ABSTRACT
Italy is the second most affected by coronavirus epidemy country in the world. In this article, members of the Italian Society of Surgical Endoscopy analyze the work of endoscopic units during the COVID-19 pandemic. Authors explain how to stratify patients according to risk groups, how to put on and off personal protective equipment, list decontamination standards for endoscopic equipment and endoscopic room.Copyright © 2020, Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to identify the impact of both traditional mass media and social digital media on the population to prevent the Corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19). Three hundred twenty participants were included. A questionnaire was prepared consisting of socio-demographic characteristics and the effect of traditional mass media and mobile digital media on the population. The sources used for information included TV (72.8 %), Facebook (71.2 %), health professionals (64.4 %), Instagram (28.1 %), Twitter (16.8 %), Radio (14.4 %) and mobile Apps (Viber and WhatsApp being 30.9 %). Social Media could be blamed for aiding the spread of stress and hysteria among people.Copyright © 2021 Health Biotechnology And Biopharma. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To combat the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, many countries, including Japan, implemented policies limiting social activities and encouraging preventive behaviors. This study examines the influence of such policies on the trends of 10 infectious pediatric diseases: pharyngoconjunctival fever; group A streptococcal pharyngitis; infectious gastroenteritis; chickenpox; erythema infectiosum; hand, foot, and mouth disease; herpangina; respiratory syncytial virus; exanthem subitum; and mumps. METHODS: The research adopted a retrospective cohort study design. We collected data from Japan's National Epidemiological Surveillance Program detailing the incidences of the 10 diseases per pediatric sentinel site for a period beginning at 9 weeks before government-ordered school closures and ending at 9 weeks after the end of the state of emergency. We obtained corresponding data for the equivalent weeks in 2015-2019. We estimated the influence of the policies using a difference-in-differences regression model. RESULTS: For seven diseases (pharyngoconjunctival fever; group A streptococcal pharyngitis; infectious gastroenteritis; chickenpox; erythema infectiosum; hand, foot, and mouth disease; and herpangina), the incidence in 2020 decreased significantly during and after the school closures. Sensitivity analysis, in which the focus area was limited to the policy-implementation period or existing trend patterns, replicated these significant decreases for one of the above mentioned seven diseases - infectious gastroenteritis. CONCLUSIONS: Policies such as school closures and encouragement of preventive behaviors were associated with significant decreases in the incidences of most of the 10 diseases, which sensitivity analysis replicated in infectious gastroenteritis. To determine the long-term effects of these policies, prospective cohort studies are needed.
Subject(s)
Adenovirus Infections, Human , COVID-19 , Chickenpox , Communicable Diseases , Erythema Infectiosum , Gastroenteritis , Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease , Herpangina , Pharyngitis , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Child , Communicable Diseases/epidemiology , Humans , Pharyngitis/epidemiology , Policy , Prospective Studies , Retrospective Studies , Streptococcus pyogenesABSTRACT
Introduction The risk of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection among patients and health care workers (HCWs) following endoscopy remains unclear. Methods We prospectively evaluated the incidence of COVID-19 infection among patients undergoing outpatient endoscopy and endoscopy unit staff between March and October 2020 at one tertiary care center in New York City. The primary outcome was COVID-19 infection within two weeks post-procedure. The clinical history, demographics, laboratory data, treatment, procedural data, and outcome measures were obtained from patients’ medical records. All patients had undergone nasopharyngeal nucleic-acid amplification testing swabs for COVID-19 prior to their procedures. Patients were then contacted 2 weeks after the procedure, via phone by research teams and nurses, with a specific list of questions (adapted from Repici et al.) to assess who had either tested positive for COVID-19 or developed symptoms ofCOVID-19 within 2 weeks after endoscopic procedures.1 Patients who screened positive for symptoms were directed for testing. Results A total of 850 endoscopic procedures were performed at our center between March and October of 2020. 131 were inpatients and were excluded from the analysis. Among the 719 outpatients, 231 were ERCPs, 111 were EUS, 207 were colonoscopies, and 170 were upper endoscopies. Post-procedure follow-up was obtained in 73% (n=524) of the patients. Of 719, 2 patients (0.38%) tested positive for COVID-19 within 2 weeks following endoscopy. Both patients had interval chemotherapy and were admitted to the hospital, so it is unclear when or where they converted. No advanced endoscopy attending or their associated nurses or technologists were subsequently infected with COVID-19 during the study period.Discussion Endoscopy procedures with appropriate PPE and preoperative testing appears to be associated with a low risk of periprocedural COVID-19 infection for outpatients and endoscopy unit staff. Diligence should continue with appropriate universal precaution and preoperative patient testing during this pandemic. References 1. Repici A, Aragona G, Cengia G, et al. Low risk of COVID-19 transmission in GI endoscopy. Gut. 2020;69(11):1925-1927. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-321341