ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is a sudden rise in infectious diseases, with special concern to the most recent SARS-CoV 2 outbreak. A retrospective study was conducted to study the effect of this outbreak on neonatal sepsis as a global issue that poses a challenge for pediatric management and to identify its risk factors, microbial profile, and mortality rate at King Faisal Medical Complex, Taif, KSA, a COVID-19-tertiary care segregation hospital. METHODS: This research included 111 neonates with a culture-proven diagnosis of neonatal sepsis (4 and 62 cases during 2019 and 2020, respectively). RESULTS: During 2019 early onset sepsis (EOS) occurred in 6/49 (12.2%) while in 2020 22/62 (35.5%), and during 2019 late onset sepsis (LOS) occurred in 43/49 (87.7%) while in 2020 40/62 (64.5%). Premature rupture of membrane was the major neonatal risk factor for EOS during 2019 and 2020 with proportions of 4 (66.7%), 20 (90.9%); respectively. As regards LOS, the peripherally inserted central catheters and peripheral lines were the top neonatal risk factors. In the two-year outbreak, the most prevalent causative organism for EOS neonates was Escherichia coli and for LOS neonates it was Klebsiella. There was non-significant change in the mortality rate of neonatal sepsis between 2019 and 2020. However, the mortality rate was higher in EOS 9/22 (40.9%) in 2020 in comparison to 2/6 (33.3%) in 2019. CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal sepsis remains a major health problem causing serious morbidity and mortality, and health care policy makers have to implement EOS preventive measures.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Neonatal Sepsis , Sepsis , COVID-19/epidemiology , Child , Escherichia coli , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Intensive Care Units, Neonatal , Neonatal Sepsis/diagnosis , Neonatal Sepsis/epidemiology , Pandemics , Retrospective Studies , Sepsis/diagnosis , Sepsis/epidemiologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 affects millions of people worldwide so WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020. Since the vaccine is in the early trial phase and until it proves its efficacy, the need of finding alternative methods, which can help to curb this pandemic is urgent, so its prevention depends on standard infection control measures. This study's aim is to assess the knowledge, awareness, and practice level of Taif population towards Corona Virus disease - 2019 (COVID-19) sterilization. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted on 504 participants by administering a well-structured questionnaire comprising three sections including demographics, knowledge, attitude, and practice among the general population in Taif governorate KSA, over a duration of three months from July until September 2020. The descriptive analysis was carried out for demographics and dependent variables using the statistical program for social sciences. The t-test was used to detect any relationship between knowledge and practice score percentage of the general population response with respect to their gender and level of education. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 504 respondents willingly participated in the survey, there is a highly significant difference in the knowledge score percentage in respondents aged between 41 - 60 years old in comparison to the age group < 20 - 40 years old also between urban residence in comparison to rural residence, and a highly significant difference in the knowledge and practice score percentage in post graduate respondents in comparison to undergraduate. In addition, there was a significant difference in the practice score percentage in respondents aged between 41 - 60 years old in comparison to age group < 20 - 40, and a highly significant difference was seen in the practice score percentage in respondents living in urban areas in comparison to rural areas. CONCLUSIONS: The suggestion of this study was that knowledge and practice gaps among population, especially in the young age group, had to be covered by holding training programs through workshops or to include courses in the curriculum of ministry of health.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Adult , Cross-Sectional Studies , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , Middle Aged , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2 , Sterilization , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an international public health emergency with major disruptions and devastating health consequences resulting from the associated cytokine storm syndrome. The aim of our research was to assess the inflammatory biomarkers and risk factors associated with severity of (COVID-19) patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted and included 150 Egyptian patients with COVID-19. Patients were classified into mild, moderate, and severe according to the clinical and CT chest findings. Blood samples were collected from patients for laboratory assessment of inflammatory biomarkers. RESULTS: Our results showed significant negative correlation between oxygen saturation percent and serum levels of inflammatory markers. The correlations were statistically significant with IL-6, CRP, ferritin, LDH, and D-dimer which can be used as sensitive biomarkers for assessment of the risk of severity of infection in COVID 19 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that the risk factors associated with severity of COVID 19 infection included older age, male gender, presence of underlying chronic disease, and increased levels of inflammatory biomarkers: CRP, LDH, ferritin, IL-6, and D-dimer.