New Corona "Cluster" Hospital with 27 Infected Patients Why was it spread July 3 19:19

Kitakyushu General Hospital in Kitakyushu City, where 27 people including doctors and patients were infected by a new cluster of coronaviruses. Why has hospital infection spread so far?

According to the hospital, a male patient in her 80s was rushed to the hospital on May 22nd. The man suddenly complained that he had difficulty breathing, and he knew that he had pneumothorax with air leaking from his lungs, but he did not have a fever, and CT scan showed no suspicion of new coronavirus.

In Kitakyushu, no community-acquired infection was confirmed at the time, and the man was subsequently admitted to an ICU in a shared room with another patient. Then, because he had to perform lung surgery, the hospital decided to carry out a PCR test and took a sample just in case.

However, no results were obtained immediately, and the positive result was found 2 days after the sample was collected. It was after the surgery had already been done.

The hospital conducted PCR tests on 167 concentrated contacts, including doctors and nurses who deal with male patients at ICU, and patients who were in the same room as men. Then infection was confirmed one after another.

Infection was confirmed in
5 doctors,
10 nurses,
6 radiologists,
1 rehabilitation staff
, and 5 patients, including men.
There were no symptoms at that time.

The infected doctor said, "I was surprised because the patient had no symptoms of being suspected to be infected with the novel coronavirus. I was frightened when I thought I had become infected with someone because I knew that I was infected. There are many things I don't understand, and it's a really scary disease."

Hospitals were forced to restrict medical treatment such as outpatient care and hospitalization, disinfect the hospital and review infection control measures.

As a result of examining the background, I thought that the fact that I was able to deal with the infection without noticing it caused the nosocomial infection.

For this reason, we decided to carry out a virus test on all persons who have been transported to the emergency department, those who have a fever outpatient, and those who are newly admitted.

As a result of implementing the measures, no new infected persons appeared on June 1, and medical treatment such as emergency and outpatient treatment was restarted from mid June.

Naoki Nagata, head of the Kitakyushu General Hospital, said, "The scary part of this disease is that some people are infected even if there is no new coronary symptom. The fact that the virus was brought into the hospital without realizing it led to a cluster. I felt that how to prevent such cases brought in was the key to infection control."

Preventing recurrence by antigen testing for all patients

At Kitakyushu General Hospital, we are trying to prevent recurrence by conducting an antigen test on all hospitalized and emergency patients, taking lessons learned from nosocomial infections.

The nosocomial infection was triggered by the emergency transfer to a hospital of a patient who had no symptoms of suspected new coronavirus.

For this reason, in principle, all patients who are sent to the emergency department or who are going to a fever outpatient should undergo an antigen test, and patients who are hospitalized should also have their body temperature measured from 1 week before the day of admission. It came to be implemented.

The antigen test is a simple test that takes a sample of the back of the nose with a cotton swab and obtains the result in about 30 minutes using a kit, and can be performed at the discretion of the doctor. About 600 patients have been tested in about one month since May 29.

The hospital wants to prevent the spread of the infection without noticing it by thoroughly conducting an antigen test even for patients who do not have the symptoms of suspected new coronavirus.

Naoki Nagata, head of the Kitakyushu General Hospital, said, "As the fight against the new coronavirus continues, we will perform thorough examinations in order to provide medical care with the safety of medical staff and patients as the first priority. I think that is the number one”.