Assessment of COVID-19 infection burden and its impact on the diagnosis of febrile illness among patients receiving health care in three hospitals in Ghana

March 19,2022 | Ongoing Project | Reading time: 6 min

Investigators

Dr. Kwaku Poku Asante, Dr. Nicholas Amoako, Dr. Patrick Ansah, Dr. John E. O. Williams

Background
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a febrile respiratory illness and has been described as one of the biggest pandemics of all time. Apart from its direct effects on mortality, it also impacts on the diagnosis and management of acute febrile illnesses (AFI) including malaria due to overlap in clinical presentation and diagnostic challenges. Conflicting reports about burden and predisposing risk factors of COVID-19 is well known and non-availability of simple point of care test to discriminate COVID-19 from diseases presenting with similar symptoms usually result in a significant delay in the diagnoses and management of other AFI.

This study seeks to employ a combination of laboratory and clinical methods to differentially diagnose the disease-causing pathogens in febrile patients in a cross-sectional survey, to determine the COVID-19 infection burden and associated co-morbidities, as well as the predisposing risk factors among febrile patients seeking treatment from in three selected hospitals across Ghana.

Objectives

To determine the burden of COVID-19 among febrile patients and assess how the current management of COVID-19 impacts on the diagnosis of acute febrile illness (AFIs)

Methodology
This cross-sectional study is taking place in three hospitals located in three geographically distinct localities with different disease burden in Ghana, namely the Kintampo Municipal hospital, Kintampo in the Bono East region, War memorial hospital in Navrongo in the Upper East region and Shai Osudoku District Hospital, Dodowa in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The study is recruiting individual of all age and sexes (except newly born babies or neonates) and having fever (axillary temperature >37.5oC). Every participant is tested for COVID-19 using RDT and PCR and malaria by microscopy and malaria RDT. Clinical and demographic data is collected using RedCap and all diagnosis made are documented

Expected Outcome
This seeks to determine prevalence of coronavirus of COVID-19 infections, hospitalization rate and deaths as burden of COVID-19 and create a database of COVID-19 comorbidities and outline predisposing risk factors that lead to severity of COVID-19. The performance of the three COVID- 19 RDTs would have been determined and recommendation made to the Ghanaian health authorities for point of care testing. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the differential diagnosis of AFIs would be documented.

Collaborators:
Kintampo Health Research Centre (lead institution), Navrongo Health Research Centre and Dodowa Health Research Centre

Funders:
Ministry of Health-Ghana