<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Background:</bold> Healthcare Workers (HCW) represent one of the most vulnerable subject groups to be infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).<bold>Aims:</bold> Between March 2020 and May 2020, we decided to implement a surveillance programme for HCW that aimed to (1) strengthen the safety of the employees; (2) estimate the punctual prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic operators; (3) use the results to train personnel and to strengthen surveillance for applying and validating preventive strategies; and (4) compare the observed prevalence and the infection characteristics with a real-life (RL) sample from non-healthcare settings.<bold>Methods:</bold> A nasopharyngeal (NP) swab in HCW, representative of all mansions, and RL subjects was performed after informed consent signing (T0), then after 6 d ± 24 h (T1) and after 12 d ± 24 h (T2). The presence of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA was tested by commercially available real-time PCR.<bold>Results:</bold> A total of 219 HCW and 100 RL subjects were enrolled; and among all the subjects, only 1 HCW resulted positive at the swab testing throughout the study period. The positive subject was an asymptomatic nurse without any comorbidities or risk factors.<bold>Conclusions:</bold> Our experience supports the utility of implementing dedicated surveillance programmes for the HCW. The efficiency in keeping low the number of the infection, maintaining the psychological well-being of the personnel and the availability of a tool which in case of infection may allow the early identification of clusters are critical issues which encourage the planning and implementation of such programmes NIH clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04913701).</abstract>

Background: Healthcare Workers (HCW) represent one of the most vulnerable subject groups to be infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).Aims: Between March 2020 and May 2020, we decided to implement a surveillance programme for HCW that aimed to (1) strengthen the safety of the employees; (2) estimate the punctual prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic operators; (3) use the results to train personnel and to strengthen surveillance for applying and validating preventive strategies; and (4) compare the observed prevalence and the infection characteristics with a real-life (RL) sample from non-healthcare settings.Methods: A nasopharyngeal (NP) swab in HCW, representative of all mansions, and RL subjects was performed after informed consent signing (T0), then after 6 d ± 24 h (T1) and after 12 d ± 24 h (T2). The presence of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA was tested by commercially available real-time PCR.Results: A total of 219 HCW and 100 RL subjects were enrolled; and among all the subjects, only 1 HCW resulted positive at the swab testing throughout the study period. The positive subject was an asymptomatic nurse without any comorbidities or risk factors.Conclusions: Our experience supports the utility of implementing dedicated surveillance programmes for the HCW. The efficiency in keeping low the number of the infection, maintaining the psychological well-being of the personnel and the availability of a tool which in case of infection may allow the early identification of clusters are critical issues which encourage the planning and implementation of such programmes NIH clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04913701).

SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological surveillance of healthcare professionals working in an inpatient rehabilitation facility

Department of Scientific Direction, IRCCS San Raffaele Roma

Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of the Quality of Life

IRCCS San Raffaele Roma, San Raffaele Roma Open University

Laboratory of Flow Cytometry, IRCCS San Raffaele Roma

Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases

IRCCS San Raffaele Roma; Sapienza University of Rome

Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti

Department of Human Sciences and Quality of Life Promotion

Pneumologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Background: Healthcare Workers (HCW) represent one of the most vulnerable subject groups to be infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2...

SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological surveillance of healthcare professionals working in an inpatient rehabilitation facility

Publicado en línea: 28 may 2022

Páginas: 11 - 17

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pneum-2022-0004

Palabras clave
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 nucleic acid testing, healthcare workers, surveillance, prevalence, prevention

© 2021 Carlo Tomino et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological surveillance of healthcare professionals working in an inpatient rehabilitation facility

Publicado en línea: 28 may 2022

Páginas: 11 - 17

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pneum-2022-0004

Palabras claveSARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 nucleic acid testing, healthcare workers, surveillance, prevalence, prevention

© 2021 Carlo Tomino et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Palabras clave
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 nucleic acid testing, healthcare workers, surveillance, prevalence, prevention