Symptoms and Complications Associated with COVID-19 Infection and Its Vaccination in Iraq: A Cross-sectional Study
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of vaccinations in providing immunity to vaccinated individuals in Iraq and to investigate the potential side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and the risk factors associated with virus infection. The research was conducted at the University of Basrah, where respondents were polled in February 2022 about their history of getting the Corona Virus 2019 vaccine and their history of getting infected with the virus before getting the vaccine. In addition, the questionnaire included questions about symptoms during infection, infection severity, health problems faced after recovery, the number of infection instances before and after vaccination, and side effects after vaccination. People were also questioned about their past ailments and some of their behaviors. According to findings, 55.1% of individuals had not been infected (who had no previous history of virus infection), while 44.9%, consisting in 46.4% females and 41.3% males, had been infected. The majority of infected individuals developed a fever and a loss of smell and taste. Shortness of breath and coughing, among other symptoms, were reported by almost all of the other affected patients. Recovery duration for those infected with the virus ranged from one to five weeks. The research discovered that all of the vaccinated participants with any of the three vaccinations were immune and that immunization protected them against viral infection. On the other hand, the side effects connected with the three immunizations were ranged from mild to severe, including fever, joint pains, vomiting, and anorexia, etc.
Keywords: Infection; symptoms; COVID-19; vaccination; immunization; Iraq
*Corresponding author: Tel.: (+964) 7740739190
E-mail: [email protected]
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright Transfer Statement
The copyright of this article is transferred to Current Applied Science and Technology journal with effect if and when the article is accepted for publication. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, electronic form (offline, online) or any other reproductions of similar nature.
The author warrants that this contribution is original and that he/she has full power to make this grant. The author signs for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors.
Here is the link for download: Copyright transfer form.pdf
References
Kumar, V.M., Pandi-Perumal, S.R., Trakht, I. and Thyagarajan, S.P., 2021. Strategy for COVID-19 vaccination in India: the country with the second highest population and number of cases. npj Vaccines, 6(1), DOI: 10.1038/s41541-021-00327-2.
Aiyegbusi, O.L., Hughes, S.E., Turner, G., Rivera, S.C., McMullan, C., Chandan, J.S., Haroon, S., Price, G., Davies, E.H., Nirantharakumar, K., Sapey, E., Calvert, M.J. and TLC Study Group, 2021. Symptoms, complications and management of long COVID: a review. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 114(9), 428-442, DOI: 10.1177/01410768211032850.
Domachowske, J., 2021. Active immunization. In: J.Domachowske and M. Suryadevara, eds. Vaccines. New York: Springer, pp. 25-47.
Plotkin, S., 2014. History of vaccination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(34), 12283-12287, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1400472111.
Yaqub, O., Castle-Clarke, S., Sevdalis, N. and Chataway, J., 2014. Attitudes to vaccination: a critical review. Social Science and Medicine, 112, DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.04.018.
Anderson, R.M. and May, R.M., 1985. Vaccination and herd immunity to infectious diseases. Nature, 318(6044), 323-329, DOI: 10.1038/318323a0.
Metcalf, C.J.E., Ferrari, M., Graham, A.L. and Grenfell, B.T., 2015. Understanding herd immunity. Trends in Immunology, 36(12), 753-755, DOI: 10.1016/j.it.2015.10.004
Frenkel, L.D. and Nielsen, K., 2003. Immunization issues for the 21st century. Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 90(6), 45-52, DOI: 10.3928/0090-4481-20040901-04.
Doroftei, B., Ciobica, A., Ilie, O.-D., Maftei, R. and Ilea, C., 2021. Mini-review discussing the reliability and efficiency of COVID-19 vaccines. Diagnostics, 11(4), DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics11040579.
Mallapaty, S., 2021. WHO approval of Chinese CoronaVac COVID vaccine will be crucial to curbing pandemic. Nature, 594(7862), 161-162, DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-01497-8.
Almufty, H.B., Mohammed, S.A., Abdullah, A.M. and Merza, M.A., 2021. Potential adverse effects of COVID19 vaccines among Iraqi population; a comparison between the three available vaccines in Iraq; a retrospective cross-sectional study. Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews, 15(5), DOI: 10.1016/j.dsx.2021.102207.
Wadman, M., 2020. Public needs to prep for vaccine side effects. Science, 370(6520), 1022-1022, DOI: 10.1126/science.370.6520.1022.
