Physical Interventions to Interrupt or Reduce the spread of Respiratory Viruses at Railway Clinic

Abstract

Respiratory diseases account for 6% of all deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation of the entire worldwide malady burden. Viral epidemics or pandemics of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) pose a global threat. Examples are influenza (H1N1) caused by the H1N1pdm09 virus in 2009, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 in 2019. Antiviral drugs and vaccines may be insufficient to prevent their spread. This is an update of a Cochrane Review last published in 2020. We include results from studies from the current COVID‐19 pandemic. Implementing transmission barriers such as physical interventions (Immigration controls, quarantine, social distancing, lockdowns, personal protection e.g., face masks, gloves and hand hygiene) have been shown to be effective in monetarising respiratory virus outbreaks or in healthcare facilities such as home regions sick. Method: A qualitative in-depth interview was conducted at railway clinic in Lusaka, Zambia. The researcher purposefully sampled health workers between the ages of 25-35 who have experience in physical interventions. The “researcher interviewed 16 health workers who were subjected to in-depth interviews. Respiratory infections and physical interventions were among the themes and factors covered in the interview process that were drawn from empirical research and theories about the physical interventions.” According to this research, the health workers suggest that face masks and hand hygiene may reduce respiratory illness, comparing hand hygiene interventions with controls there was a 50% relative reduction in the number of people with influenza in the hand hygiene group, 11 participants; moderate certainty evidence, suggesting a probable benefit, the use of masks might reduce the risk of viral respiratory infections. In the healthcare setup, a possible reduced risk of influenza like illness was found among mask users, results show no difference between masks and surgical masks on the risk of confirmed influenza or other confirmed viral respiratory infections, although possible benefits face masks were found for preventing influenza like illness or other clinical respiratory infections. In order to reduce the spread of respiratory infections, it is necessary to have Physical intervention strategies such as face mask wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, and ventilation are effective measures which helps in the reduction of respiratory viruses.