ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread across the globe with its consequent human and economic challenges. To achieve effective control of the pandemic, efforts need to be holistic and global. Understanding patients demographics and clinical characteristics will assist in the control of the infection. However, there is a paucity of studies on the clinical presentation of COVID-19 patients from Nigeria and indeed Africa. Thus, this retrospective case series evaluated the medical records of COVID-19 patients admitted in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Patients demographics, and other clinical variables were assessed and presented. Data of 14 patients with complete records were included in the study. Most of the patients (78.6%) were males and the mean age of the study participants is 63.5 years (SD; 11.5). The commonest presenting symptoms were fever (93%), cough (71.4%), and dyspnoea (57.1%). At presentation, 13 patients had coexisting diseases while 8 (57.0%) patients had moderate disease and the remaining 6 (43.0%) had severe cases. After management, 1 patient died, two were referred and 11 recovered and were discharged alive. Thus, this study has identified advanced age, male gender, and comorbidity as increased risk factors for hospitalisation. The patient survival outcome in this study was also good.
ABSTRACT
BackgroundCoronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is ongoing causing human and socioeconomic losses. ObjectiveTo know how far the virus has spread in Niger State, Nigeria, a pilot study was carried out to determine the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence, patterns, dynamics, and risk factors in the state. MethodsA cross sectional study design and Clustered-Stratified-Random sampling strategy were used to select 185 test participants across the state. SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM Rapid Test Kits (Colloidal gold immunochromatography lateral flow system) were used to determine the presence or absence of the antibodies to the virus in the blood of sampled participants across Niger State as from 26th June 2020 to 30th June 2020. The test kits were validated using the blood samples of some of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed positive and negative COVID-19 cases in the State. SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM Test results were entered into the EPIINFO questionnaire administered simultaneously with each test. EPIINFO was then used for to calculate arithmetic mean and percentage, odd ratio, chi-square, and regression at 95% Confidence Interval of the data generated. ResultsThe seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Niger State was found to be 25.41% and 2.16% for the positive IgG and IgM respectively. Seroprevalence among age groups, gender and by occupation varied widely. COVID-19 asymptomatic rate in the state was found to be 46.81%. The risk analyses showed that the chances of infection are almost the same for both urban and rural dwellers in the state. However, health care workers, those that experienced flu-like symptoms and those that have had contact with person (s) that travelled out of Nigeria in the last six (6) months (February -June 2020) are twice (2 times) at risk of being infected with the virus. More than half (54.59%) of the participants in this study did not practice social distancing at any time since the pandemic started. Discussions about knowledge, practice and attitude of the participants are included. ConclusionThe observed Niger State SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and infection patterns means that the virus is widely spread, far more SARS CoV-2 infections occurred than the reported cases and high asymptomatic COVID-19 across the state.
