ABSTRACT
Objectives Due to the restrictive measures that have been implemented by the government, dentistry services underwent forced changes in their operation and function. Recent studies highlighted the difficulties and damage from the current COVID-19 pandemic to dental services in general and oral medicine (OM) and oral pathology particularly. Thus, this investigation aimed to compare Brazilian Unified Healthcare System–oriented OM clinical care in Brazil before and during the pandemic so far. Study Design The data were extracted from the public database of the Ministry of Health of Brazil and a descriptive analysis was performed of the mean number of clinical consultations in OM comparing the prepandemic period with the pandemic period. Results The data showed the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in OM clinical consultation. Brazilian general average deficit on OM clinical consultations in the pandemic period was −65.59%, representing more than 21,000 clinical consultations. Conclusions Quick and safe actions are needed to regularize or at least minimize both the critical immediate risks as well as the possible long-term negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic on oral diseases.
ABSTRACT
Objectives Recently, studies have discussed reports of patients positive for COVID-19 with skin lesions and vesicobullous oral lesions consistent with the manifestations of herpes zoster (HZ) and the involvement of this manifestations with the COVID-19 infection. The objective of this study was to compare the data from the Unified Health System on the number of diagnoses of HZ the period from March to September in each year 2017, 2018 and 2019 with the same period of 2020 in all Brazilian regions. Study Design The data were extracted from the public database of the Ministry of Health of Brazil (DATASUS) and a descriptive analysis of the numbers was performed per million inhabitants and by percentage comparing the prepandemic period with the pandemic period. Results The data showed an increase in the number of HZ diagnoses over the years and the negative impact of COVID-19, revealing an average increase corresponding to an extra 10.7 cases per million inhabitants (+35.4%) during the pandemic in Brazil. Conclusions Although the association between HZ and COVID-19 is not well stablished, we observed an increase in HZ cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, which suggests a correlation between these diseases.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Herpes Zoster , Brazil/epidemiology , Herpes Zoster/epidemiology , Herpesvirus 3, Human , Humans , PandemicsABSTRACT
Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the pathogen SARS-CoV-2, was declared a pandemic in March 2020. Recently, studies have discussed reports of patients infected with COVID-19 associated with vesicular manifestations of Herpes Zoster. The objective of this study was to compare the data from the Unified Health System (SUS) on the number of diagnoses of Herpes Zoster from March to August from 2017 to 2019, with the same period in 2020, in the five Brazilian regions (North, Northeast, Southeast, South, and Midwest). The data were extracted from the public database (DATASUS) of Brazil's Ministry of Health. The data showed an increase in the number of Herpes Zoster diagnoses over the years and the negative impact from the COVID-19 disease, revealing an average increase corresponding to an extra 10.7 cases per million inhabitants during the pandemic in all Brazilian Regions. Therefore, although the association between HZ and COVID-19 is not well established, we observed in this study an increase in HZ cases during the COVID -19 pandemic, which suggests a correlation between these diseases.