SARS‐CoV‐2 infection‐induced immunity and the duration of viral shedding: Results from a Nicaraguan household cohort study

BACKGROUND: Much of the world's population has been infected with SARS‐CoV‐2. Thus, immunity from prior infection will play a critical role in future SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission. We investigated the impact of infection‐induced immunity on viral shedding duration and viral load. METHODS: We conducted a household cohort study in Managua, Nicaragua, with an embedded transmission study that closely monitors participants regardless of symptoms. Real‐time reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to measure infections and seropositivity, respectively. Blood samples were collected twice annually and surrounding household intensive monitoring periods. We used accelerated failure time models to compare shedding times. Participants vaccinated ≥14 days prior to infection were excluded from primary analyses. RESULTS: There were 600 RT‐PCR‐confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 infections in unvaccinated participants between May 1, 2020, and March 10, 2022, with prior ELISA data. Prior infection was associated with 48% shorter shedding times (event time ratio [ETR] 0.52, 95% CI: 0.39–0.69, mean shedding: 13.7 vs. 26.4 days). A fourfold higher anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 spike titer was associated with 17% shorter shedding (ETR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.78–0.90). Similarly, maximum viral loads (lowest cycle threshold [CT]) were lower for previously infected individuals (mean CT 29.8 vs. 28.0, p = 4.02 × 10(−3)), for adults and children ≥10 years, but not for children 0–9 years; there was little difference in CT levels for previously infected versus naïve adults aged above 60 years. CONCLUSIONS: Prior infection‐induced immunity was associated with shorter viral shedding and lower viral loads, which may be important in the transition from pandemic to endemicity.