Browsing by Author "Barry, Mazin"
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Item Adenovirus and RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines’ perceptions and acceptance among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia: a national survey(BMJ, 2021-06) Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Barry, Mazin; Aljamaan, Fadi; Alhuzaimi, Abdullah; Al-Eyadhy, Ayman; Saddik, Basema; Alrabiaah, Abdulkarim; Alsohime, Fahad; Alhaboob, Ali; Alhasan, Khalid; Alaraj, Ali; Halwani, Rabih; Alamro, Nurah Maziad; Al-Shahrani, Fatimah S.; Jamal, Amr; Alsubaie, Sarah; Memish, Ziad A.; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Medicine, School of MedicineObjectives The aim of this study was to compare the perception, confidence, hesitancy and acceptance rate of various COVID-19 vaccine types among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Saudi Arabia, a nation with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus experience. Design National cross-sectional, pilot-validated questionnaire. Setting Online, self-administered questionnaire among HCWs. Participants A total of 2007 HCWs working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia participated; 1512 (75.3%) participants completed the survey and were included in the analysis. Intervention Data were collected through an online survey sent to HCWs during 1–15 November 2020. The main outcome measure was HCW acceptance of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. The associated factors of vaccination acceptance were identified through a logistic regression analysis and via measurement of the level of anxiety, using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7 scale. Results Among the 1512 HCWs who were included, 62.4% were women, 70.3% were between 21 and 40 years of age, and the majority (62.2%) were from tertiary hospitals. In addition, 59.5% reported knowing about at least one vaccine; 24.4% of the participants were sure about their willingness to receive the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, and 20.9% were willing to receive the RNA BNT162b2 vaccine. However, 18.3% reported that they would refuse to receive the Ad5-vectored vaccine, and 17.9% would refuse the Gam-COVID-Vac vaccine. Factors that influenced the differential readiness of HCWs included their perceptions of the vaccine’s efficiency in preventing the infection (33%), their personal preferences (29%) and the vaccine’s manufacturing country (28.6%). Conclusions Awareness by HCWs of the several COVID-19 candidate vaccines could improve their perceptions and acceptance of vaccination. Reliable sources on vaccine efficiency could improve vaccine uptake, so healthcare authorities should use reliable information to decrease vaccine hesitancy among frontline healthcare providers.Item Celebrating the 2023 New Year at the time of the tridemic shadow(Elsevier, 2023) Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Barry, Mazin; Memish, Ziad A.; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Medicine, School of MedicineItem COVID-19 and mucormycosis superinfection: the perfect storm(Springer, 2021-07) Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Alhumaid, Saad; Alshukairi, Alshukairi; Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Barry, Mazin; Al Mutair, Abbas; Rabaan, Ali A.; Al-Omari, Awadh; Tirupathi, Raghavendra; AlQahtani, Manaf; AlBahrani, Salma; Dhama, Kuldeep; Medicine, School of MedicineBackground The recent emergence of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) disease had been associated with reports of fungal infections such as aspergillosis and mucormycosis especially among critically ill patients treated with steroids. The recent surge in cases of COVID-19 in India during the second wave of the pandemic had been associated with increased reporting of invasive mucormycosis post COVID-19. There are multiple case reports and case series describing mucormycosis in COVID-19. Purpose In this review, we included most recent reported case reports and case-series of mucormycosis among patients with COVID-19 and describe the clinical features and outcome. Results Many of the mucormycosis reports were eported from India, especially in COVID-19 patients who were treated and recovered patients. The most commonly reported infection sites were rhino-orbital/rhino-cerebral mucormycosis. Those patients were diabetic and had corticosteroids therapy for controlling the severity of COVID-19, leading to a higher fatality in such cases and complicating the pandemic scenario. The triad of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), corticosteroid use and