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Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers

A majority of SARS-CoV-2 infections are transmitted from a minority of infected subjects, some of which may be symptomatic or pre-symptomatic. We aimed to quantify potential infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) in relation to prior or later symptomatic disease. We previously (...

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Autores principales: Pimenoff, Ville N., Elfström, Miriam, Conneryd Lundgren, Kalle, Klevebro, Susanna, Melen, Erik, Dillner, Joakim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8682911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34919570
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260453
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author Pimenoff, Ville N.
Elfström, Miriam
Conneryd Lundgren, Kalle
Klevebro, Susanna
Melen, Erik
Dillner, Joakim
author_facet Pimenoff, Ville N.
Elfström, Miriam
Conneryd Lundgren, Kalle
Klevebro, Susanna
Melen, Erik
Dillner, Joakim
author_sort Pimenoff, Ville N.
collection PubMed
description A majority of SARS-CoV-2 infections are transmitted from a minority of infected subjects, some of which may be symptomatic or pre-symptomatic. We aimed to quantify potential infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) in relation to prior or later symptomatic disease. We previously (at the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic) performed a cohort study of SARS-CoV-2 infections among 27,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) at work in the capital region of Sweden. We performed both SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR and serology. Furthermore, the cohort was comprehensively followed for sick leave, both before and after sampling. In the present report, we used the cohort database to quantify potential infectiousness among HCWs at work. Those who had sick leave either before or after sampling were classified as post-symptomatic or pre-symptomatic, whereas the virus-positive subjects with no sick leave were considered asymptomatic. About 0.2% (19/9449) of HCW at work were potentially infectious and pre-symptomatic (later had disease) and 0.17% (16/9449) were potentially infectious and asymptomatic (never had sick leave either before nor after sampling). Thus, 33% and 28% of all the 57 potentially infectious subjects were pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, respectively. When a questionnaire was administered to HCWs with past infection, only 10,5% of HCWs had had no indication at all of having had SARS-CoV-2 infection (“truly asymptomatic”). Our findings provide a unique quantification of the different groups of asymptomatic, potentially infectious HCWs.
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spelling pubmed-86829112021-12-18 Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers Pimenoff, Ville N. Elfström, Miriam Conneryd Lundgren, Kalle Klevebro, Susanna Melen, Erik Dillner, Joakim PLoS One Research Article A majority of SARS-CoV-2 infections are transmitted from a minority of infected subjects, some of which may be symptomatic or pre-symptomatic. We aimed to quantify potential infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) in relation to prior or later symptomatic disease. We previously (at the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic) performed a cohort study of SARS-CoV-2 infections among 27,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) at work in the capital region of Sweden. We performed both SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR and serology. Furthermore, the cohort was comprehensively followed for sick leave, both before and after sampling. In the present report, we used the cohort database to quantify potential infectiousness among HCWs at work. Those who had sick leave either before or after sampling were classified as post-symptomatic or pre-symptomatic, whereas the virus-positive subjects with no sick leave were considered asymptomatic. About 0.2% (19/9449) of HCW at work were potentially infectious and pre-symptomatic (later had disease) and 0.17% (16/9449) were potentially infectious and asymptomatic (never had sick leave either before nor after sampling). Thus, 33% and 28% of all the 57 potentially infectious subjects were pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, respectively. When a questionnaire was administered to HCWs with past infection, only 10,5% of HCWs had had no indication at all of having had SARS-CoV-2 infection (“truly asymptomatic”). Our findings provide a unique quantification of the different groups of asymptomatic, potentially infectious HCWs. Public Library of Science 2021-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8682911/ /pubmed/34919570 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260453 Text en © 2021 Pimenoff et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Pimenoff, Ville N.
Elfström, Miriam
Conneryd Lundgren, Kalle
Klevebro, Susanna
Melen, Erik
Dillner, Joakim
Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers
title Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers
title_full Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers
title_fullStr Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers
title_full_unstemmed Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers
title_short Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers
title_sort potential sars-cov-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8682911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34919570
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260453
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