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Asymptomatic carriers with covid-19 among healthcare workers in Isfahan, Iran

Hamed Fakhim

 The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused in a recent outbreak of viral pneumonia in China and spread quickly in many countries. Health care workers (HCWs) safety with asymptomatic carriers and mild infection is essential in a pandemic COVID-19 infection due to prevent onward transmission to patients and colleagues, and targeted infection prevention and control measures may decrease the risk of healthcare-associated outbreaks. Here, we conducted an investigation on the prevalence of COVID-19 among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Isfahan, Iran. Screening was performed in three referral COVID-19 hospitals in Isfahan, the middle part of Iran. HCWs who worked in COVID-19 wards were voluntary rRT-PCR tested for COVID-19 infection, in accordance with the local infection control procedure. A total of 102 HCWs (69 were female) with a median age of 43 years (range 26-51 years) were screened. Twenty-one (20.5%) of HCWs had a history of suspected infection with SARS-CoV2, mostly without any symptoms (66.6%) and 6 (28.5%) suffered from relatively mild disease and one (4.7%) diagnosed with pulmonary embolism (PTE). Seven (6.8%) HCWs had fever and two (9.5%) with cough and one (4.7%) diarrhea and without lymphopenia and leukopenia during the course of illness. We provided data of asymptomatic carriers with COVID-19 infections identified from the screening of HCWs. We found that HCWs were prone to be asymptomatic form while they have a normal CT image, recommended that rRT-PCR would be essential to recognize asymptomatic infections. These findings may be used to improve national public health guidelines.