ARCHIVES OF IRANIAN MEDICINE
Year:2020 | Volume:23 | Issue:4|Papers Count:16

The 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China has since spread across the world. Iran has one of the fastest doubling rates for SARS-CoV-2 infection and hence a high rate of morbidity and mortality for CIVD-19. The Health Care Networks of the Islamic Republic of Iran (HCNIR)1, 2 played a major role for control of epidemic in Iran.....

Background: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a global pandemic. Starting in December 2019 from China, the first cases were officially announced on February 19 in Qom city, Iran. As of April 3, 2020, 206 countries have reported a total of 932 166 cases with 46 764 deaths. Along with China, USA, Italy, Spain, and Germany, Iran has been suffering the hardest burden of COVID-19 outbreak. Worse still, countries like Iran are struggling with the double burden of political sanctions to provide lifesaving medical equipment and medicines to combat the emergency. Methods: Using systematic document content analysis and through the lenses of health policy triangle, this article aims to compare the policies and strategies that Iran is adopting, with the experience and recommendations of China and WHO to combat COVID-19. Results: Iran has formulated contextual-based policies to combat COVID-19 outbreak before and after virus entrance. Insufficient whole-government, whole-society approach in managing the outbreak, inadequate lifesaving and protective equipment, and delayed decisive governance are the biggest challenges in policy making to combat COVID-19. COVID-19 policies are a public health concern and require professional advocacy attempts through appropriate inter-sectoral collaboration and whole-government coalitions. Conclusion: COVID-19 is an unfolding outbreak; hence, policy learning is crucial to formulate appropriate policies and implement them accordingly. Iran has made many efforts to defeat the outbreak, but more coherent, timely and efficient action is required, now, more than ever, to save lives and slow the spread of this pandemic.

Background: Coronavirus, the cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome (COVID-19), is rapidly spreading around the world. Since the number of corona positive patients is increasing sharply in Iran, this study aimed to forecast the number of newly infected patients in the coming days in Iran. Methods: The data used in this study were obtained from daily reports of the Iranian Ministry of Health and the datasets provided by the Johns Hopkins University including the number of new infected cases from February 19, 2020 to March 21, 2020. The autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was applied to predict the number of patients during the next thirty days. Results: The ARIMA model forecasted an exponential increase in the number of newly detected patients. The result of this study also show that if the spreading pattern continues the same as before, the number of daily new cases would be 3574 by April 20. Conclusion: Since this disease is highly contagious, health politicians need to make decisions to prevent its spread; otherwise, even the most advanced and capable health care systems would face problems for treating all infected patients and a substantial number of deaths will become inevitable.

Background: In late December 2019, a viral pneumonia known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) originated from China and spread very rapidly in the world. Since then, COVID-19 has become a global concern and health problem. Methods: We present four patients in this study, selected from among patients who presented with pneumonia symptoms and were suspicious for COVID-19. They were referred to the intended centers for COVID-19 diagnosis and management of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in southern Iran. Two nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal throat swab samples were collected from each patient and tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) using real-time reverse-transcriptase– polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR). The samples were also tested for influenza viruses and the complete respiratory panel. Results: In the present report, four patients were diagnosed in the starting days of COVID-19 disease in our center in southern Iran with co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus. Conclusion: This co-infection of COVID-19 and influenza A highlights the importance of considering SARS-CoV-2 PCR assay regardless of other positive findings for other pathogens in the primary test during the epidemic.

Background: The rapid spread of COVID-19 virus from China to other countries and outbreaks of disease require an epidemiological analysis of the disease in the shortest time and an increased awareness of effective interventions. The purpose of this study was to estimate the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran based on the SIR model. The results of the analysis of the epidemiological data of Iran from January 22 to March 24, 2020 were investigated and prediction was made until April 15, 2020. Methods: By estimating the three parameters of time-dependent transmission rate, time-dependent recovery rate, and time-dependent death rate from Covid-19 outbreak in China, and using the number of Covid-19 infections in Iran, we predicted the number of patients for the next month in Iran. Each of these parameters was estimated using GAM models. All analyses were conducted in R software using the mgcv package. Results: Based on our predictions of Iran about 29 000 people will be infected from March 25 to April 15, 2020. On average, 1292 people with COVID-19 are expected to be infected daily in Iran. The epidemic peaks within 3 days (March 25 to March 27, 2020) and reaches its highest point on March 25, 2020 with 1715 infected cases. Conclusion: The most important point is to emphasize the timing of the epidemic peak, hospital readiness, government measures and public readiness to reduce social contact.

Background: Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) began its journey around the world. Medical students, as frontline healthcare workers, are more susceptible to be infected by the virus. The aim of this study was to assess COVID-19 related knowledge, self-reported preventive behaviors and risk perception among Iranian medical students within the first week after the onset of the outbreak in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 26th to 28th of February, 2020. Participants were Iranian medical students (5th-7th year) whose knowledge, preventive behaviors and risk perceptions of COVID-19 were assessed using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 26 questions including 15 items about COVID-19 related knowledge, 9 items regarding preventive measures and 2 items about COVID-19 risk perception. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were shown to be satisfactory. Results: A total of 240 medical students completed the questionnaire. The mean age of participants was 23. 67 years. The average of correct answers of knowledge was 86. 96%; and 79. 60% had high level of related knowledge. The average rate of practicing preventive behaviors was 94. 47%; and 94. 2% had high level of performance in preventive behaviors. The cumulative score of risk perception was 4. 08 out of 8 which was in moderate range. Risk perception was significantly different between stagers and interns and between those being trained in emergency room (ER) and non-ER wards. There was a significant negative correlation between preventive behaviors and risk perception. Conclusion: We found a high level of COVID-19 related knowledge and self-reported preventive behaviors and moderate risk perception among Iranian medical students.

