Activiteit

COVID-19 is a global pandemic seen in modern times. The clinical characteristics, treatment regimen and duration of hospitalization of COVID-19 patients remain unclear in Ghana.

we retrospectively reviewed the secondary data of 307 discharged COVID-19 patients to characterize their demographics, clinical symptoms, treatment regimen given and duration of hospitalization.

the mean age and temperature of the patients were 37.9 years and 36.3°C, respectively. The majority (85.7%) of the cases reviewed were asymptomatic; for those presenting with symptoms, the main ones were cough (50%), fever (29.6%), headache (27.3%), and sore throat (22.7%). Geldanamycin Comorbidities were present in 25.1% of the patients; the popularly reported comorbidities were hypertension (71.4%), asthma (7.8%) and diabetes (6.5%). The average duration of hospitalization was 13.8 days, and the duration of hospitalization for patients managed with azithromycin + chloroquine (AZ+CQ) was 10.4 days, followed closely by those managed with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) only, 11.0 days. There was longer duration of hospitalization among patients who received AZ only compared to patients receiving AZ + CQ (3.24 ± 1.10 days, p=0.037; 95% CI 0.11, 6.37). Linear regression analysis showed that the duration of hospitalization for patients who received AZ only was 2.7 days, which was higher than that of patients who received AZ+CQ and HCQ only (95% CI 0.44, 4.93; p=0.019).

in this cohort of COVID-19 patients, the common symptoms were cough, fever, headache, and sore throat. The use of AZ+CQ or HCQ only as a therapy for managing COVID-19 patients shortened the duration of hospitalization.

in this cohort of COVID-19 patients, the common symptoms were cough, fever, headache, and sore throat. The use of AZ+CQ or HCQ only as a therapy for managing COVID-19 patients shortened the duration of hospitalization.Contact tracing is a public health measure implemented to control the spread and break the chains of transmission of an infectious disease. It is done by identifying, assessing, and managing people who have been exposed to an infectious disease to prevent onward transmission. We summarize findings from a rapid Cochrane review that included cohort and modelling studies to assess the benefits and harms of digital solutions for identifying contacts of confirmed positive cases of an infectious disease. The review included 12 studies, which assessed digital contact tracing for the following infectious diseases Ebola, tuberculosis, pertussis and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This review revealed low-certainty evidence of a decrease in secondary cases of the targeted infectious disease, if digital contact tracing was used. However, it is uncertain from the currently available evidence whether digital contact tracing would produce more reliable counts of contacts and reduce the time taken to complete contact tracing. Therefore, implementation of digital contact tracing in the context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in African countries should be accompanied by a robust monitoring and evaluation framework. There should be an evaluation and documentation of the benefits, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility, equity impacts, and unintended consequences of the intervention.

coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness which epidemiologically linked to the seafood and wet animal wholesale market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Since there is paucity of research on characteristics and treatment outcomes of COVID-19, the finding of this study will helps to provide insight for the effectiveness of measures to fight against coronavirus disease in resource-limited countries.

a retrospective review of released data about cases in daily bases and documents from Ethiopian public health institute website. In this article, we included and analyzed data of cases from 13 March to 13 May 2020 which were available at the time of the review.

a total of 263 cases were included (median age, 34 years [range, 0.9-85 years]; 76% male). COVID-19 cases among age group 15-24 years and 25-34 years were 92(35%) and 76(28.9%) respectively. More than half (55.5%) of cases had travel history abroad and African countries are the leading 64(24.3%treatment of cases were critically requires through the patriotic efforts of frontline health workers, leaders, and stakeholders.Senegal, like many countries in the world, has been facing the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2, 2020. Psychosocial care for people who are victims of this unexpected and potentially fatal event is essential. As soon as the first cases were registered in Senegal with the announcement of the first cluster in the town of Touba, 150km from Dakar, on March 12, 2020, the country’s health authorities set up a multidisciplinary team on the spot with a cell operational psychosocial. This unit has set up for a hundred direct and indirect victims immediate and post-immediate individual and/or group care with home visits. Beyond the therapeutic and support aspect of the psychosocial care of these victims of COVID-19, this intervention allowed the decision-making level to have feedback from the field on certain actions that posed more problems than they did not resolve. The psychosocial field work made it possible to model and adjust the interventions in a particular context of denial by the local population.The current standards for detecting active coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection are molecular tests by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, using swabs from the lower or upper respiratory tract. Because of the expertise required and the long turnaround time for the availability of test results, faster and easier point-of-care methods are necessary. The latter may include the detection of antibodies specific to COVID-19. We highlight a recent Cochrane review that assessed the accuracy of antibody tests for diagnosing COVID-19. The review shows that, at present, antibodies have little use in the diagnosis of COVID-19 within the first seven days from onset of symptoms. However, as time progresses, the sensitivity of the antibody tests increases. Antibody tests are more useful in detecting previous COVID-19 infection if used 15 days or more from onset of symptoms. Data presented in the review should be interpreted with caution as most studies (85%) recruited in-hospital patients and 11% recruited suspected COVID-19 patients, while only 4% recruited convalescent patients.