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Objectives Healthcare workers (HCWs) are on the frontline of combating COVID-19, hence are at elevated risk of contracting an infection with SARS-CoV-2. The present study aims to measure the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on HCWs in central sub-Saharan Africa.Setting A cross-sectional serological study was conducted at six urban and five rural hospitals during the first pandemic wave in the South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).Participants Serum specimens from 1029 HCWs employed during the first pandemic wave were collected between August and October 2020, and data on demographics and work-related factors were recorded during structured interviews.Primary and secondary outcome measures The presence of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 was examined by ELISA. Positive specimens were further tested using a micro-neutralisation assay. Factors driving SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity were assessed by multivariable analysis.Results Overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was high among HCWs (33.1%), and significantly higher in urban (41.5%) compared with rural (19.8%) hospitals. Having had presented with COVID-19-like symptoms before was a strong predictor of seropositivity (31.5%). Personal protective equipment (PPE, 88.1% and 11.9%) and alcohol-based hand sanitizer (71.1% and 28.9%) were more often available, and hand hygiene was more often reported after patient contact (63.0% and 37.0%) in urban compared with rural hospitals, respectively. This may suggest that higher exposure during non-work times in high incidence urban areas counteracts higher work protection levels of HCWs.Conclusions High SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity indicates widespread transmission of the virus in this region of DRC. Given the absence of publicly reported cases during the same time period at the rural sites, serological studies are very relevant in revealing infection dynamics especially in regions with low diagnostic capacities. This, and discrepancies in the application of PPE between urban and rural sites, should be considered in future pandemic response programmes.

Introduction: the aim was to determine epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic, and prognostic aspects of acute generalized peritonitis (AGP). Methods: we conducted an observational, cross-sectional and multicentre study over 2 years of 278 cases of acute generalized peritonitis operated in semi-urban and urban hospitals in South-Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Results: the population of this study was young with a mean age was 28.9 ± 16.1 years with extremes of 1.3 years to 80 years with a sex ratio M: F of 0.8. Peritonitis aetiology was dominated by intestinal perforation 132 cases (47.4%), the admission time in 65, 5% was more than 72 hours. Acute abdominal pain was the most reason for consultation in 93.2% of cases, 11.9% of patients were in hypovolemic shock. In 40.6%, the treatment of patients consisted in intestinal resection with terminal anastomosis, or ileostomy in 32.7%. About the outcomes, 32.4% of the patients had a surgical reoperation and 15.8% of the digestive fistulas were reported. The average duration of the hospitalization was 23.4 ± 20.3 days. Morbidity rate was 14.7%. Conclusion: the AGP remains one of the abdominal emergencies observed in different semi-urban and urban hospitals of the province of South-Kivu, causing some problems of medical and surgical management, starting from the delay of admission, the severity of the symptoms related to the etiology of the intestinal perforation. In all cases, AGP requires a well-executed resuscitation procedure and surgical technique to improve the prognosis and reduce mortality, which seems to be high in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]