On March 11th 2020, the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic by the WHO. One of the groups that is considered high risk in this pandemic are cancer patients as they are treated with a variety of immune system suppressor treatment modalities and this puts them in a great risk for infectious disease (including COVID-19). Therefore, cancer patients require higher level measures for preventing and treating infectious diseases. furthermore, cancer patients may bear additional risk due to the restriction of access to the routine diagnostic and therapeutic services during such epidemic. Since most of the attention of health systems is towards patients affected with COVID-19, the need for structured and unified approaches to COVID-19 prevention and care specific to cancer patients and cancer centers is felt more than ever. This article provides the recommendations and possible actions that should be considered by patients, their caregivers and families, physician, nurses, managers and staff of medical centers involved in cancer diagnosis and treatment. We pursued two major goals in our recommendations: first, limiting the exposure of cancer patients to medical environments and second, modifying the treatment modalities in a manner that reduces the probability of myelosuppression such as delaying elective diagnostic and therapeutic services, shortening the treatment course, or prolonging the interval between treatment courses.

On January 23, 2020, the Chinese government announced the city lockdown of Wuhan. Since then, there have been controversial debates among experts about the efficacy of mass quarantine, the oldest and probably one of the most effective methods for controlling infectious disease outbreaks. The impact of health policymaking section of health system governance becomes visible to all stakeholders and the public in such emergency contexts. The success and failure of such policies should be evaluated in order to find the proper course of action for the local and international communities. In this review, we aim to investigate the efficacy of mass quarantine in China during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We found good quality evidence for the effectiveness of mass quarantine during the current stage of COVID-19 pandemic, and these strategies seem to have been highly effective in controlling the spread of the disease.

Since December 2019, there has been an outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in Wuhan, China. Meanwhile, the outbreak also drew attention and concern from the World Health Organization (WHO). COVID-19 is another human infectious disease caused by coronavirus. The transmission of COVID-19 is potent and the infection rate is fast. Since there is no specific drug for COVID-19, the treatment is mainly symptomatic supportive therapy. In addition, it should be pointed out that patients with severe illness need more aggressive treatment and meticulous care. Recently, accurate RNA detection has been decisive for the diagnosis of COVID-19. The development of highly sensitive RT-PCR has facilitated epidemiological studies that provide insight into the prevalence, seasonality, clinical manifestations and course of COVID-19 infection. In this review, we summarize the epidemiology and characteristics of COVID-19.

Report: Improved Early Recognition of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19): Single-Center Data from a Shanghai Screening Hospital

A recent outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, was caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). There have been some reports of imaging findings regarding the disease’ s characteristic features. Here, we report three cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with dynamic pulmonary CT evaluation. The CT scan showed multiple regions of ground-glass opacities and patchy consolidation in COVID-19 patients and the CT scan was useful in tracking the progression or regression of COVID-19.

With an exponential increase in the number of individuals affected worldwide, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic has become a significant threat to the global economy and public health. 1-2 In an attempt to contain the outbreak, and in line with the WHO recommendations, about 50 million people were quarantined in China. 3 While institution of quarantine was inevitable, mental health needs of the quarantined populations should not be overlooked.....

The evidence and statistics published daily indicate that the prevalence rate of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is increasing in Iran. 1 Although no studies have been conducted in this regard, it seems that the level of anxiety among Iranian population is very high due to the outbreak of COVID-19....

Less than two months after the detection and spread of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the disease has spread to other countries. As of March 9, more than 100, 000 people around the world have been infected with the disease and unfortunately, about 3800 people have died. However, this situation may continue for an indefinite period of time. In Iran, following the identification and announcement of the first cases of the disease on February 20, the status of becoming infected and dying from COVID-19 has been on the rise. In spite of all the efforts of various medical groups managed by the Ministry of Health of the Islamic Republic of Iran, during the last 19 days )until this writing(, we have witnessed nearly 6600 cases of infection and nearly 200 deaths....

Dear Editor, Shortly following the diagnosis of the so-called COVID-19 on December, 31 in the first Chinese patient and its viral spread, Iran was one of the first countries to be stricken by the epidemic. 1, 2 The sudden emergence of the epidemic, the unknown nature of the disease and its viral spread quickly burdened the health care system of the country. 3 Shortage of hospital beds for an overwhelming number of patients, low supply of diagnostic polymerase chain reaction kits, people’ s panic and the soaring number of cases among the health care personnel in low supply of protective gear further added to the complexity of the management challenge of the situation.....

Dental School from 1969 to 1971. 2 He retired after more than four decades but continued his scientific and social activities until the end of his fruitful life. 3In summary, he played various effective academic, administrative and social roles. Added to treatment of patients and performing maxillofacial operations, he taught many dentistry students and residents, and wrote over 60 scientific articles in domestic and international journals. The Journal of Oral Pathology and Oral Surgery was founded in 1965 by Professor Yazdi. . . .