uncontrolled diabetes mellitus have been evident for significant increase in the incidence of angioinvasive maxillofacial mucormycosis. In addition, the presence of spores and other factors might play a role as well. Conclusion With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and increasing number of critically ill patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, it is important to develop a risk-based approach for patients at risk of mucormycosis based on the epidemiological burden of mucormycosis, prevalence of diabetes mellitus, COVID-19 disease severity and use of immune modulating agents including the combined use of corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents in patients with cancer and transplants.Item COVID-19 Community Transmission among Healthcare Workers at a Tertiary Care Cardiac Center(MDPI, 2021-06) Barry, Mazin; Robert, Asirvatham Alwin; Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Abdul Bari, Syed; Akhtar, Muhammad Yasin; Al Nahdi, Faizah; Erlandez, Richilda; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Al Khushail, Abdullah; Al Hebaishi, Yahya; Medicine, School of MedicineAim: To determine the frequency, mode of transmission, and outcome of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) among healthcare workers (HCWs) in a tertiary care cardiac center in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Methods: This is a retrospective study of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infected HCWs and was conducted from 2 March to 31 December 2020. Data related to the presence of COVID-19 symptoms, mode of transmission, hospitalization, and mortality were collected from the patients’ medical records. Results: Of the 4462 patients tested for COVID-19 by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), 203 (4.5%) HCWs were positive; of these, 125 (61.6%) were males, and the most common age group was <40 years. The most commonly encountered health professionals were nurses (74, 36.4%), followed by therapists/technicians (48, 23.6%), housekeepers (25, 12.3%), and physicians (21, 10.4%). The majority (184, 90.6%) of the HCWs contracted COVID-19 in the community, and only 19 (9.4%) were healthcare-associated infections. Of the infected HCWs, 169 (83.3%) had mild symptoms and were managed in home isolation. The most common symptoms were fever (128, 63.1%), body ache (124, 61.8%), headache (113, 55.7%), dry cough (123, 60.6%), sore throat (97, 47.8%), body weakness (97, 47.8%), and fatigue (94, 46.3%). Comparing males and females, there was a significantly higher number of female nurses; in contrast, there was a higher number of male physicians, housekeepers, therapists/technicians, and other specialty HCWs. A significantly lower number of nurses, therapists/technicians were infected in the ≥40 years age group compared to <40 years. Furthermore, a significantly higher difference was observed among non-Saudi nurses compared to Saudi nurses. No mortality was documented among the included HCWs. Conclusions: In the largest tertiary cardiac center in KSA, most HCWs who contracted COVID-19 developed mild symptoms; nurses and those aged <40 years were most commonly infected, and most infections were acquired in the community. HCWs’ adherence to mitigation measures outside of the workplace is vital to curb the current pandemic and decrease nosocomial transmission risk.Item COVID-19 Delta Variant: Perceptions, Worries, and Vaccine-Booster Acceptability among Healthcare Workers(MDPI, 2021-11) Alhasan, Khalid; Aljamaan, Fadi; Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Alshahrani, Fatimah; Bassrawi, Rolan; Alhaboob, Ali; Assiri, Rasha; Alenezi, Shuliweeh; Alaraj, Ali; Alhomoudi, Reham I.; Batais, Mohammed A.; Al-Eyadhy, Lama; Halwani, Rabih; AbdulMajeed, Naif; Al-Jedai, Ahmed; Senjab, Abdulrahman; Memish, Ziad A.; Al-Subaie, Sarah; Barry, Mazin; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Medicine, School of MedicineBackground: As the COVID-19 Delta variant has spread across the globe, healthcare workers’ (HCWs) knowledge, worries, and vaccine booster acceptance should be assessed. Methods: Online questionnaires aimed at HCWs in Saudi Arabia were distributed between 9 and 12 August 2021, aiming to evaluate HCWs’ perceptions and worries about the Delta variant as well as their feelings about receiving a booster-vaccine. Results: A total of 1279 HCWs participated, with 51.1% being physicians and 41.7% nurses. 