Nurse infected with Covid-19 from a provisional dengue patient

Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Dec;9(1):1354-1355. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1775131.

Abstract

We report a 35-year-old female nurse who possibly received the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the blood sampling of a 35-year-old male patient initially suspected as a dengue infection. The patient had mild thrombocytopenia and positive dengue IgG and IgM whereas the clinicians were not aware of the possibility of false-positive dengue serology revealed in the published case report from Singapore. The nurse put on a pair of gloves but did not wear a mask during the only encounter with this patient. This nosocomial transmission raised a safety concern among healthcare professionals in an area with a relatively low Covid-19 prevalence, especially when the clinical and laboratory characteristics could be confused with other viral infections.

Keywords: Covid-19; SARS-CoV-2; dengue; nosocomial infection; personal protective equipment.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Letter

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Betacoronavirus / pathogenicity*
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques / methods
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / transmission*
  • Dengue / diagnosis
  • Dengue / virology
  • Dengue Virus / pathogenicity
  • Dengue Virus / physiology
  • Diagnostic Errors*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional*
  • Male
  • Nurse Practitioners
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral / transmission*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Thailand