EXPERIENCE OF SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS-2 (SARS-COV-2) - COVID-19 AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN QUETTA, BALUCHISTAN

Objective: To share the experience of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-COVID-19 at a tertiary care hospital in Quetta, Baluchistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pathology, Combined Military Hospital Quetta, from Mar to Dec 2020. Methodology: This study included 14,741 study participants presenting to CMH Quetta with signs and symptoms of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) and others undergoing COVID-19 PCR for screening purpose. Nasopharyngeal swab collected from these study participants were tested for COVID-19 viral RNA by real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Results: Out of these 14,741 study participants, 1886 (12.7%) were found to be SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive. Among 1886 study participants, 1503 (80%) were males while 383 (20%) were females. Mean age of the study participants was 36 ± 14 years. Most frequent clinical presentations were body aches (96.5%), fever (94.1%), cough (66.8%) and loss of appetite (68.2%). Around 67 (3.5%) positive study participants were asymptomatic. Conclusion: In this study, we observed male predominance but severity of signs and symptoms among female study participants. SARS-COVID-19 caused disease with wide range of clinical spectrum and disease can be fatal as well.