A cluster of health care workers with COVID-19 pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2

• Published in: Journal of microbiology, immunology and infection Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 54 - 60
• Main Authors: Wei, Xiao-Shan, Wang, Xiao-Rong, Zhang, Jian-Chu, Yang, Wei-Bing, Ma, Wan-Li, Yang, Bo-Han, Jiang, Nan-Chuan, Gao, Zhan-Cheng, Shi, Huan-Zhong, Zhou, Qiong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 01.02.2021; Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; COVID-19; COVID-19 - diagnosis; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - therapy; Cross Infection - diagnosis; Cross Infection - epidemiology; Cross Infection - therapy; Disease Hotspot; Female; Health care workers; Health Personnel; Humans; Infection Control; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Neurosurgery; Occupational Diseases - diagnosis; Occupational Diseases - epidemiology; Occupational Diseases - therapy; Original; Prospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Surgery Department, Hospital; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; COVID-19; Health care workers; SARS-CoV-2
• ISSN: 1684-1182; 1995-9133; 1995-9133
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmii.2020.04.013

The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, Hubei, China, spreads across national and international borders. We prospectively collected medical records of 14 health care workers (HCWs) who were infected with SARS-CoV-2, in neurosurgery department of Wuhan Union Hospital, China. Among the 14 HCWs, 12 were conformed cases, the other 2 were suspected cases. Most of them were either exposed to the two index patients or infected coworkers, without knowing they were COVID-19 patients. There were 4 male and 10 female infected HCWs in this cohort, whose mean age was 36 years (SD, 6 years). The main symptoms included myalgia or fatigue (100%), fever (86%) and dry cough (71%). On admission, 79% of infected HCWs showed leucopenia and 43% lymphopenia. Reduced complement C3 could be seen in 57% of the infected HCWs and IL-6 was significantly elevated in 86% of them. The proportion of lymphocytes subsets, concentrations of immunoglobulins, complement C4, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, TNF-α and IFN-γ were within normal range in these 14 infected HCWs. The most frequent findings on pulmonary computed tomographic images were bilateral multifocal ground-glass opacifications (86%). Human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 pneumonia has occurred among HCWs, and most of these infected HCWs with confirmed COVID-19 are mild cases. Our data suggest that in the epidemic area of COVID-19, stringent and urgent surveillance and infection-control measures should be implemented to protect doctors and nurses from COVID-19 infection.