Ministry of Public Health and Population, Aden, Yemen.
World Health Organization, Sana'a, Yemen.
PLoS One. 2020 Oct 29;15(10):e0241260. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241260. eCollection 2020.
Yemen was one of the last countries in the world to declare the first case of the pandemic, on 10 April 2020. Fear and concerns of catastrophic outcomes of the epidemic in Yemen were immediately raised, as the country is facing a complex humanitarian crisis. The purpose of this report is to describe the epidemiological situation in Yemen during the first 2 months of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.
We analyzed the epidemiological data from 18 February to 05 June 2020, including the 2 months before the confirmation of the first case. We included in our analysis the data from 10 out of 23 governorates of Yemen, located in southern and eastern part of the country.
A total of 469 laboratory confirmed, 552 probable and 55 suspected cases with onset of symptoms between 18 February and 5 June 2020 were reported through the surveillance system. The median age among confirmed cases was 46 years (range: 1-90 years), and 75% of the confirmed cases were male. A total of 111 deaths were reported among those with confirmed infection. The mean age among those who died was 53 years (range: 14-88 years), with 63% of deaths (n = 70) occurring in individuals under the age 60 years. A total of 268 individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were hospitalized (57%), among whom there were 95 in-hospital deaths.
The surveillance strategy implemented in the first 2 months of the SARS CoV 2 in the southern and eastern governorates of Yemen, captured mainly severe cases. The mild and moderate cases were not self-reported to the health facilities and surveillance system due to limited resources, stigma, and other barriers. The mortality appeared to be higher in individuals aged under 60 years, and most fatalities occurred in individuals who were in critical condition when they reached the health facilities. It is unclear whether the presence of other acute comorbidities contributed to the high death rate among SARS-CoV-2 cases. The findings only include the southern and eastern part of the country, which is home to 31% of the total population of Yemen, as the data from the northern part of the country was inaccessible for analysis. This makes our results not generalizable to the rest of the country.
也门是世界上最后宣布出现首例大流行病的国家之一，时间是 2020 年 4 月 10 日。由于该国正面临着复杂的人道主义危机，人们对疫情在也门可能造成灾难性后果的恐惧和担忧立即浮现。本报告的目的是描述 2020 年 2 月至 5 月期间 SARS-CoV-2 疫情在也门的流行情况。
我们分析了 2020 年 2 月 18 日至 6 月 5 日的流行病学数据，其中包括首例确诊病例前的 2 个月。我们分析了也门 23 个省中的 10 个省的数据，这些省份位于该国南部和东部。
通过监测系统报告了 2020 年 2 月 18 日至 5 月 5 日期间出现症状的 469 例实验室确诊病例、552 例可能病例和 55 例疑似病例。确诊病例的中位年龄为 46 岁（范围：1-90 岁），75%的确诊病例为男性。在确诊感染的病例中共有 111 例死亡。死亡者的平均年龄为 53 岁（范围：14-88 岁），63%（n=70）的死亡病例发生在年龄 60 岁以下的人群中。共有 268 例确诊的 SARS-CoV-2 感染患者住院（57%），其中有 95 例住院死亡。
在也门南部和东部省份实施的 SARS-CoV-2 监测策略在最初的 2 个月内主要捕获了重症病例。由于资源有限、污名化和其他障碍，轻症和中度病例未向医疗机构和监测系统自行报告。死亡率似乎在 60 岁以下人群中更高，大多数死亡病例发生在到达医疗机构时病情已经危急的人群中。尚不清楚其他急性合并症的存在是否导致 SARS-CoV-2 病例的高死亡率。这些发现仅包括也门总人口的 31%的南部和东部地区，由于北部地区的数据无法获取进行分析，因此我们的结果不具有普遍性。
