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Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg?

The Omicron variant of concern (VOC), first detected in Italy at the end of November 2021, has since spread rapidly, despite high vaccine coverage in the Italian population, especially in healthcare workers (HCWs). This study describes an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection in 15 booster-vaccin...

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Autores principales: Loconsole, Daniela, Bisceglia, Lucia, Centrone, Francesca, Sallustio, Anna, Accogli, Marisa, Dalfino, Lidia, Brienza, Nicola, Chironna, Maria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8880534/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35214741
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10020283
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author Loconsole, Daniela
Bisceglia, Lucia
Centrone, Francesca
Sallustio, Anna
Accogli, Marisa
Dalfino, Lidia
Brienza, Nicola
Chironna, Maria
author_facet Loconsole, Daniela
Bisceglia, Lucia
Centrone, Francesca
Sallustio, Anna
Accogli, Marisa
Dalfino, Lidia
Brienza, Nicola
Chironna, Maria
author_sort Loconsole, Daniela
collection PubMed
description The Omicron variant of concern (VOC), first detected in Italy at the end of November 2021, has since spread rapidly, despite high vaccine coverage in the Italian population, especially in healthcare workers (HCWs). This study describes an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection in 15 booster-vaccinated HCWs. On 16 December 2021, two HCWs working in the same ward were infected with SARS-CoV-2. The Omicron VOC was suspected due to S gene target failure on molecular testing. Further investigation revealed that 15 (65%) of 23 HCWs attending a social gathering on 13 December were infected with Omicron, as shown by whole-genome sequencing, with a phylogenetic tree suggesting a common source of exposure. Five of these HCWs experienced mild symptoms. A patient with multiple chronic conditions hospitalized in the same ward was also infected by one of the HCWs involved in the outbreak. Despite being booster vaccinated, this patient required ICU treatment. Ten subjects achieved negativity in 10–19 days. The outbreak in booster-vaccinated subjects confirms the high transmissibility and immune evasion of the Omicron VOC. More stringent non-pharmaceutical interventions, administration of booster doses, and genomic surveillance are crucial long-term strategies to mitigate the consequences of the spread of the Omicron VOC.
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spelling pubmed-88805342022-02-26 Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg? Loconsole, Daniela Bisceglia, Lucia Centrone, Francesca Sallustio, Anna Accogli, Marisa Dalfino, Lidia Brienza, Nicola Chironna, Maria Vaccines (Basel) Article The Omicron variant of concern (VOC), first detected in Italy at the end of November 2021, has since spread rapidly, despite high vaccine coverage in the Italian population, especially in healthcare workers (HCWs). This study describes an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection in 15 booster-vaccinated HCWs. On 16 December 2021, two HCWs working in the same ward were infected with SARS-CoV-2. The Omicron VOC was suspected due to S gene target failure on molecular testing. Further investigation revealed that 15 (65%) of 23 HCWs attending a social gathering on 13 December were infected with Omicron, as shown by whole-genome sequencing, with a phylogenetic tree suggesting a common source of exposure. Five of these HCWs experienced mild symptoms. A patient with multiple chronic conditions hospitalized in the same ward was also infected by one of the HCWs involved in the outbreak. Despite being booster vaccinated, this patient required ICU treatment. Ten subjects achieved negativity in 10–19 days. The outbreak in booster-vaccinated subjects confirms the high transmissibility and immune evasion of the Omicron VOC. More stringent non-pharmaceutical interventions, administration of booster doses, and genomic surveillance are crucial long-term strategies to mitigate the consequences of the spread of the Omicron VOC. MDPI 2022-02-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8880534/ /pubmed/35214741 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10020283 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Loconsole, Daniela
Bisceglia, Lucia
Centrone, Francesca
Sallustio, Anna
Accogli, Marisa
Dalfino, Lidia
Brienza, Nicola
Chironna, Maria
Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg?
title Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg?
title_full Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg?
title_fullStr Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg?
title_full_unstemmed Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg?
title_short Autochthonous Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Booster-Vaccinated (3 Doses) Healthcare Workers in Southern Italy: Just the Tip of the Iceberg?
title_sort autochthonous outbreak of sars-cov-2 omicron variant in booster-vaccinated (3 doses) healthcare workers in southern italy: just the tip of the iceberg?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8880534/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35214741
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10020283
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