Molecular Biology Center, University of Central America, UCA, Managua, Nicaragua.
Nicaraguan Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee on COVID-19, Managua, Nicaragua.
PLoS One. 2021 Jan 27;16(1):e0246084. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246084. eCollection 2021.
The Nicaraguan COVID-19 situation is exceptional for Central America. The government restricts testing and testing supplies, and the true extent of the coronavirus crisis remains unknown. Dozens of deaths have been reported among health-care workers. However, statistics on the crisis' effect on health-care workers and their risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 are lacking. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in health-care workers and to examine correlations with risk factors such as age, sex and comorbidities. Study participants (N = 402, median age 38.48 years) included physicians, nurses and medical assistants, from public and private hospitals, independent of symptom presentation. SARS-CoV-2 was detected on saliva samples using the loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay. A questionnaire was employed to determine subjects' COVID-19-associated symptoms and their vulnerability to complications from risk factors such as age, sex, professional role and comorbidities. The study was performed five weeks into the exponential growth period in Nicaragua. We discovered that 30.35% of health-care workers participating in our study had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. A large percentage (54.92%) of those who tested positive were asymptomatic and were still treating patients. Nearly 50% of health-care workers who tested positive were under 40, an astonishing 30.33% reported having at least one comorbidity. In our study, sex and age are important risk factors for the probability of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 with significance being greatest among those between 30 and 40 years of age. In general, being male resulted in higher risk. Our data are the first non-governmental data obtained in Nicaragua. They shed light on several important aspects of COVID-19 in an underdeveloped nation whose government has implemented a herd-immunity strategy, while lacking an adequate healthcare system and sufficient PPE for health-care workers. These data are important for creating policies for containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
尼加拉瓜的 COVID-19 情况在中美洲是特殊的。政府限制检测和检测用品，冠状病毒危机的真实程度仍不得而知。据报道，数十名医护人员死亡。然而，缺乏关于危机对医护人员的影响及其感染 SARS-CoV-2 的风险的统计数据。我们旨在估计医护人员中 SARS-CoV-2 感染的患病率，并研究年龄、性别和合并症等危险因素的相关性。研究参与者（N=402，中位数年龄 38.48 岁）包括来自公共和私人医院的医生、护士和医疗助理，无论症状表现如何。使用环介导等温扩增检测法在唾液样本中检测 SARS-CoV-2。使用问卷确定研究对象的 COVID-19 相关症状以及他们因年龄、性别、职业角色和合并症等危险因素而发生并发症的脆弱性。该研究是在尼加拉瓜指数增长期的第五周进行的。我们发现，参与我们研究的 30.35%的医护人员感染了 SARS-CoV-2。很大一部分（54.92%）检测呈阳性的人无症状，仍在治疗患者。近 50%的检测呈阳性的医护人员年龄在 40 岁以下，令人惊讶的是，30.33%的人至少有一种合并症。在我们的研究中，性别和年龄是 SARS-CoV-2 检测呈阳性的重要危险因素，30 至 40 岁之间的人患病风险最高。一般来说，男性的风险更高。我们的数据是尼加拉瓜首次获得的非政府数据。它们揭示了 COVID-19 在一个实施群体免疫策略的欠发达国家的几个重要方面，而该国缺乏足够的医疗保健系统和足够的个人防护设备（PPE）供医护人员使用。这些数据对于制定遏制 SARS-CoV-2 传播的政策很重要。
