Prevalence of SARS CoV-2 infection among Health Care Workers of a hybrid tertiary COVID 19 hospital in Kerala

Back ground and objectivesThis study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among Health care workers [HCWs] of a hybrid COVID treatment hospital in Kerala. MethodsThe study was conducted during 3rd week of January 2021. Among 3550 HCWs, 979 subjects were selected by stratified random sampling and grouped into high risk and low risk category based on job setting. Demographic details and clinical information regarding previous history of COVID 19 were collected at the time of SARS-CoV-2 IgG testing. ResultsFrom 979 subjects, the data with respect to 940 health care workers were analysed. SARS-CoV-2 IgG was detected in 19.1% of HCWs. Seroprevalence among high risk group was 20.3% and that in low risk group was 7.4% [p=0.005]. In high-risk group, seropositivity was noted in 30.54 % of nurses, 19% hospital attenders, 18.9% resident doctors and 6.4% consultant doctors. In those with past history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, seropositivity was 75.4%. In those who were COVID positive during July2020, 33.3% were still IgG reactive. Interpretation and conclusionThe study reported 19.1% SARS CoV-2 IgG reactivity among health care workers in our hospital. Seropositivity was significantly higher in high risk group compared to low risk group. Antibody decay kinetics in our study is comparable to that in published literature. Infection control challenges in hybrid hospitals account for higher seropositivity in this study compared to overall seroprevalence among HCWs in Kerala.

Efficacy and Safety of Once-Weekly Thyroxine for Thyroxine-Resistant Hypothyroidism.

CONTEXT: Noncompliance with thyroxine therapy is the most common cause of poor control of hypothyroidism. An open-label prospective study to compare once-weekly thyroxine (OWT) with standard daily thyroxine (SDT) was undertaken. DESIGN: Patients taking thyroxine doses of >3 µg/kg/d, with or without normalization of TSH, were included and administered directly observed OWT or nonobserved SDT according to patient preference based on their weight for 6 weeks. Furthermore, patients on OWT were advised to continue the same at home without supervision. RESULTS: Twenty six of 34 patients on OWT and 7 of 18 patients on SDT achieved a TSH <10 µIU/mL (P < 0.05), and 2 patients from the SDT arm were lost to follow-up. During home treatment, 15 of 25 at 12 weeks and 19 of 23 contactable patients at a median follow-up of 25 months maintained TSH below target. Thyroxine absorption test was unable to predict normalization of TSH at 6 weeks of OWT therapy. No adverse events were seen with OWT-treated patients over the 12-week follow-up period. OWT has significantly higher efficacy (OR = 5.1) than SDT for patients with thyroxine-resistant hypothyroidism and is not associated with side effects. CONCLUSION: OWT benefits a majority of patients in the long-term treatment of thyroxine-resistant hypothyroidism, in the real-world setting.

Long acting porcine sequence ACTH in the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency.

OBJECTIVES: Injectable tetracosactide hexa-acetate, ACTH 1-24 (Synacthen), is not marketed in many countries including India, whereas Injectable long acting porcine sequence, ACTH 1-39 (Acton Prolongatum®) is easily available and much cheaper. This study aimed to find the diagnostic accuracy of ACTH stimulation test using i.m. Acton Prolongatum® (acton prolongatum stimulation test, APST) in comparison with Synacthen (short synacthen test, SST) for the diagnosis of glucocorticoid insufficiency. METHODS: Subjects with a suspicion of adrenal insufficiency based on clinical features underwent a SST with 250 µg Synacthen followed by APST using 30 units of Acton Prolongatum®. Serum cortisol levels were measured at 60 and 120 min following injection of Acton Prolongatum®. Stimulated peak cortisol of less than 18 µg/dL on SST was considered as adrenal insufficiency. RESULTS: Forty seven patients with mean age of 36.7 ± 14.4 years were enrolled for the study. Based on SST, twenty (n = 20) persons were classified as having adrenal insufficiency, whereas twenty-seven (n = 27) were found to be normal. Area under the curve of APST (at 120 min) was 0.986 when compared to SST, thus proving its high accuracy. A serum cortisol cut off value of 19.5 µg/dL at 120-min following stimulation with Acton Prolongatum® showed a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 88%. CONCLUSION: ACTH stimulation test using Acton Prolongatum® is an economical and accurate alternative to the short Synacthen test.

Finger nail creatinine and its role in confirming chronicity of renal failure.

It is often difficult to differentiate acute renal failure (ARF) from chronic renal failure (CRF) when the patient presents with advanced uremia for the first time. Assessments of kidney size, history of nocturia, and pallor are used as indirect indicators of CRF. Some investigators have proposed an estimation of finger nail creatinine concentrations to differentiate between ARF and CRF, as patients with CRF have higher nail creatinine concentrations. Measurement of creatinine in the nail can be performed easily in a biochemistry laboratory. The nail clippings are cleaned, dried, pulverized and creatinine extracted from the powdered nail to be assessed biochemically. By standardizing the methods, the biochemistry laboratory can provide the results within 48 hours. In this study, we analyzed the nail clippings of 49 normal subjects, 50 cases of known acute kidney injury (AKI), and 50 cases of known CRF on follow-up at the Nephrology Clinic, Medical College, Trivandrum between December 1999 to November 2000. Forty-nine normal individuals were selected from healthy bystanders of respective patients. On study, it was revealed that patients with ARF had a mean fingernail creatinine level of 30.9 mg/100 g of nail as against 30.1 mg/100 g of nail in normal controls. There was no difference between the controls and ARF patients.Patients with known CRF had a mean fingernail creatinine level of 69.2 mg/100 g. There was a significant increase in the level of nail creatinine in patients with known CRF versus ARF patients and normal controls. The measurement of nail creatinine is useful, easy and can be standardized and performed in a biochemistry laboratory. This simple investigation can help in solving the question of ARF versus CRF in a given case. From this study, it is concluded that the result of creatinine concentrations of nail clippings can indicate chronicity of renal failure.