Open AccessHealthcare workers & SARS-CoV-2 infection in India: A case-control investigation in the time of COVID-19
Author(s) -
Pranab Chatterjee,
Tanu Anand,
Kh Jitenkumar Singh,
Reeta Rasaily,
Ravinder Singh,
Santasabuj Das,
Harpreet Singh,
Ira Praharaj,
Raman Gangakhedkar,
Balram Bhargava,
Samiran Panda
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of medical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 87
ISSN - 0971-5916
DOI - 10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_2234_20
Subject(s) - medicine , odds ratio , personal protective equipment , confidence interval , infection control , odds , case control study , hydroxychloroquine , covid-19 , emergency medicine , environmental health , intensive care medicine , logistic regression , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at an elevated risk of contracting COVID-19. While intense occupational exposure associated with aerosol-generating procedures underlines the necessity of using personal protective equipment (PPE) by HCWs, high-transmission efficiency of the causative agent [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)] could also lead to infections beyond such settings. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a repurposed antimalarial drug, was empirically recommended as prophylaxis by the National COVID-19 Task Force in India to cover such added risk. Against this background, the current investigation was carried out to identify the factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs in the country.