Abstract

Dr. S. S. V. L. Haritha*, P. Radha Kumari and R. Nageswara Rao

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) named the virus as SARS-CoV-2 and the disease as COVID-19. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has spread rapidly around the world since its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and has been declared as Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 by the Director-General of World Health Organization(WHO). covid-19 is currently global health concern resulting in increased morbidity and mortality among population. Present study aims to determine prevalence of covid-19 infection among undergraduates in medical college and to understand the risk factors for infection. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh in the month of December,2020. Data was collected from undergraduates by developing a questionnaire in Google forms. A self designed and semi structured questionnaire was developed for collection of data and the same questionnaire was created in Google forms. Questionnaire was sent to the students through respective whatsapp groups.The data was analyzed using MS EXCEL and epiinfo software. Results: Among 211 students, 36.96% (78) were tested for COVID-19. 8.5% (18) were found to be positive. 23.2% (49) were symptomatic. Among the positive patients 89% (16) were symptomatic and 11% (2) were non-symptomatic. Of those who were tested positive 22% (4) were primary contacts, 61% (11) were secondary contacts. 39%, 28%,6% had fever, cough, rhinorrhoea respectively. On an average COVID-19 positive patients suffered for 7-10 days since the onset of symptoms. 66% (12) received treatment in the hospital. Second testing was done among 72% (13) of the positive patients. Conclusion: The prevalence of COVID-19 among undergraduates (8.5%) is found to be high when compared to either national prevalence (0.7%) or state prevalence (0.9%).