Endoscopic intervention in a case proven latterly to be a COVID-19

Elkholy, Shaimaa; Wifi, Mohamed-Naguib; Maurice, Karim K.; Youssif, Kerolos; Mashhour, Karim; Mashhour, Shady N.; Nabil, Ahmed; Abdellatif, Abeer Awad

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the newly developed worldwide outbreak of coronavirus disease with a high rate of mortality especially among elderly and multiple co-morbid personnel. Asymptomatic COVID-19-infected patients are a well-known source of transmission of infection. The risk of exposure to respiratory secretions and/or feces is hardly avoidable during the endoscopic procedure; also, the aerosol and droplets take up to an hour disperse, so they remain a risk to staff and other patients after they leave the room; therefore, strict infectious precautions should be taken by all health care workers to limit the virus spread. MAIN BODY: We present an endoscopic trial of duodenal stent insertion in non-operable gastric carcinoma that is proven 2 days later to be a COVID-19-positive case. Fortunately, no one of the health care workers that came in contact with the case becomes infected owing to the proper infection control measures. CONCLUSION: We recommended that the endoscopy examination and procedures should be strictly limited to urgent cases to minimize the risk of virus infection among health care workers.