Özet:

Objective: The otolaryngology is one of the specialties having high risk for coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection due to the close contact with the upper respiratory tract of patients. Herein, we aimed to find out which patients attended to ear, nose & throat (ENT) outpatient clinics, and how many of them and healthcare workers were diagnosed as COVID-19 in the following 2 weeks. Material and Methods: The patients visiting the ENT outpatient clinics between 11-22 March 2020 were included in this study. Their age, sex, diagnosis of disease, requirement for urgent intervention, and their medical records about COVID-19 were obtained. Moreover, the infected healthcare professionals in the ENT outpatient department were evaluated. Results: The most common symptom in patients admitted to our outpatient clinic was ear pain (22.1%), and the most common diagnosis was acute otitis media (25.2%). In the same period of 2019, the most common complaint was nasal congestion (11%), and the most common diagnosis was upper respiratory tract infection (URI) (17.9%). When analyzed statistically, it was observed that there were significant differences related to the complaint of patients and diagnoses between 2019 and 2020 (p=0.021 and p<0.001, respectively). Five patients revealed a positive COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction result on average 13 (7-22) days after ENT examination. It was determined from the records that 3 patients also underwent 2 endoscopic rhinoscopy and 1 indirect laryngoscopy and 2 patients underwent basic ENT examination. Although they were fully equipped with person protective equipments during this time period, 2 ENT residents were diagnosed as COVID-19 with fever, cough and anosmia complaints, and they were hospitalized average 7 days. Conclusion: The risk of contamination of healthcare providers appears to be fairly high for ENT physicians. This may be associated with the requirement of the removal of the face mask in order to have proper clinical examination and close contact between the patient and the clinician, by the diffusion of aerosol particles during cough and sneezing. In case of strict rules of equipment and hygiene are not kept during routine ENT examinations, the consequences of our study might emerge inevitably.

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