Tracking SARS-CoV-2, Ízmir, Turkey

ABSTRACT

Objective: With the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, a new coronavirus, around the world, a pandemic was declared by World Health Organization on March 2020. The first cases were reported in March 2020 from Turkey. In our hospital, the first pediatric case was detected on April 2, 2020. However, there is no data on whether this virus had been present in our region or not before this date. The aim of our study was to de-termine the first entry of SARS-CoV-2 virus to our region for pediatric patients. Material and Methods: SARS-CoV-2 positivity was investigated retro-spectively with the RT-qPCR method in the pediatric respiratory tract specimens taken between the October 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020. In the specimens, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was studied using real-time PCR based “COVID-19 RT-qPCR Detection Kit”. Results: 886 samples were included in the study. Of the respiratory tract specimens, 97.1% were nasopharyngeal swabs, 2.8% were bronchoal-veolar lavage. Most frequently, rhinovirus (28.6%), influenza A subtype H1N1 (pandemic H1N1) (18.5%) and influenza B (16%) were detected. Rhinovirus and enterovirus were the most frequent double agents seen together. No SARS-CoV-2 positivity was detected in the respiratory tract specimens studied. Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 PCR test was conducted in a limited number of centers at the beginning of the pandemics may have affected the detection of the first case in Turkey. Multicenter studies of archived samples would enable more realistic results in tracking SARS-CoV-2 in our country.