The COVID-19 Pandemic in Senegal: Experience of an Internal Medicine Department as an Epidemic Treatment Center

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the global health system upside down. Senegal recorded its first case on 2 March 2020. As part of its control strategy, the internal medicine department was set up as an epidemic treatment center (ETC). We report on our experience in the management of patients hospitalized in the said center. Material and Methods: Retrospective and descriptive study with analytical aim carried out at the ETC of the CHU Le Dantec of Dakar during the period from 29 April to 30 October 2020 (1st wave) then from 30 December 2020 to 30 April 2021 (2nd wave). All hospitalized patients who tested positive for RT-PCR were included. Epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical and evolutionary data were collected from a pre-established survey form and analysed using the software. Results: Five hundred and seventy files were collected: 379 patients (66%) in the 1st wave and 191 patients (34%) in the 2nd wave. There were 312 men and 258 women, i.e. a sex ratio of 1.22. The median age was 56 years [1.5 - 100 years]. Two thirds of the patients (66%) were over 50 years of age and 223 patients (39.1%) were over 65 years of age. Community transmission was reported in 72% of cases. The average length of hospital stay was 10 days [1 - 32]. Clinically, the mild form predominated (50.9%); the severe and critical forms were 32.6%. Comorbidity was noted in 68% of patients. The different comorbidities were: hypertension (36.1%), diabetes (28.2%), advanced CKD (9.8%). The case fatality rate was 17.2% with a mean age of 70 years. Conclusion: COVID-19 is responsible for respiratory but also systemic manifestations. This 3rd pandemic particularly affects vulnerable people with a significant morbidity and mortality, thus requiring the implementation of standardized CTE with multidisciplinary teams in the control strategies.