92.5% were aware of the emergence of the Delta variant. Still, only 28.7% were found to have sufficient knowledge of the variant, and their level of worry about it was higher than their level of worry about the Alpha variant (2.32/5 versus 1.79/5). The main information sources cited by the participants were social media (50.5%), while 30.5% used scientific journals. Overall, 55.3% were willing to receive a vaccine booster, while one third would have preferred to receive a new mRNA vaccine specifically developed for the Delta variant. Factors associated with vaccine booster acceptance were receiving both vaccination doses (p = 0.008), believing that the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine is effective against variants (p < 0.001), and agreement that mixing/matching vaccines is effective against variants (p < 0.001). Conclusions: A high percentage of HCWs were aware of the Delta variant, but only a small fraction had decent quality of knowledge about it. The participants exhibited high worry levels and showed a modest acceptance of receiving a vaccine booster dose. These results should encourage public health officials to scale up educational efforts to disseminate reliable information about the different variants and provide recommendations about receiving a vaccine booster. Further research on methods to alleviate HCWs’ worries about emerging variants is warranted.Item COVID-19 vaccine confidence and hesitancy among health care workers: A cross-sectional survey from a MERS-CoV experienced nation(PLOS, 2021-11-29) Barry, Mazin; Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Alhuzaimi, Abdullah; Alamro, Nurah; Al-Eyadhy, Ayman; Aljamaan, Fadi; Saddik, Basema; Alhaboob, Ali; Alsohime, Fahad; Alhasan, Khalid; Alrabiaah, Abdulkarim; Alaraj, Ali; Halwani, Rabih; Jamal, Amr; Alsubaie, Sarah; Al-Shahrani, Fatimah S.; Memish, Ziad A.; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Medicine, School of MedicineObjectives: This study aimed to identify coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine perception, acceptance, confidence, hesitancy, and barriers among health care workers (HCWs). Methods: An online national cross-sectional pilot-validated questionnaire was self-administered by HCWs in Saudi Arabia, which is a nation with MERS-CoV experience. The main outcome variable was HCWs' acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine candidates. The factors associated with vaccination acceptance were identified through a logistic regression analysis, and the level of anxiety was measured using a validated instrument to measure general anxiety levels. Results: Out of the 1512 HCWs who completed the study questionnaire-of which 62.4% were women-70% were willing to receive COVID-19 vaccines. A logistic regression analysis revealed that male HCWs (ORa = 1.551, 95% CI: 1.122-2.144), HCWs who believe in vaccine safety (ORa = 2.151; 95% CI: 1.708-2.708), HCWs who believe that COVID vaccines are the most likely way to stop the pandemic (ORa = 1.539; 95% CI: 1.259-1.881), and HCWs who rely on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for COVID 19 updates (ORa = 1.505, 95% CI: 1.125-2.013) were significantly associated with reporting a willingness to be vaccinated. However, HCWs who believed that the vaccines were rushed without evidence-informed testing were found to be 60% less inclined to accept COVID-19 vaccines (ORa = 0.394, 95% CI: 0.298-0.522). Conclusion: Most HCWs are willing to receive COVID-19 vaccines once they are available; the satisfactoriness of COVID-19 vaccination among HCWs is crucial because health professionals' knowledge and confidence toward vaccines are important determining factors for not only their own vaccine acceptance but also recommendation for such vaccines to their patients.Item COVID-19 vaccine uptake among healthcare workers in the fourth country to authorize BNT162b2 during the first month of rollout(Elsevier, 2021-09) Barry, Mazin; Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Aljamaan, Fadi; Saddik, Basema; Al-Eyadhy, Ayman; Alenezi, Shuliweeh; Alamro, Nurah; Alhuzaimi, Abdullah N; Alhaboob, Ali; Alhasan, Khalid; Alsohime, Fahad; Alaraj, Ali; Halwani, Rabih; Jamal, Amr; Temsah, Omar; Alzamil, Fahad; Somily, Ali; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Medicine, School of MedicineBackground The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was the fourth country in the world to authorize the BNT162b2 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, which it rolled out on December 17, 2020 and first targeted at healthcare workers (HCWs). This study assesses vaccine uptake among this group during the first month of its availability. Methods A national cross-sectional, pilot-validated, self-administered survey was conducted among HCWs in the KSA between December 27, 2020 and January 3, 