The COVID-19 pandemic has brought countries’ health services into sharp focus. It was drawn to our group’s attention that healthcare workers (HCWs) had a lower mortality rate against higher COVID-19 incidence compared to the general population in Turkey. Since risk of exposure to tuberculosis bacillus among healthcare workers are higher than the population, we aimed to investigate if there is a relationship between BCG and
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
exposure history with COVID-19 severity in infected HCWs. This study was conducted with 465 infected HCWs from thirty-three hospitals to assess the relationship between COVID-19 severity (according to their hospitalization status and the presence of radiological pneumonia) and BCG and
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
exposure history. HCWs who required hospital admission had significantly higher rates of chronic diseases, radiological pneumonia, and longer working hours in the clinics. Higher rates of history of contact and care to tuberculosis patients, history of tuberculosis, and BCG vaccine were observed in hospitalized HCWs. HCWs who had radiological pneumonia had a significantly increased ratio of history of care to tuberculosis patients and a higher family history of tuberculosis. The findings from our study suggest that the lower mortality rate despite the more severe disease course seen in infected HCWs might be due to frequent exposure to tuberculosis bacillus and the mortality-reducing effects of the BCG vaccine.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease originated in the Wuhan region of China and spread all over the world. This disease typically starts as an acute viral disease, and it is characterized by lung infiltrates and elevation of inflammatory markers. The definitive diagnosis of the disease is confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results. Although majority of patients with positive PCR results had mild disease, 5 to 14% of them are severely affected. It has been reported in the literature that a significant proportion of adult patients develops virus-related complications. Lung abscess is one of these complications that is a suppurative infection with an air-fluid level greater than 2 cm in diameter on chest X-ray. Although there is usually a single cavity, it can also be multifocal. It was reported as a possible late-term complication of SARS-CoV-2. We are presenting two cases with lung abscess after SARS-CoV-2 treatment.
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