Tıp Fakültesi / Faculty of Medicine

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11727/1403

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    IgG Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 Among Healthcare Workers Who Frequently Encountered Patients with COVID-19
    (2022) Yesilagac, Hasan; Aliskan, Hikmet Eda; Gumus, Hatice Hale; Odemis, Ilker; Unsal, Zuhal Ekici; 0000-0003-2638-0163; 0000-0001-9071-9606; AAD-1638-2019; AAJ-2108-2021
    Introduction: Since the Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) first emerged in Wuhan, on 12 December 2019, it has spread rapidly across the world and developed into a pandemic. As healthcare workers are frequently in contact with Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients, they can be affected more often than the general population. In this study we aimed to investigate the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and the IgG antibody levels among healthcare workers who frequently encountered COVID-19 patients in our hospital.Materials and Methods: In total, 182 healthcare workers were identified from database and their data was retrospectively analyzed. Participants with previous PCR positivity, pregnant, autoimmune disease history or immunosuppressive treatment history were excluded. Participants were grouped depending on their frequency of contact with COVID-19 patients (high and medium risk). All the samples were tested simultaneously for anti-SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies by the ELISA method. A chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables. A t-test and an ANOVA test were carried out to where appropriate.Results: Serological testing of 182 HCWs exposed to SARS-CoV-2 patients illustrated that 13.2% of them (24 out of 182) might have experienced an asymptomatic or subclinical SARS-CoV-2 infection. High risk participants, anosmia, and ageusia were statistically significant risk factors. The rate of detection of antibody positivity among doctors (p=0.030) and patients with anosmia, and ageusia (p=0.047) were found significantly higher than the others. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 antibody ratio results were found significantly higher in the groups of high risk participants (p=0.046), patients with clinical signs (p=0.008), myalgia (p=0.039), anosmia, and ageusia (p=0.025), respectively.Conclusion: Our study showed that serological testing is useful for determining asymptomatic or subclinical infections prevelance of SARS-CoV-2 among those with close contact with COVID-19 patients. Serological tests can be helpful determining the prevelance COVID-19 infection, especially among the HCWs.
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    The Relationship Between COVID-19 Severity and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)/ Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Exposure History in Healthcare Workers: A Multi-Center Study
    (2021) Torun, Serife; Ozkaya, Sevket; Sen, Nazan; Kanat, Fikret; Karaman, Irem; Yosunkaya, Sebnem; Sengoren Dikis, Ozlem; Asan, Ali; Aydogan Eroglu, Selma; Semih Atal, Sefa; Ayten, Omer; Aksel, Nimet; Ermis, Hilal; Ozcelik, Neslihan; Demirelli, Meryem; Kara, Iskender; Sumer, Sua; Marakoglu, Kamile; Uzer, Fatih; Uyar, Yasin; Cicek, Tuba; Unsal, Zuhal E.; Vatansev, Husamettin; Botan Yildirim, Berna; Kuruoglu, Tuba; Atilla, Aynur; Ersoy, Yasemin; Kandemir, Bahar; Durduran, Yasemin; Goksin Cihan, Fatma; Demirbas, Nur; Yildirim, Fatma; Tatar, Dursun; Akcay, M. Sule; 0000-0002-6530-6153; 0000-0002-8697-4919; 34014806; ABF-1652-2021
    The COVID-19 pandemic has brought countries' health services into sharp focus. It was drawn to our group's attention that healthcare workers (HCWs) had a lower mortality rate against higher COVID-19 incidence compared to the general population in Turkey. Since risk of exposure to tuberculosis bacillus among healthcare workers are higher than the population, we aimed to investigate if there is a relationship between BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure history with COVID-19 severity in infected HCWs. This study was conducted with 465 infected HCWs from thirty-three hospitals to assess the relationship between COVID-19 severity (according to their hospitalization status and the presence of radiological pneumonia) and BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure history. HCWs who required hospital admission had significantly higher rates of chronic diseases, radiological pneumonia, and longer working hours in the clinics. Higher rates of history of contact and care to tuberculosis patients, history of tuberculosis, and BCG vaccine were observed in hospitalized HCWs. HCWs who had radiological pneumonia had a significantly increased ratio of history of care to tuberculosis patients and a higher family history of tuberculosis. The findings from our study suggest that the lower mortality rate despite the more severe disease course seen in infected HCWs might be due to frequent exposure to tuberculosis bacillus and the mortality-reducing effects of the BCG vaccine.