Roxanne Weiss1, Leon Guchlerner1, Andreas G Loth1, Martin Leinung1, Sabine Wicker2, Volkhard A J Kempf3,4, Annemarie Berger5, Holger F Rabenau5, Sandra Ciesek5,6,7, Timo Stöver1, Marc Diensthuber8. 1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt/M, Germany. 2. Occupational Health Service, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt/M, Germany. 3. Institute for Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Paul-Ehrlich-Str. 40, 60596, Frankfurt/M, Germany. 4. University Center of Competence for Infection Control of the State of Hesse, Goethe University, Paul-Ehrlich-Str. 40, 60596, Frankfurt/M, Germany. 5. Institute of Medical Virology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Paul-Ehrlich-Str. 40, 60596, Frankfurt/M, Germany. 6. German Centre for Infection Research, External Partner Site, Frankfurt, Germany. 7. Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Branch Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Frankfurt, Germany. 8. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590, Frankfurt/M, Germany. marc.diensthuber@kgu.de.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replicates predominantly in the upper respiratory tract and is primarily transmitted by droplets and aerosols. Taking the medical history for typical COVID-19 symptoms and PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 testing have become established as screening procedures. The aim of this work was to describe the clinical appearance of SARS-CoV-2-PCR positive patients and to determine the SARS-CoV-2 contact risk for health care workers (HCW). METHODS: The retrospective study included n = 2283 SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests from n = 1725 patients with otorhinolaryngological (ORL) diseases performed from March to November 2020 prior to inpatient treatment. In addition, demographic data and medical history were assessed. RESULTS: n = 13 PCR tests (0.6%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The positive rate showed a significant increase during the observation period (p < 0.01). None of the patients had clinical symptoms that led to a suspected diagnosis of COVID-19 before PCR testing. The patients were either asymptomatic (n = 4) or had symptoms that were interpreted as symptoms typical of the ORL disease or secondary diagnoses (n = 9). CONCLUSION: The identification of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients is a considerable challenge in clinical practice. Our findings illustrate that taking a medical history alone is of limited value and cannot replace molecular SARS-CoV-2 testing, especially for patients with ORL diseases. Our data also demonstrate that there is a high probability of contact with SARS-CoV-2-positive patients in everyday clinical practice, so that the use of personal protective equipment, even in apparently "routine cases", is highly recommended.
PURPOSE:Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replicates predominantly in the upper respiratory tract and is primarily transmitted by droplets and aerosols. Taking the medical history for typical COVID-19 symptoms and PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 testing have become established as screening procedures. The aim of this work was to describe the clinical appearance of SARS-CoV-2-PCR positive patients and to determine the SARS-CoV-2 contact risk for health care workers (HCW). METHODS: The retrospective study included n = 2283 SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests from n = 1725 patients with otorhinolaryngological (ORL) diseases performed from March to November 2020 prior to inpatient treatment. In addition, demographic data and medical history were assessed. RESULTS: n = 13 PCR tests (0.6%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The positive rate showed a significant increase during the observation period (p < 0.01). None of the patients had clinical symptoms that led to a suspected diagnosis of COVID-19 before PCR testing. The patients were either asymptomatic (n = 4) or had symptoms that were interpreted as symptoms typical of the ORL disease or secondary diagnoses (n = 9). CONCLUSION: The identification of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients is a considerable challenge in clinical practice. Our findings illustrate that taking a medical history alone is of limited value and cannot replace molecular SARS-CoV-2 testing, especially for patients with ORL diseases. Our data also demonstrate that there is a high probability of contact with SARS-CoV-2-positive patients in everyday clinical practice, so that the use of personal protective equipment, even in apparently "routine cases", is highly recommended.
Authors: Merle M Böhmer; Udo Buchholz; Victor M Corman; Martin Hoch; Katharina Katz; Durdica V Marosevic; Stefanie Böhm; Tom Woudenberg; Nikolaus Ackermann; Regina Konrad; Ute Eberle; Bianca Treis; Alexandra Dangel; Katja Bengs; Volker Fingerle; Anja Berger; Stefan Hörmansdorfer; Siegfried Ippisch; Bernd Wicklein; Andreas Grahl; Kirsten Pörtner; Nadine Muller; Nadine Zeitlmann; T Sonia Boender; Wei Cai; Andreas Reich; Maria An der Heiden; Ute Rexroth; Osamah Hamouda; Julia Schneider; Talitha Veith; Barbara Mühlemann; Roman Wölfel; Markus Antwerpen; Mathias Walter; Ulrike Protzer; Bernhard Liebl; Walter Haas; Andreas Sing; Christian Drosten; Andreas Zapf Journal: Lancet Infect Dis Date: 2020-05-15 Impact factor: 25.071
Authors: Song Tang; Yixin Mao; Rachael M Jones; Qiyue Tan; John S Ji; Na Li; Jin Shen; Yuebin Lv; Lijun Pan; Pei Ding; Xiaochen Wang; Youbin Wang; C Raina MacIntyre; Xiaoming Shi Journal: Environ Int Date: 2020-08-07 Impact factor: 9.621
Authors: Swapna Mandal; Joseph Barnett; Simon E Brill; Jeremy S Brown; Emma K Denneny; Samanjit S Hare; Melissa Heightman; Toby E Hillman; Joseph Jacob; Hannah C Jarvis; Marc C I Lipman; Sindhu B Naidu; Arjun Nair; Joanna C Porter; Gillian S Tomlinson; John R Hurst Journal: Thorax Date: 2020-11-10 Impact factor: 9.139
Authors: Roxanne Weiss; Andreas Loth; Daniela Guderian; Marc Diensthuber; Volkhard Kempf; Daniel Hack; Sabine Wicker; Sandra Ciesek; Jürgen Graf; Timo Stöver; Martin Leinung Journal: Laryngorhinootologie Date: 2020-05-28 Impact factor: 1.057