other human coronaviruses, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS).
ABSTRACT
Background and purpose: Adenoviruses and enteroviruses as intestinal viruses are detected in wastewater. Fecal shedding of 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported in some studies. Therefore, determining the presence of these viruses in wastewater is important to maintain public health and helps in predicting and preventing viral infections in a community. Materials and methods: In this analytical study, 24 raw wastewater samples were taken from two municipal wastewater treatment plants and viral nucleic acids were extracted. Finally, the presence of adenovirus was detected by real-time PCR, and SARS-CoV-2 and enterovirus were detected using RT Real-time PCR. Results: Nine (37.5%) samples were found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2. Also, 19 (79%) and 6 (6%) samples showed the presence of adenovirus and enterovirus, respectively. Conclusion: Detection of SARS-CoV-2, enterovirus, and adenovirus in wastewater samples indicated the prevalence of viral infections in the community served by two wastewater treatment plants studied. The presence of viruses in wastewater shows that monitoring of wastewater could be used as an important tool for the survey of viral infections in the community.
ABSTRACT
Aim: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Isfahan, Iran. Materials & methods: HCWs in COVID-19 wards of three referral COVID-19 hospitals in Isfahan were screened and tested for COVID-19 infection. Results: In total, 102 HCWs were screened whose median age was 43 years old. Moreover, 21 (20.5%) of them had a history of suspected infection with SARS-CoV2, mostly (66.6%) without any symptoms while six (28.5%) of them suffered from relatively mild diseases and one (4.7%) was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. Conclusion: It was found that HCWs were prone to be asymptomatic carriers while their computed tomography images were normal. Therefore, it is recommended that reverse-transcriptase real-time-PCR be essential for the diagnosis of infections.