ABSTRACT
ObjectivesThis study aimed to identify, describe and analyze priority areas for COVID-19 testing combining participatory surveillance and traditional surveillance. DesignIt was carried out a descriptive transversal study in the city of Caruaru, Pernambuco state, Brazil, within the period of 20/02/2020 to 05/05/2020. Data included all official reports for influenza-like illness notified by the municipality health department and the self-reports collected through the participatory surveillance platform Brasil Sem Corona. MethodsWe used linear regression and loess regression to verify a correlation between Participatory Surveillance (PS) and Traditional Surveillance (TS). Also a spatial scanning approach was deployed in order to identify risk clusters for COVID-19. ResultsIn Caruaru, the PS had 861 active users, presenting an average of 1.2 reports per user per week. The platform Brasil Sem Corona started on March 20th and since then, has been officially used by the Caruaru health authority to improve the quality of information from the traditional surveillance system. Regarding the respiratory syndrome cases from TS, 1,588 individuals were positive for this clinical outcome. The spatial scanning analysis detected 18 clusters and 6 of them presented statistical significance (p-value < 0.1). Clusters 3 and 4 presented an overlapping area that was chosen by the local authority to deploy the COVID-19 serology, where 50 individuals were tested. From there, 32% (n=16) presented reagent results for antibodies related to COVID-19. ConclusionParticipatory surveillance is an effective epidemiological method to complement the traditional surveillance system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by adding real-time spatial data to detect priority areas for COVID-19 testing.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To determine the usefulness of CT for the evaluation of peripheral bronchopleural fistulas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CT scans of 22 patients with persistent air leak, as seen on serial chest PA, and aclinical history, were retrospectively evaluated. We determined the visibility of direct communication between thelung and pleural space, and the frequeucy and location of this, and if direct communications were not visualizedthe probable cause. RESULTS: A bronchopleural fistula(n=13) or its probable cause(n=6) was visualized in 19patients(86%). Direct communications between the lung and pleural space were seen in 13 patients(59%); there weresix cases of tuberculous empyema, three of tuberculosis, two of necrotizing empyema, one of trauma, and one ofpostobstructive pneumonitis. In six patients, bronchiectatic change in peripheral lung adjacent to the pleuralcavity was noted, and although this was seen as a probable cause of bronchopleural fistual, direct communicationwas invisible. Bronchopleural fistula or its probable cause was multiple in 18 of 19 patients, involving the upperand lower lobe in eight, the upper in nine, and the lower in two. CONCLUSIONS: CT is useful for evaluating thepresence of bronchopleural fistula, and its frequency and location, and in patients in whom the fistula is notdirectly visualized, the cause of this.