2021. The survey included sociodemographic details, previous contact with COVID-19 patients, previous infection with COVID-19, receiving (or registering with the Ministry of Health website to receive) the COVID-19 vaccine, sources of HCWs’ information on vaccines, awareness of emerging variants of concern, and anxiety level using the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder assessment. A descriptive bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic binary regression analysis were performed. The primary evaluated outcome was vaccine uptake. Results Of the 1058 participants who completed the survey, 704 (66.5%) were female, and 626 (59.2%) were nurses. Of all the respondents, 352 (33.27%) were enrolled to receive or had already received the vaccine, while 706 (66.73%) had not enrolled. In a bivariate analysis, not enrolling for vaccination was more likely in females than males (78.5% vs. 21.5%, P < 0.001), HCWs between the ages of 20 and 40 years than those >40 years (70.4% vs. 29.6%, P = 0.005), Saudi HCWs than expatriates (78% vs 22%, P < 0.001), and among HCWs who used social media as a source of information than those who did not (69.8% vs. 38.6%, P < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, independent factors associated with uptake were being a Saudi national (aOR = 1.918, 95 %CI = 1.363–2.698, P < 0.001), working in an intensive care unit (aOR = 1.495, 95 %CI = 1.083–2.063, P = 0.014), and working at a university hospital (aOR = 1.867, 95 %CI = 1.380–2.525, P < 0.001). Conclusions A low level of vaccine uptake was observed especially in female HCWs, those younger than 40 years old, and those who used social media as their source of vaccine information. This survey provides important information for public health authorities in order to scale up vaccination campaigns targeting these HCWs to increase vaccine enrollment and uptake.Item COVID-19: Factors Associated with the Psychological Distress, Fear and Resilient Coping Strategies among Community Members in Saudi Arabia(MDPI, 2023-04-20) Alharbi, Talal Ali F.; Alqurashi, Alaa Ashraf Bagader; Mahmud, Ilias; Alharbi, Rayan Jafnan; Islam, Sheikh Mohammed Shariful; Almustanyir, Sami; Maklad, Ahmed Essam; AlSarraj, Ahmad; Mughaiss, Lujain Nedhal; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Ahmed, Ahmed Ali; Barry, Mazin; Ghozy, Sherief; Alabdan, Lulwah Ibrahim; Alif, Sheikh M.; Sultana, Farhana; Salehin, Masudus; Banik, Biswajit; Cross, Wendy; Rahman, Muhammad Aziz; Medicine, School of Medicine(1) Background: COVID-19 caused the worst international public health crisis, accompanied by major global economic downturns and mass-scale job losses, which impacted the psychosocial wellbeing of the worldwide population, including Saudi Arabia. Evidence of the high-risk groups impacted by the pandemic has been non-existent in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study examined factors associated with psychosocial distress, fear of COVID-19 and coping strategies among the general population in Saudi Arabia. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in healthcare and community settings in the Saudi Arabia using an anonymous online questionnaire. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS) were used to assess psychological distress, fear and coping strategies, respectively. Multivariate logistic regressions were used, and an Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) was reported. (3) Results: Among 803 participants, 70% (n = 556) were females, and the median age was 27 years; 35% (n = 278) were frontline or essential service workers; and 24% (n = 195) reported comorbid conditions including mental health illness. Of the respondents, 175 (21.8%) and 207 (25.8%) reported high and very high psychological distress, respectively. Factors associated with moderate to high levels of psychological distress were: youth, females, non-Saudi nationals, those experiencing a change in employment or a negative financial impact, having comorbidities, and current smoking. A high level of fear was reported by 89 participants (11.1%), and this was associated with being ex-smokers (3.72, 1.14–12.14, 0.029) and changes in employment (3.42, 1.91–6.11, 0.000). A high resilience was reported by 115 participants (14.3%), and 333 participants (41.5%) had medium resilience. Financial impact and contact with known/suspected cases (1.63, 1.12–2.38, 0.011) were associated with low, medium, to high resilient coping. (4) Conclusions: People in Saudi Arabia were at a higher risk of psychosocial distress along with medium-high resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, warranting urgent