COVID-19 INFECTION AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN MARRAKECH, MOROCCO: PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS

Baslam Abdelmounaim, Lamrani Asma, Boussaa Samia, Soraa Nabila, El Yazouli loubna and Chait Abderrahman*

ABSTRACT

Background: Healthcare Workers(HCW) are crucial actors in the COVID pandemic, but remains at higher risk of contracting the virus and suffering its complications, while they were in contact with positive patients. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of COVID infection; and describe its clinical, epidemiological and microbiological characteristics among HCW in Marrakech region, Morocco. Methodology: the study was performed in Mohammed VI University Center, were all HCW were included, under the occupational health department a consultation was undertaken to identify suspected case according to their symptoms or close contact with a positive case. Then nasopharyngeal swab was collected from suspected cases for SARS -COV -2 detection by RT-PCR. In addition, confirmed cases completed an online questionnaire. Results: a total of 676 HCW tested positive for Sars-COV-2 between match 13th and December 5th2020, representing a prevalence of22, 22%. The most reported symptoms were: asthenia (77,9%), headache (72,9%), myalgia (61,7%). Asymptomatic rate was very low in this study (4,7%). 31,23% of positive HCW had the 3 genes of the virus: Rdrp, Nucleocapsid, and Viral Envelope. The Multivariate logistic regression showed that Covid complications, was positively associated with the HCW profile, training workshops, and comorbidity. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating COVID in HCW in Morocco, the study revealed a high prevalence rate compared to similar countries. Heavily involved in the management of patients with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-COV-2, Healthcare worker, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Risk factors, Morocco.