Ear, nose, & throat journal
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Approaches to nasal and oral decontamination with povidone-iodine (PVP-I) have been published to reduce nosocomial spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The safety of PVP-I topically applied to the nasal and oral cavity is addressed by a literature review. The specific efficacy of PVP-I against coronaviruses and its potential efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 is discussed. ⋯ Povidone-iodine can safely be used in the nose at concentrations up to 1.25% and in the mouth at concentrations up to 2.5% for up to 5 months. Povidone-iodine rapidly inactivates coronaviruses, including SARS and MERS, when applied for as little as 15 seconds. There is optimism that PVP-I can inactivate SARS-CoV-2, but in vitro efficacy has not yet been demonstrated.
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The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as been rapidly spreading worldwide. In our country, the entire Italian Healthcare System has been forced to adapt to this unprecedented condition in this century. ⋯ In this situation, the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) residents in University Hospitals find themselves in an uncertain position; we are physicians, facing a deadly disease about which much remains unknown, but we are also trainees, and there is a high risk for our residency training to be affected. With this Letter, we would like to give a testimony of our experience and give some advices to bridge the training gap.
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Based on observations described in our letter, we can draw the following conclusions: (1) anosmia must imperatively be added to the list of specific symptoms of COVID-19 infection, (2) anosmia can serve as a free and specific diagnostic tool for developing countries currently affected by the pandemic, (3) the mechanisms of COVID-19 anosmia seem not to directly involve nasal obstruction but rather seem to be related to damage the olfactory neuroepithelium.
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To investigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status of patients with initial sudden olfactory anosmia (ISOA) through nasopharyngeal swabs for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and to explore their olfactory dysfunctions with psychophysical olfactory evaluation. ⋯ Coronavirus disease 2019 was detected in a high proportion of ISOA patients, especially over the first 12 days of olfactory dysfunction. Anosmia is an important symptom to consider in the detection of COVID-19 infection.
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Letter
The Effects of the COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Outbreak on Otolaryngology Activity in Italy.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic during the first months of 2020 is causing profound changes in worldwide health care systems, resulting in a major reduction of surgical interventions and routine non-urgent outpatient diagnostic procedures. The lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, one of the most affected countries in Europe, is having severe effects on the otolaryngology medical and surgical activities. ⋯ In these cases, given the sites of action typical of the otolaryngology practice, physicians and nurses are exposed to a high risk of contagion through virus aerosol transmission. Furthermore, as the current measures of lockdown continue, it will be difficult to perform scheduled and new diagnostic assessments, medical treatments and surgical procedures in a timely manner favoring the risk of diagnostic and therapeutic delays with severe impact on patients' health.