Gade Neeta, Nag Soumyabrata, Mishra Meena, Akkilagunta Sujiv, Shete Vishal, Bidkar Vijay, Shendre Pooja, Patil Divya
Department of Microbiology, AIIMS, Nagpur, India.
Department of Community Medicine, AIIMS, Nagpur, India.
Access Microbiol. 2022 Mar 4;4(3):000330. doi: 10.1099/acmi.0.000330. eCollection 2022.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic emerged as a global health crisis in 2020. The first case in India was reported on 30 January 2020 and the disease spread throughout the country within months. Old persons, immunocompromised patients and persons with co-morbidities, especially of the respiratory system, have a more severe and often fatal outcome to the disease. In this study we have analysed the socio-demographic trend of the COVID-19 outbreak in Nagpur and adjoining districts. The study was conducted from April to December 2020. Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs collected from suspected cases of COVID-19 were tested using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at a diagnostic molecular laboratory at a tertiary care hospital in central India. Patient-related data on demographic profile and indication for testing were obtained from laboratory requisition forms. The results of the inconclusive repeat samples were also noted. The data were analysed using SPSS v24.0. A total of 46 898 samples were received from April to December 2020, of which 41 410 were included in the study; 90.6 % of samples belonged to adults and 9.4 % belonged to children. The overall positivity rate in the samples was 19.3 %, although it varied over the period. The yield was significantly high in the elderly age group (25.5 %) and symptomatic patients (22.6 %). On repeat testing of patients whose first test was inconclusive, 17.1% were positive. There was a steady increase of both the number of tests and the rate of positivity in the initial period of the study, followed by a sharp decline. We can conclude that rigorous contact tracing and COVID-appropriate behaviour (wearing a mask, social distancing and hand hygiene) are required to break the chain of transmission. Elderly people are more susceptible to infection and should follow stringent precautions. It is also important to perform repeat testing of those individuals whose tests are inconclusive with fresh samples so that no positive cases are missed. Understanding of demographics is crucial for better management of this crisis and proper allocation of resources.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行于2020年演变成一场全球健康危机。印度于2020年1月30日报告了首例病例，该病在数月内蔓延至全国。老年人、免疫功能低下患者以及患有合并症（尤其是呼吸系统合并症）的人感染该疾病后，病情往往更为严重，甚至常导致死亡。在本研究中，我们分析了那格浦尔及周边地区COVID-19疫情的社会人口趋势。该研究于2020年4月至12月进行。从COVID-19疑似病例采集的鼻咽拭子和口咽拭子，在印度中部一家三级护理医院的诊断分子实验室使用逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）进行检测。有关患者人口统计学特征和检测指征的相关数据，从实验室申请表格中获取。还记录了不确定重复样本的结果。使用SPSS v24.0对数据进行分析。2020年4月至12月共收到46898份样本，其中41410份纳入研究；90.6%的样本属于成年人，9.4%属于儿童。样本的总体阳性率为19.3%，不过在这期间有所变化。老年年龄组（25.5%）和有症状患者（22.6%）的检出率显著较高。对首次检测结果不确定的患者进行重复检测时，17.1%呈阳性。在研究初期，检测数量和阳性率均稳步上升，随后急剧下降。我们可以得出结论，需要进行严格的接触者追踪和采取符合COVID防控要求的行为（佩戴口罩、保持社交距离和手部卫生）来阻断传播链。老年人更容易感染，应采取严格的预防措施。对检测结果不确定的个体用新样本进行重复检测也很重要，以免漏诊阳性病例。了解人口统计学特征对于更好地应对这场危机和合理分配资源至关重要。
