7^th European Virtual Congress on
Pharmaceutical Sciences

Dr.Syeda Hira Hassan graduated from medical school in the year 2020. She, along with her batch mates started working on the research “ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Covid-19 among UAE Residents:An Online Cross-Sectional Survey ” in their final year.They finished and published the study during their intern year. Dr. Hira Hassan is passionate about academic and research medicine and is eagerly looking forward to applying for surgical trainee positions in the near future.

COVID-19 is an emerging respiratory virus which was initially reported to the WHO on December 31, 2019 and declared as a public health emergency by the WHO on March 11, 2020. Our Aim was to investigate the public’s knowledge, attitudes, and practice towards COVID-19. To do this, we designed an online cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was in both the Arabic and English Language, and consisted of 4 segments (demographic, knowledge, attitude, and practice). The results were collected anonymously. The data was inserted in Excel Sheets and then exported and analyzed using SPSS software. The results of the study were as follows,a total of 1,602 UAE residents completed the questionnaire. The mean Knowledge score is 71% which reflects good knowledge. The mean attitude score is 78% which reflects a positive attitude. The mean practice score is 76% which reflects good practice. 94% of the population avoid handshakes, 93.3% wear face masks regularly, 85.5% use hand sanitizers, and 66% wash their hands. 22.7% drink honey with ginger, 13% still prefer to take garlic. 82% chose to constantly update themselves with information about COVID-19 however only 10% relied on purely medical sources. In conclusion this study showed that U.A.E residents have satisfactory knowledge and favorable practice, with an overall high positive attitude. However, it is still encouraged to continue efforts in spreading awareness and public health education across all platforms, as well as increase awareness campaigns and correct misconceptions circulating on non-medical platforms since they are a major source of information for the public

Dr. Esra Alhamadani currently works as an emergency resident-physician at Rashid hospital, Dubai Health Authority since 2018. She served as a front-liner during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, Dr. Esra completed her clinical research training with Harvard Medical School. During her 6 months of training, she was exposed to research methodology and biostatistics. Esra holds an MB BCh BAO from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.

Statement of the problem: Several studies promoted anosmia as a possible isolated symptom for COVID-19 as a measure of encouraging individuals with a sudden loss of smell but few or no symptoms of viral infection to self-isolate. No studies used feasible methods of smell testing that the public would use to address the accuracy of these claims. The studies that assess anosmia as a screening tool are predominantly cross-sectional or retrospective in design. The purpose of this study is to prospectively measure the diagnostic value of anosmia at presentation and subsequent COVID-19 diagnosis by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). Methods: This is a single-center study conducted between April and June 2020. The sense of smell was tested in vitally stable suspected COVID-19 patients with no/mild URTI symptoms prior to nasopharyngeal swabbing for RT-PCR. Patients were instructed to close their eyes. Each nostril was tested separately while the other was blocked with the patient’s index finger. Patients inhaled from 2 concealed vials (coffee, strawberry essence) consecutively, kept within 30 cm of the nostril for 60 seconds. Patients who could not identify both odors with both nostrils were recorded as “anosmia”. Results: Out of 346 eligible subjects, 43 had anosmia of which 26 (60%) tested COVID-19 positive. Chi square test showed a P-value < 0.001. The test showed a sensitivity of 30% (95% CI 21%,41%) and specificity 94% (95% CI 90%,96%). Logistic regression revealed an OR of 5.9(95% CI 3.0,12) P-value < 0.001. Conclusion: Given the low sensitivity (30%) of this method in detecting COVID-19 infection, we conclude that this method is not a useful screening tool for COVID-19 infection. The moderate negative predictive value (80%) is non-generalizable.