Remmel, A., 2021. COVID vaccines and safety: what the research says. Nature, 590(7847), 538-540, DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-00290-x.
Sprent, J. and King, C., 2021. COVID-19 vaccine side effects: The positives about feeling bad. Science Immunology, 6(60), DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abj9256.
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25, 2017. New York: International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) Corp.
Ghazi, H., Taher, T., Alfadhul, S., Al-Mahmood, S., Hassan, S., Hamoudi, T. and Raheema, R., 2021. Acceptance of Covid-19 vaccine among general population in Iraq: Acceptance of Covid-19 vaccine among general population in Iraq. Iraqi National Journal of Medicine, 3(1), 93-103, DOI: 10.37319/iqnjm.3.1.9.
Ahn, D.-G., Shin, H.-J., Kim, M.-H., Lee, S., Kim, H.-S., Myoung, J., Kim, B.-T. and Kim, S.-J., 2020. Current status of epidemiology, diagnosis, therapeutics, and vaccines for novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology, 30(3), 313-324, DOI: 10.4014/jmb.2003.03011.
Ghazi, H.F., Taher, T.M.J., AbdalQader, M.A., Raheema, R.H., Baobaid, M.F. and Hasan, T.N., 2020. Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding coronavirus disease-19: population-based study in Iraq. Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, 8(T1), 137-141, DOI: 10.3889/oamjms.2020.4965.
Shi, Y., Wang, G., Cai, X.-P., Deng, J.-W., Zheng, L., Zhu, H.-H., Zheng, M., Yang, B. and Chen, Z., 2020. An overview of COVID-19. Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B, 21(5), 343-360, DOI: 10.1631/jzus.B2000083.
Wiersinga, W.J., Rhodes, A., Cheng, A.C., Peacock, S.J. and Prescott, H.C., 2020. Pathophysiology, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a review. Jama, 324(8), 782-793, DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.12839.
Struyf, T., Deeks, J.J., Dinnes, J., Takwoingi, Y., Davenport, C., Leeflang, M.M., Spijker, R., Hooft, L. and Emperador, D., 2021. Signs and symptoms to determine if a patient presenting in primary care or hospital outpatient settings has COVID-19. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2021(2), DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013665.
Voinsky, I., Baristaite, G. and Gurwitz, D., 2020. Effects of age and sex on recovery from COVID-19: Analysis of 5769 Israeli patients. Journal of Infection, 81(2), e102-e103, DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.05.026.
Baud, D., Qi, X., Nielsen-Saines, K., Musso, D., Pomar, L. and Favre, G., 2020. Real estimates of mortality following COVID-19 infection. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(7), DOI: 10.1016/s1473-3099(20)30195-x.
Ota, M., 2020. Will we see protection or reinfection in COVID-19? Nature Reviews Immunology, 20(6), 351-351, DOI: 10.1038/s41577-020-0316-3.
Lan, L., Xu, D., Ye, G., Xia, C., Wang, S., Li, Y. and Xu, H., 2020. Positive RT-PCR test results in patients recovered from COVID-19. Jama, 323(15), 1502-1503, DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.2783.
Zhang, W., Du, R.-H., Li, B., Zheng, X.-S., Yang, X.-L., Hu, B., Wang, Y.-Y., Xiao, G.-F., Yan, B. and Shi, Z.-L., 2020. Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes. Emerging Microbes and Infections, 9(1), 386-389, DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1729071.
Qin, W., Sun, G., Zhang, Y., Yuan, J., Zou, J. and Cheng, W., 2020. Patients with COVID-19 testing positive for nucleic acids of SARS-CoV-2 in re-examination after discharge from hospital: an analysis of three cases. Chinese Journal of Virology, 554-559, DOI: 10.13242/j.cnki.bingduxuebao.003722.
Strzelak, A., Ratajczak, A., Adamiec, A. and Feleszko, W., 2018. Tobacco smoke induces and alters immune responses in the lung triggering inflammation, allergy, asthma and other lung diseases: a mechanistic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(5), DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15051033.
Arcavi, L. and Benowitz, N.L., 2004. Cigarette smoking and infection. Archives of internal Medicine, 164(20), 2206-2216, DOI: 10.1001/archinte.164.20.2206.
Alqahtani, J.S., Oyelade, T., Aldhahir, A.M., Alghamdi, S.M., Almehmadi, M., Alqahtani, A.S., Quaderi, S., Mandal, S. and Hurst, J.R., 2020. Prevalence, severity and mortality associated with COPD and smoking in patients with COVID-19: a rapid systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS One, 15(5), DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233147.
