New coronavirus infection as an occupational disease: complex expert cases

Abstract

Introduction. The professional activity of medical workers (MW) is in close contact with daily contact with various factors of the production environment: physical, chemical, biological, and labor processes. Until 2020, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis prevailed in the structure of occupational diseases (OD) of the medical workers in the Russian Federation. According to the State report "On the state of sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population in the Russian Federation in 2020," the first ranking the second place in the structure of occupational diseases, depending on the impact of harmful production factor took the illnesses associated with the action of biological factors - 20,19%, while the main reason for the growth in the incidence of healthcare workers in coronavirus infection COVID-19 (further COVID-19). The study aims were to identify problematic aspects in the establishment of the COVID-19 work from MW. Materials and methods. We have given descriptions of clinical cases, as well as a retrospective analysis of issues of OD according to the patient registers of the following medical institutions: the Center of Occupational Pathology of Sechenov University, the Republican Center of Occupational Pathology of the Ministry of Health, Republic of Tatarstan, the Regional Center of Occupational Pathology of the Samara Region. Results. In 2020, COVID-19 was the most common OD with fatal outcomes and complications in healthcare workers. Today, difficulties in determining the connection of COVID-19 with the profession arise when assessing the epidemiological history, the consequences after a coronavirus infection, and the formulation of the diagnosis. Conclusions. For a qualitative examination of the connection of COVID-19 with the profession, it is necessary to develop a list of clinical conditions with the definition of the timing of complications.