Performance evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic tests in Nigeria: A cross-sectional study.

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged health systems globally. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard for detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples. Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits for COVID-19 have been widely used in Nigeria. This has greatly improved test turnover rates and significantly decreased the high technical demands of RT-PCR. However, there is currently no nationally representative evaluation of the performance characteristics and reliability of these kits. This study assessed the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of ten RDT kits used for COVID-19 testing in Nigeria. This large multi-centred cross-sectional study was conducted across the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria over four months. Ten antigen (Ag) and antibody (Ab) RDT kits were evaluated, and the results were compared with RT-PCR. One thousand, three hundred and ten (1,310) consenting adults comprising 767 (58.5%) males and 543 (41.5%) females participated in the study. The highest proportion, 757 (57.7%), were in the 20-39 years' age group. In terms of diagnostic performance, Lumira Dx (61.4, 95% CI: 52.4-69.9) had the highest sensitivity while MP SARS and Panbio (98.5, 95% CI: 96.6-99.5) had the highest specificity. For predictive values, Panbio (90.7, 95% CI: 79.7-96.9) and Lumira Dx (81.2, 95% CI: 75.9-85.7) recorded the highest PPV and NPV respectively. Ag-RDTs had better performance characteristics compared with Ab-RDTs; however, the sensitivities of all RDTs in this study were generally low. The relatively high specificity of Ag-RDTs makes them useful for the diagnosis of infection in COVID-19 suspected cases where positive RDT may not require confirmation by molecular testing. There is therefore the need to develop RDTs in-country that will take into consideration the unique environmental factors, interactions with other infectious agents, and strains of the virus circulating locally. This may enhance the precision of rapid and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

Profile of children with COVID-19 infection: a cross sectional study from North-East Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: available evidence suggests that children infected with COVID-19 tend to have a less severe form of the disease. However, most of the studies that have established this largely emanate from outside sub-Saharan Africa. The pandemic nature of the infection makes it instructive to evaluate its pattern among children across different climes, including ours. This study was set out to describe the clinical characteristics of children with COVID-19 in Bauchi State, North-East Nigeria. METHODS: this was a cross sectional study that involved 53 children between the ages of 0 and 18 years, who had RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 infection between March and June 2020 in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Data on epidemiological and clinical characteristics was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics V 21.® Relationship between categorical variables was established using the chi square test. The level of statistical significance was set at < 0.05, at a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. RESULTS: the mean age was 12.63 ± 4.31 years with a slight preponderance of males (1.1: 1). Majority were asymptomatic (60.4%), while 32.1% and 7.5% had mild and moderate diseases respectively. The most common symptoms were cough (20.8%), fever (17%), and sneezing (15.1%). Five children (9.4%) complained of loss of taste while anosmia was documented in one child (1.9%). We observed a significant relationship between age category and the presence of symptoms. In fact, children younger than 10 years (pre-adolescents) were five times more likely to be symptomatic when compared to those above this age (p = 0.029, C I 1.08-21.56). CONCLUSION: our findings have shown a mild pattern of disease and good outcome among infected children. However, we must be mindful of the higher vulnerability among younger children, especially those below 10 years.

Clinical and laboratory characteristics of COVID-19 among adult patients admitted to the isolation centre at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital Bauchi, Northeast Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: as the epidemiological trend of COVID-19 infection continue to evolve with increasing prevalence and incidence globally, management of cases in low-resource health care settings require basic detailed clinical and laboratory characteristics. This study retrospectively described the clinical and laboratory characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 cases admitted into the isolation centre of ATBUTH, Bauchi. METHODS: clinical and laboratory data of 84 confirmed COVID-19 cases admitted into the isolation centre of ATBUTH, Bauchi according to NCDC guidelines were used. Diagnosis was based on nasal and nasopharyngeal swab positive result of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) result. Data extracted includes demographic, clinical presentations and laboratory characteristics. RESULTS: the 84 COVID-19 patients comprised of 72% (59) males and 28% (25) females with mean age of 41.0±10.5 years, majority of the patients were within age-group 21-40 years. Forty-one percent presented with mild to moderate symptoms, 3.6% (3) presented with severe symptoms while 58.3% (49) were asymptomatic with mean body temperature of 36.60C ± Sá. The common clinical manifestations were fever 23.4% (19) and cough 20.7% (17). About 29.3% of the patients had comorbidities, 17.1% (14) were hypertensive while 12.2% of the diabetic. Thirty percent (10) of the patients with DM required intensive care unit (ICU) admission with 10% mortality. Biochemical parameters were within normal range for all the patients. However, haematological parameters showed increased neutrophil (10, 43.5%) and lymphocyte count (19 (59.4%). CONCLUSION: the study findings revealed high number of asymptomatic cases, similarity in clinical manifestation and relatively normal laboratory characteristics. More experience with increase in number of patients may provide additional information. Interrupting community transmission will require early detection and contact trace of asymptomatic cases.

Profile of children with COVID-19 infection: a cross sectional study from North-East Nigeria

Introduction: available evidence suggests that children infected with COVID-19 tend to have a less severe form of the disease. However, most of the studies that have established this largely emanate from outside sub-Saharan Africa. The pandemic nature of the infection makes it instructive to evaluate its pattern among children across different climes, including ours. This study was set out to describe the clinical characteristics of children with COVID-19 in Bauchi State, North-East Nigeria.Methods: this was a cross sectional study that involved 53 children between the ages of 0 and 18 years, who had RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 infection between March and June 2020 in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Data on epidemiological and clinical characteristics was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics V 21.® Relationship between categorical variables was established using the chi square test. The level of statistical significance was set at < 0.05, at a confidence interval (CI) of 95%.Results: the mean age was 12.63 ± 4.31 years with a slight preponderance of males (1.1:1). Majority were asymptomatic (60.4%), while 32.1% and 7.5% had mild and moderate diseases respectively. The most common symptoms were cough (20.8%), fever (17%), and sneezing (15.1%). Five children (9.4%) complained of loss of taste while anosmia was documented in one child (1.9%). We observed a significant relationship between age category and the presence of symptoms. In fact, children younger than 10 years (pre-adolescents) were five times more likely to be symptomatic when compared to those above this age (p = 0.029, C I 1.08-21.56).Conclusion: our findings have shown a mild pattern of disease and good outcome among infected children. However, we must be mindful of the higher vulnerability among younger children, especially those below 10 years

The population structure of clinical extra-intestinal Escherichia coli in a teaching hospital from Nigeria.

Limited information is available regarding the population structure of extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) in Africa. Antimicrobial resistance profiles, sequence types (STs) and fimH types were determined on 60 clinical ExPEC from Nigeria using a 7-single nucleotide polymorphism quantitative PCR and sequencing of certain genes. Different ST131 clades were identified with a multiplex PCR. The isolates were mostly obtained from urines (58.3%). Not-susceptibility rates were as follows: trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (98%), cefotaxime (68%), gentamicin (55%), ciprofloxacin (62%) and piperacillin-tazobactam (2%). Dominant STs were associated with CTX-M-15 and included ST131-fimH30 (23%), ST457-fimH145 (20%), ST405-fimH27 (13%) and ST95-fimH41 (10%). We found the 7-SNP qPCR to be simple and cost-effective that can be utilized to tract different ExPEC clones on a global scale. This study provided insight into the population structure of ExPEC from Nigeria showing high prevalence of the rarely reported ST457 and the presence of multidrug resistant ST95.