Browsing by Author "Maharjan, Muna"
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Publication COVID-19 Diagnosed by Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction in Nasopharyngeal Specimens of Suspected Cases in a Tertiary Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study(Nepal Medical Association, 2021) Maharjan, Narayani; Thapa, Niresh; Magar, Bibek Pun; Maharjan, Muna; Tu, JianchengAbstract: Introduction: The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 pandemic is critically challenging the whole world. The real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction is the most widely used confirmatory test for COVID-19 detection. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of COVID-19 infection detected by gold standard reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test in a tertiary care center of Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Karnali Academy of Health Sciences from May to August 2020 after taking ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences, Jumla. Convenient sampling was used. A total of 361 participants enrolled in this study who have done real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction for screening of COVID-19 infection. Also, a designated questionnaire was obtained from persons with a travel history and close contact. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software was used for the statistical analysis. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: The prevalence of COVID-19 was 167 (46.3%) (95% Confidence Interval= 41.16-51.44) by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test. Out of 361 samples, 339 (93.9%) were male and 22 (6%) were female. The highest frequency of the participants belongs to the age groups of 20-40 years. Conclusions: The findings showed a high prevalence of COVID-19 detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test. Further studies are necessary to improve the precision of prevalence estimations.Publication Persistent Positivity of Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction Test among Patients with COVID-19 in Rural Teaching Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study(Nepal Medical Association, 2021) Maharjan, Narayani; Thapa, Niresh; Magar, Bibek Pun; Maharjan, Muna; Tu, JianchengAbstract: Introduction: The persistence positivity detected for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ribonucleic acid by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test in asymptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 positive patients has attracted a lot of attention. There is limited data on the duration of viral shedding. We aimed to determine the proportion of coronavirus disease patients with persistent positivity of real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test in a teaching hospital of Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using medical records from May to September 2020 in a teaching hospital of Nepal. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Committee of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (Reference no 077/078/03). Convenient sampling method was used. Data was analysed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Point estimate at 90% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Of the total 95 cases, 9 (9.5%) cases (4.6-14.4 at 90% Confidence Interval), were repeat positive after achieving the first negative. The mean day required of achieving the last negative for the repeat positive group was 62.11±3.95, range (60-70 days). The mean time duration for the virus shedding was found to be 20.43±12.19 days (range 7-60 days) after the first positive test result. Conclusions: This study concludes that there might be a persistent positivity of the polymerase chain reaction test among patients with COVID-19. The majority of the patients were test positive for 8-14 days, and some were positive till 60-70 days.