Guidance for clinical neurophysiology examination throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Latin American chapter of the IFCN task force - COVID-19

Abstract

On 31st December 2019, China notified the World Health Organization of an outbreak of atypical pneumonia from patients at a local seafood market in Wuhan, Hubei, China, responsible for a new coronavirus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused COVID-19 disease, which spread rapidly around the world. WHO declared a state of pandemic (11th March, 2020), which has caused more than 1 million infected and more than 110,000 deaths; it was observed that up to 29% of those infected were health care personnel. The main route of transmission of SARS-CoV2 is through respiratory secretions and direct contact with contaminated surfaces and material. The pandemic induced an international saturation of health care services and a rupture in the supply chain of protective equipment for healthcare personnel, which poses a high occupational risk to all. Based on the different healthcare systems, human resources, infrastructure and medical emergencies that will warrant the conduct of clinical neurophysiology studies and the lack of a guide for the management of the situation, it was decided by an expert task force of the Latin American Chapter of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology to carry out these guidelines for the protection of patient and healthcare professionals conducting clinical neurophysiological studies.