ABSTRACT
Objective: The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 has prompted the development of new serological tests that could be complementary to RT-PCR. Serological tests can also be used for purposes such as demonstrating the presence of antibodies in individuals who have had the disease, contact screening, screening of healthcare professionals, monitoring of vaccine responses, detection of antibody levels of plasma donors, and determination of seroprevalence in risky groups. For this purpose, different methods such as ELISA, CLIA or rapid antibody detection tests are used. LFIA tests are fast, easy to apply, do not require experience, and are cheap tests that give a result in as little as 10 minutes. However, the clinical performance of existing serological tests used in diagnosis needs to be evaluated. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of two immunological tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Methods: As a positive serum panel, 101 serum samples from patients confirmed by SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test and also found antibody positive by ELISA test were included in the study. As the negative serum panel, 30 serum samples were determined, including 11 serum samples with antibodies against viruses other than SARS-CoV-2, and 19 serum samples from healthy donors in 2019. First, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were tested by ELISA (Wantai, China) and than these serum samples were tested simultaneously with the SureScreen COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Cassette and YHLO Gline 2019 nCov IgG/IgM kits. Results: The SureScreen and YHLO Gline kits showed an overall sensitivity of 86.1% and 75.3%, for detecting IgG and/or IgM, respectively. Specificity was 100% in both rapid antibody tests. The kappa value for IgG of the two rapid antibody tests was 0.816, while it was 0.695 for IgM. Conclusion: Our study shows that SureScreen and YHLO Gline are reliable kits for use as point-of-care tests for rapid antibody detection. According to Cohen's kappa statistics the 91% (ϰ=0.816) agreement between SureScreen IgG and YHLO Gline IgG, "Almost Perfect”, and 85% agreement (ϰ=0.695) between SureScreen IgM and YHLO Gline IgM, "Substantial”, indicate a good correlation between the performance of the LFIAs used in the study. Total antibody conformity was determined as 92% (ϰ=0.822), "Almost Perfect”. Agreement between IgM tests was lower than that between IgG tests. © 2022,Turk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji Dergisi,All rights reserved
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Implementation of WHO's multimodal (MM) strategy is essential for strengthening infection prevention and control programme (IPC) in a country. Objectives: To share the experience of Turkey about the strengthening infection prevention and control programme. Methods: In Turkey, structured IPC (infection control committees, training, surveillance, hand hygiene activities) has been put into practice since 2006 by MoH. However, after 2018 MoH focused on IPC core components for strengthening IPC. Electronic surveillance was strengthened. Turkey signed the pledge of hand hygiene and Train the Trainers (TTT) programme was organised for standardized approach based on the WHO' MM Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy. In TTT programme, 34 IPC professionals from 18 hospitals were trained for multimodal HH improvement strategy and a short TTT programme was organized with 32 participants in the largest teaching hospital in Turkey. After Covid-19 pandemic, videos about multimodal hand hygiene strategy were used for e-learning by MoH. To this e-learning programme, 1845 IPC professionals registered and 1287 of them completed. National Infection Control Committee was established in 2018 and National Infection Control Programme and Action Plan was introduced in 2019. The Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework (HHSAF) was first used nationally in 2019 for the documentation of HH situation and also focus on the future plans and challenges. HHSAF was translated in Turkish to increase participation of facilities. Results: HHSAF was sent to 216 hospitals and 125 (58%) submitted their HHSAF. Of these hospitals, 92 (74%) were state hospital, 20 (16%) were university hospital and 13 (10%) were private hospital. Responses to HHSAF questions related to key indicators of the WHO improvement strategy implementation were shown in Figure 1. Conclusion: The survey shows that improvement was achieved on having alcohol-based handrubs available, undertaking staff training, evaluation and feedback and displaying posters on hand hygiene around their hospital. However, a dedicated budget in infection control and improvements in institutional safety climate are gaps that should be focused on. (Figure Presented).
ABSTRACT
Whilst the COVID-19 epidemic, whose effects still continue to be experienced, takes a wide place on the agenda of countries and cities, the social, economic, and political effects of the crisis have been deepening. Especially in terms of women and children who have moved further away from the public area with the epidemic causing poverty, violence, deprivation, etc. The deficit is growing even more. On the other hand, public policies need to show their reflexes rapidly and show their power to prevent, eliminate, and remedy any kind of deficit and negativity. In this context, the role and responsibility of local governments is increasing day by day. On the basis of sustainable development, it is important for local governments to prefer urban policies based on gender equality. In this study, the third largest city in Turkey, in crisis management during COVID-19, policies, and practices on behalf of women in Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, is analysed by gender equality perspective. The research question is investigating the policies and recommendations of women’s organisations and leading institutions and individuals on gender equality in Ízmir, on crisis management in the city. This work is carried out with a feminist research approach and analysed using qualitative analysis techniques. In-depth interviews were held with bureaucrats and political decision makers, who are involved in the decision-making mechanisms of the municipality, leading women in the city and NGO representative women who are actively involved in these processes. A semi-structured question form was used during the interviews. © 2021 by Emerald Publishing Limited.