Tuberculosis Co-Infection Is Common in Patients Requiring Hospitalization for COVID-19 in Belarus: Mixed-Methods Study.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 19(7)2022 04 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1776235
ABSTRACT
A significant drop in tuberculosis (TB) case-finding has been widely reported during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. To address a decrease in TB notification, Belarus introduced laboratory TB testing in patients with the laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We conducted a secondary analysis of health records among 844 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who were admitted to repurposed departments at TB hospitals and who were tested by Xpert MTB/RIF (Cepheid Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA) in five Belarus regions between April and October 2021. Quantitative analysis followed by 13 individual interviews with health managers, physicians, and nurses participating in the intervention. Most patients were male (64%) and mean age was 43.5 ± 16 years. One in twenty (n = 47, 5.6%) patients were co-infected with active pulmonary TB, and over one-third of them (n = 18) had rifampicin resistance. In-hospital mortality was comparable in patients with and without TB co-infection (2.1% and 2.3% respectively, p > 0.99). Laboratory TB testing among patients with COVID-19 at repurposed departments of TB hospitals is feasible in Belarus and may improve TB case-finding.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tuberculosis
/
Latent Tuberculosis
/
Coinfection
/
COVID-19
/
Antibiotics, Antitubercular
/
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph19074370
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