Department of Plastic Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
J Cosmet Dermatol. 2021 Feb;20(2):372-380. doi: 10.1111/jocd.13887. Epub 2020 Dec 21.
The emergence of COVID-19 has become a global health emergency. The transmissibility of the disease is of great interest to healthcare workers and scientists alike. The primary route of transmission is via respiratory droplets, but viral RNA has also been found in feces and body fluids such as urine, serum, and semen. So far, there has been no report on whether SARS-CoV-2 is present in the exudates of cutaneous lesions. This study was designed to investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 can be found in the pressure injury exudates in patients with severe COVID-19 infections.
46 critically ill COVID-19 patients who were admitted to the ICU of the Sino-French New City Branch of Tongji Hospital in Wuhan between February 4 and April 12 developed pressure injuries. 22 patients with pressure injuries had wound exudates. Wound and pharyngeal swabs of the 22 patients were collected and RT-PCRs were conducted to detect SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA.
At the time of pressure injury, 5 patients still tested positive by pharyngeal swabs, the rest of the 17 patients tested negative. However, none of the wound exudate swabs from the participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR.
Our study suggests that it is rather unlikely that COVID-19 can be transmitted via pressure injury exudates, but we still recommend standardized personal protective equipment, face shield and an additional pair of gloves when treating pressure injuries.
COVID-19 的出现已成为全球卫生紧急事件。该疾病的传染性引起了医护人员和科学家的极大关注。主要传播途径是通过呼吸道飞沫传播，但也在粪便和尿液、血清和精液等体液中的病毒 RNA 。到目前为止，尚无关于 SARS-CoV-2 是否存在于皮肤损伤渗出物中的报道。本研究旨在探讨严重 COVID-19 感染患者的压疮渗出物中是否存在 SARS-CoV-2。
2020 年 2 月 4 日至 4 月 12 日，46 名入住武汉同济医院中法新城院区 ICU 的危重症 COVID-19 患者发生压疮。22 名压疮患者有伤口渗出液。采集 22 名患者的伤口和咽拭子，进行 RT-PCR 检测 SARS-CoV-2 病毒 RNA。
发生压疮时，5 名患者咽拭子仍为阳性，其余 17 名患者咽拭子为阴性。然而，通过 RT-PCR ，所有参与者的伤口渗出液拭子均未检测到 SARS-CoV-2。
我们的研究表明，COVID-19 通过压疮渗出物传播的可能性很小，但我们仍建议在处理压疮时使用标准的个人防护设备、面罩和一副额外的手套。
