Guidelines
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Apr 26, 2020; 8(8): 1343-1349
Published online Apr 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i8.1343
Prevention program for the COVID-19 in a children’s digestive endoscopy center
Xiao-Peng Ma, Huan Wang, Da-Ming Bai, Yu Zou, Shao-Ming Zhou, Fei-Qiu Wen, Dong-Ling Dai
Xiao-Peng Ma, Huan Wang, Da-Ming Bai, Yu Zou, Shao-Ming Zhou, Fei-Qiu Wen, Dong-Ling Dai, Digestive Endoscopy Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Shenzhen 518036, Guangdong Province, China
Shao-Ming Zhou, Fei-Qiu Wen, Dong-Ling Dai, Pediatric Committee of Shenzhen Medical Association, Shenzhen 518036, Guangdong Province, China
Fei-Qiu Wen, Shenzhen Pediatric Medical Quality Control Center, Shenzhen 518036, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Ma XP designed the manuscript; Dai DL contributed to the critical revisions; Wang H and Bai DM drafted the manuscript; Zou Y and Zhou SM searched for the references for the manuscript; Wen FQ revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dong-Ling Dai, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Digestive Endoscopy Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Yitian Road 7019, Futian District, Shenzhen 518036, Guangdong Province, China. daidong3529@sina.com
Received: March 4, 2020
Peer-review started: March 4, 2020
First decision: March 27, 2020
Revised: March 30, 2020
Accepted: April 4, 2020
Article in press: April 4, 2020
Published online: April 26, 2020
Abstract

The pneumonia caused by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, China constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. The gastrointestinal symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain and the detection of COVID-19 nucleic acid from fecal specimens in a small number of patients suggest the possibility of transmission via the gastrointestinal tract. People of all ages are vulnerable to this virus, including children. Digestive endoscopy is an invasive procedure during which children cannot wear masks; therefore, they have higher risks of exposure to COVID-19, and the digestive endoscopy center is a relatively high-risk area for COVID-19 infection. Based on these factors and in combination with related policies and regulations, a prevention and control program for the COVID-19 pneumonia in a children's digestive endoscopy center was established to prevent the COVID-19 nosocomial infection.

Keywords: Digestive endoscopy, Disinfection, COVID-19, Nosocomial infection, Pediatrics, Prevention

Core tip: We established a prevention and control program for the novel coronavirus infection in a children’s digestive endoscopy center to prevent nosocomial infection. The program is based on the characteristics of pediatric patients, the severity of the epidemic, and a relatively high risk of infection due to invasive procedures, according to the related policies and regulations. The program is expected to be useful for pediatric digestive endoscopists as a guideline.