الفهرس 
Coronavirus (COVID-19)Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health problem that affects most countries of the globe, with over11 million individuals infected and about12000000 victims who lost their lives till the end of October 2020.
The outbreak was first revealed in late December 2019, when clusters of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology were found to be associated with epidemiologically linked exposure to a seafood market and untraced exposures in the city of Wuhan of Hubei province. Widespread outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID- 19 are associated with psychological distress and symptoms of mental illness.
Real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is considered the current gold-standard assessment for the diagnosis of COVID-19. However, RT-PCR is reported to have a low sensitivity with a considerable number of false-negative results, possibly necessitating those multiple tests be performed even up to five times to exclude the disease, despite the shortage of test kits in many regions all over the world. Moreover, it may take hours or even days for RT-PCR test results to be available.
The full availability of CT machines and the short examination time make CT an ideal modality to take on an emerging role in the management of COVID-19 patients and to even act as an excellent alternative to RT-PCR in some circumstances, especially in countries with limited availability of RT-PCR testing.
CT could differentiate COVID-19 from other lung infections, especially viral ones. Another advantage of CT is its ability to assess
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disease severity and progression as the volume of pneumonic involvement
of the entire lung can suggest both.
Another approach for disease diagnosis is virus isolation in cell
culture. Obtaining isolates for virus identification is important and very
valuable, but such processes require specific cell lines and culture media,
they are time- and labor-intensive, and they require equipment and
expertise. For these reasons, virus isolation is not suitable for clinical
diagnosis.
The study aimed to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of some
screening procedures as predictors of COVID-19 positivity in Egyptian
community.
This study was conducted on patients suspected of novel coronavirus
infection attending Mehalla Chest Hospital.
The main results of the study revealed that:
Age of the study population ranged from 25 – 87 years with mean
BMI was 27.55 kg/m2 and (53%) of them were females.
The 54% of the patients were diabetics, 44% of the patients were
hypertensive and 31% of the patients were smokers.
There was no significant difference between the groups regarding
age, BMI and gender.
There was a significant difference between the groups regarding
pulse, temperature and RR. however, there was no significant
difference in SBP and DBP.
There was no significant difference between the groups regarding
comorbidities.
There was a significant difference between the groups regarding D
dimer and TLC.
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There was a significant difference between the groups regarding CT findings.
CT chest was significant screening procedure with a sensitivity of 89.1% and a specificity of 75%. NPV was 37.5% and PPV was 97.6% with accuracy of 88% for predicting COVID-19 positivity.
Elevated D. dimer was a significant screening procedure with a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 75%. NPV was 35.3% and PPV was 97.6% with an accuracy of 87% for predicting COVID-19 positivity.