attention from healthcare providers and policymakers to provide specific mental health support strategies for their current wellbeing and to avoid a post-pandemic mental health crisis.Item Early solicited adverse events following the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination, a population survey from Saudi Arabia(Elsevier, 2021-10-11) Almohaya, Abdulellah M.; Qari, Farah; Zubaidi, Ghuzlan A.; Alnajim, Noura; Moustafa, Khadeeja; Alshabi, Malak M.; Alsubaie, Faleh M.; Almutairi, Ibrahim; Alwazna, Qusai; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Barry, Mazin; Medicine, School of MedicinePost rollout safety for the coronavirus disease vaccines is crucial and recommended. To explore the early solicited adverse events (AE) following BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination in Saudi Arabia, we distributed an online survey to adults vaccinated with BNT162b2 over the first week of June 2021, to collect data on first (V1), second doses (V2), symptoms, severity, and outcome after an informed consent was obtained. We recruited 3639 BNT162b2 vaccinated individuals, of which one-third had received two doses, 63.3% were female, 77% were healthy, and 89% had 18–55 years of age, while only 9.8% had a history of allergy. Overall, 50.3% had any AEs after any dose, especially those younger than 55 years of age, female, history of comorbidity, and when adjusted for age and gender, lung or cardiovascular diseases. Overall, the most common AE were pain at the injection site (44%), tiredness (39%), or body ache (31%). Compared to V1, a higher rate of post-V2 systemic AE (36% vs. 51%). Most AEs started very early (within 3 days), and rarely delayed in recovery (>2 weeks). Anti-pyretic was the most commonly used (51.7%), a third of which was unnecessary. Only 1.7% required hospital admission. By multivariate analysis, predictors for admission were the presence of lung or immunocompromising diseases. In conclusion, common AEs after BNT162b2 in the real world were generally mild, self-limiting, higher after the second dose, and largely mimicking that reported in clinical trials. The causality of these AE and the persistence of post-vaccination symptoms needs to be investigated further.Item Epidemiological characteristics and initial clinical presentation of patients with laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection in an emergency department.(MRE Press, 2022) Al Aseri, Zohair; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Alnakhli, Mohammed; AlNooh, Abdullah; Alnassar, Abdulaziz; Alkhalid, Salah; Al Dughayman, Abdulaziz; Wani, Tariq; Alhetheel, Abdulkarim; Barry, Mazin; Medicine, School of MedicineEmergency departments have been implicated as a source of index cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infection. We describe the epidemiological characteristics and initial clinical presentation of patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in an emergency department at a hospital in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The records of all patients presenting to the emergency department who tested positive for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection on real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing from April 2014 to November 2019 were reviewed, and the outcomes were assessed. The clinical presentations and outcomes were compared according to sex. A total of 68 patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection were identified, of whom 40 (58.8%) were female, and 28 (41.2%) were male. The mean age was 50.7 (standard deviation: 16.4) years, and female patients were younger (44.7 ± 13.1 years) than male patients (59.4 ± 16.9 years). Nineteen of the 68 patients (27.9%) were asymptomatic of whom the majority (16/19, 84%) were female (p=0.012). The most common symptoms were fever (n=29, 42.6%), cough (n=25, 36.8%), upper respiratory tract infection (n=23, 33.8%), and pneumonia (n=15, 22.1%). Pneumonia, diarrhea, dyspnea, and vomiting/diarrhea were more common among male patients. Male patients were more likely than female patients to require hospital admission (78.6% vs. 30.0%), intensive care unit admission (64.3% vs. 15.0%), and invasive mechanical ventilation (32.1% vs. 10.0%). The most common presentation of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in this cohort was asymptomatic infection. A high proportion of asymptomatic infections has not been reported previously. The study did not identify typical clinical features of MERS patients. Male patients tended to develop more severe disease than female patients. A larger study is needed to confirm these findings.