Lippi, G. and Henry, B.M., 2020. Active smoking is not associated with severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). European Journal of Internal Medicine, 75, 107-108, DOI: 10.1016/j.ejim.2020.03.014.
Sharifian-Dorche, M., Huot, P., Osherov, M., Wen, D., Saveriano, A., Giacomini, P.S., Antel, J.P. and Mowla, A., 2020. Neurological complications of coronavirus infection; a comparative review and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 417, DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2020.117085.
Wang, J., Peng, Y., Xu, H., Cui, Z. and Williams, R.O., 2020. The COVID-19 vaccine race: challenges and opportunities in vaccine formulation. AAPS PharmSciTech, 21(6), DOI: 10.1208/s12249-020-01744-7.
Kaur, S.P. and Gupta, V., 2020. COVID-19 Vaccine: A comprehensive status report. Virus Research, 288, DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2020.198114.
Shin, M.D., Shukla, S., Chung, Y.H., Beiss, V., Chan, S.K., Ortega-Rivera, O.A., Wirth, D.M., Chen, A., Sack, M. and Pokorski, J.K., 2020. COVID-19 vaccine development and a potential nanomaterial path forward. Nature Nanotechnology, 15(8), 646-655, DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-0737-y.
Harapan, H., Wagner, A.L., Yufika, A., Winardi, W., Anwar, S., Gan, A.K., Setiawan, A.M., Rajamoorthy, Y., Sofyan, H. and Mudatsir, M., 2020. Acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine in Southeast Asia: a cross-sectional study in Indonesia. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00381.
Malik, A.A., McFadden, S.M., Elharake, J. and Omer, S.B., 2020. Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in the US. EClinicalMedicine, 26, DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100495.
Wang, J., Jing, R., Lai, X., Zhang, H., Lyu, Y., Knoll, M.D. and Fang, H., 2020. Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China. Vaccines, 8(3), DOI: 10.3390/vaccines8030482.
Tahir, A.I., Ramadhan, D.S., Piro, S.S., Abdullah, R.Y., Taha, A.A. and Radha, R.H., 2022. COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, hesitancy and refusal among Iraqi Kurdish population. International Journal of Health Sciences, 16(1), 10-16.
Mahdi, B.M., 2021. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and acceptance among medical students: An online cross-sectional study in Iraq. Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, 9(A), 955-958, DOI: 10.3889/oamjms.2021.7399.
Simons, D., Shahab, L., Brown, J. and Perski, O., 2021. The association of smoking status with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, hospitalization and mortality from COVID‐19: a living rapid evidence review with Bayesian meta‐analyses (version 7). Addiction, 116(6), 1319-1368, DOI: 10.1111/add.15276.
Guan, W.-J., Ni, Z.-Y., Hu, Y., Liang, W.-H., Ou, C.-Q., He, J.-X., Liu, L., Shan, H., Lei, C.-l. and Hui, D.S., 2020. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(18), 1708-1720, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2002032.
Wang, L., Wang, Y., Ye, D. and Liu, Q., 2020. Review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) based on current evidence. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 55(6), DOI: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105948.
Nile, S.H., Nile, A., Qiu, J., Li, L., Jia, X. and Kai, G., 2020. COVID-19: Pathogenesis, cytokine storm and therapeutic potential of interferons. Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews, 53, 66-70, DOI: 10.1016/j.cytogfr.2020.05.002.
Kanduc, D. and Shoenfeld, Y., 2020. Molecular mimicry between SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and mammalian proteomes: implications for the vaccine. Immunologic Research, 68(5), 310-313, DOI: 10.1007/s12026-020-09152-6.
Bridwell, R., Long, B. and Gottlieb, M., 2020. Neurologic complications of COVID-19. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 38(7), DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2020.05.024.
Gee, J., Marquez, P., Su, J., Calvert, G.M., Liu, R., Myers, T., Nair, N., Martin, S., Clark, T. and Markowitz, L., 2021. First month of COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring—United States, December 14, 2020–January 13, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(8), DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7008e3.
Ooi, E.E., Dhar, A., Petruschke, R., Locht, C., Buchy, P. and Low, J.G.H., 2022. Use of analgesics/antipyretics in the management of symptoms associated with COVID-19 vaccination. npj Vaccines, 7(1), DOI: 10.1038/s41541-022-00453-5.