The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on TB cases and health care workers. The experience of tor vergata university hospital Rome, Italy

ABSTRACT

Introduction: 2019-nCov is a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2) infection that emerged in Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China in December 2019 (2) and it spred all over the world, causing death and economic disruption. In January 2020 SARS-CoV-2 was added to the priority World Health Organization (WHO) list of Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) with tuberculosis. Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on socio-economic, phycological, and routine health service, but an important goal for all governments should be to ensure continuity of essential health services, such as Tuberculosis (TB) national program. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on TB cases in Tor Vergata University Hospital, Rome, with a focus on health care workers. Materials and methods: It was investigated age, gender, clinical diagnosis, nationality, and it was evaluated time between hospitalization and notification date. We examined 192 TB cases notified during the period from January 2018 to December 2020, and confirmed by microbiology laboratory analysis. Results: Totally, we collected data on 192 subjects (135 male and 58 females;70,31 vs 29,7 % respectively). Those TB cases were admitted in the study period as follow 94 cases (48,9%) in 2018s, 77 subjects (40,1%) in 2019s and 21 cases (10,5%) in 2020s. Discussion: In this study showed how during the Covid-19 pandemic was significantly reduced TB cases notified in PTV according to the use of masks, individual protection devices (IPD), and social distancing. Probably this was influenced by the reduction of hospital accesses and the priority screening for Covid-19 in patients with respiratory symptoms for protect public health, but delayed the TB diagnosis. © 2021 A. CARBONE Editore. All rights reserved.