@article {Jewkesclinmed.2020-0422, author = {Soraya V Jewkes and Yimeng Zhang and David J Nicholl}, title = {Nosocomial spread of COVID-19: lessons learned from an audit on a stroke/neurology ward in a UK district general hospital}, elocation-id = {clinmed.2020-0422}, year = {2020}, doi = {10.7861/clinmed.2020-0422}, publisher = {Royal College of Physicians}, abstract = {We describe the details of a COVID-19 outbreak in a 25-bedded Birmingham neurology/stroke ward in the early phase of the pandemic (March to May 2020). Twenty-one of 133 admissions (16\%) tested positive for COVID-19 and of those, 8 (6\% of all admissions to the ward) were determined to be nosocomial. Thus 38\% (8/21) of COVID-19 infections were hospital-acquired. Ten of the patients that contracted COVID-19 died; of these three were hospital-acquired cases. Five of the 21 patients had negative swabs prior to receiving a positive test result. This study highlights the importance of appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) with high-risk patients (including those with stroke and complex brain injury with tracheostomies) and the difficulties of COVID-19 management in a high-risk patient population.}, issn = {1470-2118}, URL = {https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/early/2020/07/26/clinmed.2020-0422}, eprint = {https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/early/2020/07/26/clinmed.2020-0422.full.pdf}, journal = {Clinical Medicine} }