key: cord-0805513-pypch3d7
authors: Ria Sayo, Ana; Grace M. Balinas, Ellen; Verona, Jeffrey A.; Marie G. Villanueva, Annavi; Myat Han, Su; Suzuki, Jack; Ariyoshi, Koya; Smith, Chris; Solante, Rontgene M.
title: COVID-19 screening on a tuberculosis ward in Manila, the Philippines
date: 2020-05-30
journal: J Clin Tuberc Other Mycobact Dis
DOI: 10.1016/j.jctube.2020.100167
sha: 90bd7a54e91df8cb601bbdab5fab1bf0e06059ad
doc_id: 805513
cord_uid: pypch3d7

nan

Article title COVID-19 screening on a tuberculosis ward in Manila, the Philippines Running title People with co-morbidities such as tuberculosis (TB) or other chronic lung disease are at increased risk of severe COVID-19, including requirement for intensive care and mechanical ventilation. 1 The Philippines has a high burden of TB with around 1 million active cases. 2 However, little is known about the current situation regarding novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection among TB patients in the Philippines. In this brief report, we share our experience of screening healthcare workers and patients on the TB ward at San Lazaro Hospital (SLH), the national referral hospital for infectious diseases located in Manila, the Philippines.

SLH is a public hospital serving a large urban poor population with a large TB ward and high admission rates of TB patients. 3 However, the number of inpatients reduced from 107 in January 15, 2020 to 35 in April 23, 2020 primarily due to 2 reasons -fear of contracting COVID-19 in SLH, and the inability to enter Manila for hospital consults due to the enhanced community quarantine, which began on March 15. The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were managed at SLH in late January 2020. 4 infection on the TB ward. In addition to standard infection control practices, we feel that enhanced screening of patients will enable prompt detection of a cluster to enable early isolation of cases. Screening of healthcare workers provides reassurance in the case of negative tests. The second challenge relates to maintaining high-quality uninterrupted TB care. Inpatient numbers have fallen and part of the reason may be that patients want to avoid hospitals where COVID-19 patients are treated. In this case, patients need to be adequately followed up and feel confident to be admitted to hospital if required.

In conclusion, it is reassuring that at this time, we found no evidence of a COVID-19 infection cluster on the TB ward at San Lazaro Hospital. However, as the number of cases continued to increase in the Philippines, continued vigilance is required.

Active or latent tuberculosis increases susceptibility to COVID-19 and disease severity

It's time to end TB in the Philippines

Mid-upper arm circumference predicts death in adult patients admitted to a TB ward in the Philippines: A prospective cohort study

Philippines: a case report

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. RITM confirmatory testing solely for COVID-19 PUIs -DOH

Writing -Original Draft, Conceptualization Ellen Grace M. Balinas: Data Curation, Resources Jeffrey A. Verona: Data Curation, Resources Annavi Marie G. Villanueva: Writing -Review and Editing, Investigation Su Myat Han: Writing -Review and Editing, Investigation Jack Suzuki: Project administration Koya Ariyoshi: Conceptualization, Writing -Review and Editing Chris Smith: Writing -Review and Editing, Conceptualization Rontgene M. Solante: Supervision, Conceptualization

We are grateful to the healthcare workers on the San Lazaro Hospital TB ward and epidemiology team for providing additional data shown in this article under the challenging circumstances of COVID-19

We declare no conflicts of interest