COVID-19 autopsy reports from the Ga-East Municipal and the 37 Military Hospitals in Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Med J
; 54(4 Suppl): 52-61, 2020 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1436195
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Since the declaration of COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a global pandemic on 11th March 2020, the number of deaths continue to increase worldwide. Reports on its pathologic manifestations have been published with very few from the Sub-Saharan African region. This article reports autopsies on COVID-19 patients from the Ga-East and the 37 Military Hospitals to provide pathological evidence for better understanding of COVID-19 in Ghana.METHODS:
Under conditions required for carrying out autopsies on bodies infected with category three infectious agents, with few modifications, complete autopsies were performed on twenty patients with ante-mortem and/or postmortem RT -PCR confirmed positive COVID-19 results, between April and June, 2020.RESULTS:
There were equal proportion of males and females. Thirteen (65%) of the patients were 55years or older with the same percentage (65%) having Type II diabetes and/or hypertension. The most significant pathological feature found at autopsy was diffuse alveolar damage. Seventy per cent (14/20) had associated thromboemboli in the lungs, kidneys and the heart. Forty per cent (6/15) of the patients that had negative results for COVID-19 by the nasopharyngeal swab test before death had positive results during postmortem using bronchopulmonary specimen. At autopsy all patients were identified to have pre-existing medical conditions.CONCLUSION:
Diffuse alveolar damage was a key pathological feature of deaths caused by COVID-19 in all cases studied with hypertension and diabetes mellitus being major risk factors. Individuals without co-morbidities were less likely to die or suffer severe disease from SARS-CoV-2.FUNDING:
None declared.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Autopsy
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Hospitals, Military
/
Hospitals, Municipal
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
English
Journal:
Ghana Med J
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Gmj.v54i4s.9
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS