Detection of Dermatophyte between Toes of Medical Students Wearing and not Wearing Socks in Universitas Padjadjaran using Direct Microscopic Examination

Background: Dermatophytes thrive in warm, humid, and moist areas. Wearing the same socks more than A day is one predisposing factor. The aim of this study is to detect the dermatophyte between the fourth and fifth toes of medical students of Universitas Padjadjaran, who wear and do not wear socks.Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study performed in Microbiology Laboratory of Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran from September to October 2013. Direct microscopic examination using 10% Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) was performed on 50 medical students, 25 students who wear socks and 25 students who do not wear socks. The samples were taken from scraped skin between the fourth and fifth toes using the cellophane tape method. The sample size is obtained via stratified random sampling.Results: From all participants, two students (4%) showed positive result of dermatophyte hyphae and 1 student (2%) showed positive result of dermatophyte hyphae and arthrospore. Of these three students, two students wear socks and one student does not wear socks. The two students who wear socks changed their socks more than a day.Conclusions: Dermatophyte was detected in only a few medical students of Universitas Padjadjaran, who wear and do not wear socks. [AMJ.2015;2(4):480–4] DOI: 10.15850/amj.v2n4.63

Detection of Dermatophyte between Toes of Medical Students Wearing and not Wearing Socks in Universitas Padjadjaran using Direct Microscopic Examination

Background: Dermatophytes thrive in warm, humid, and moist areas. Wearing the same socks more than A day is one predisposing factor. The aim of this study is to detect the dermatophyte between the fourth and fifth toes of medical students of Universitas Padjadjaran, who wear and do not wear socks. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study performed in Microbiology Laboratory of Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran from September to October 2013. Direct microscopic examination using 10% Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) was performed on 50 medical students, 25 students who wear socks and 25 students who do not wear socks. The samples were taken from scraped skin between the fourth and fifth toes using the cellophane tape method. The sample size is obtained via stratified random sampling. Results: From all participants, two students (4%) showed positive result of dermatophyte hyphae and 1 student (2%) showed positive result of dermatophyte hyphae and arthrospore. Of these three students, two students wear socks and one student does not wear socks. The two students who wear socks changed their socks more than a day. Conclusions: Dermatophyte was detected in only a few medical students of Universitas Padjadjaran, who wear and do not wear socks

Detection of Dermatophyte between Toes of Medical Students Wearing and not Wearing Socks in Universitas Padjadjaran using Direct Microscopic Examination

Background: Dermatophytes thrive in warm, humid, and moist areas. Wearing the same socks more than A day is one predisposing factor. The aim of this study is to detect the dermatophyte between the fourth and fifth toes of medical students of Universitas Padjadjaran, who wear and do not wear socks.Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study performed in Microbiology Laboratory of Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran from September to October 2013. Direct microscopic examination using 10% Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) was performed on 50 medical students, 25 students who wear socks and 25 students who do not wear socks. The samples were taken from scraped skin between the fourth and fifth toes using the cellophane tape method. The sample size is obtained via stratified random sampling.Results: From all participants, two students (4%) showed positive result of dermatophyte hyphae and 1 student (2%) showed positive result of dermatophyte hyphae and arthrospore. Of these three students, two students wear socks and one student does not wear socks. The two students who wear socks changed their socks more than a day.Conclusions: Dermatophyte was detected in only a few medical students of Universitas Padjadjaran, who wear and do not wear socks. [AMJ.2015;2(4):480–4] DOI: 10.15850/amj.v2n4.63

Implementation of a COVID-19 surveillance programme for healthcare workers in a teaching hospital in an upper-middle-income country.

IntroductionThe reporting of Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) mortality among healthcare workers highlights their vulnerability in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Some low- and middle-income countries have highlighted the challenges with COVID-19 testing, such as inadequate capacity, untrained laboratory personnel, and inadequate funding. This article describes the components and implementation of a healthcare worker surveillance programme in a designated COVID-19 teaching hospital in Malaysia. In addition, the distribution and characteristics of healthcare workers placed under surveillance are described.Material and methodsA COVID-19 healthcare worker surveillance programme was implemented in University Malaya Medical Centre. The programme involved four teams: contact tracing, risk assessment, surveillance and outbreak investigation. Daily symptom surveillance was conducted over fourteen days for healthcare workers who were assessed to have low-, moderate- and high-risk of contracting COVID-19. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted for data collected over 24 weeks, from the 6th of March 2020 to the 20th of August 2020.ResultsA total of 1,174 healthcare workers were placed under surveillance. The majority were females (71.6%), aged between 25 and 34 years old (64.7%), were nursing staff (46.9%) and had no comorbidities (88.8%). A total of 70.9% were categorised as low-risk, 25.7% were moderate-risk, and 3.4% were at high risk of contracting COVID-19. One-third (35.2%) were symptomatic, with the sore throat (23.6%), cough (19.8%) and fever (5.0%) being the most commonly reported symptoms. A total of 17 healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19, with a prevalence of 0.3% among all the healthcare workers. Risk category and presence of symptoms were associated with a positive COVID-19 test (pConclusionCOVID-19 symptom surveillance and risk-based assessment have merits to be included in a healthcare worker surveillance programme to safeguard the health of the workforce