| Title: |
Screening of healthcare workers for SARS-CoV-2 highlights the role of asymptomatic carriage in COVID-19 transmission |
| Authors: |
Rivett, Lucy; Sridhar, Sushmita; Sparkes, Dominic; Routledge, Matthew; Jones, Nick K; Forrest, Sally; Young, Jamie; Pereira-Dias, Joana; Hamilton, William L; Ferris, Mark; Torok, M Estee; Meredith, Luke; The CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration; Curran, Martin D; Fuller, Stewart; Chaudhry, Afzal; Shaw, Ashley; Samworth, Richard J; Bradley, John R; Dougan, Gordon; Smith, Kenneth GC; Lehner, Paul J; Matheson, Nicholas J; Wright, Giles; Goodfellow, Ian G; Baker, Stephen; Weekes, Michael P; Gupta, Ravi; Lyons, Paul A; Toshner, Mark; Warne, Ben; Bartholdson Scott, Josefin; Cormie, Claire; Gill, Harmeet; Kean, Iain; Maes, Mailis; Reynolds, Nicola; Wantoch, Michelle; Caddy, Sarah; Caller, Laura; Feltwell, Theresa; Hall, Grant; Hosmillo, Myra; Houldcroft, Charlotte; Jahun, Aminu; Khokhar, Fahad; Yakovleva, Anna; Butcher, Helen; Caputo, Daniela; Clapham-Riley, Debra; Dolling, Helen; Furlong, Anita; Graves, Barbara; Gresley, Emma Le; Kingston, Nathalie; Papadia, Sofia; Stark, Hannah; Stirrups, Kathleen E; Webster, Jennifer; Calder, Joanna; Harris, Julie; Hewitt, Sarah; Kennet, Jane; Meadows, Anne; Rastall, Rebecca; Brien, Criona O; Price, Jo; Publico, Cherry; Rowlands, Jane; Ruffolo, Valentina; Tordesillas, Hugo; Brookes, Karen; Canna, Laura; Cruz, Isabel; Dempsey, Katie; Elmer, Anne; Escoffery, Naidine; Jones, Heather; Ribeiro, Carla; Saunders, Caroline; Wright, Angela; Nyagumbo, Rutendo; Roberts, Anne; Bucke, Ashlea; Hargreaves, Simone; Johnson, Danielle; Narcorda, Aileen; Read, Debbie; Sparke, Christian; Warboys, Lucy; Lagadu, Kirsty; Mactavous, Lenette; Gould, Tim; Raine, Tim; Mather, Claire; Ramenatte, Nicola; Vallier, Anne-Laure; Kasanicki, Mary; Eames, Penelope-Jane; McNicholas, Chris; Thake, Lisa; Bartholomew, Neil; Brown, Nick; Parmar, Surendra; Zhang, Hongyi; Bowring, Ailsa; Martell, Geraldine; Quinnell, Natalie; Wright, Jo; Murphy, Helen; Dunmore, Benjamin J; Legchenko, Ekaterina; Gräf, Stefan; Huang, Christopher; Hodgson, Josh; Hunter, Kelvin; Martin, Jennifer; Mescia, Federica; O'Donnell, Ciara; Pointon, Linda; Shih, Joy; Sutcliffe, Rachel; Tilly, Tobias; Tong, Zhen; Treacy, Carmen; Wood, Jennifer; Bergamaschi, Laura; Betancourt, Ariana; Bowyer, Georgie; De Sa, Aloka; Epping, Maddie; Hinch, Andrew; Huhn, Oisin; Jarvis, Isobel; Lewis, Daniel; Marsden, Joe; McCallum, Simon; Nice, Francescsa |
| Publisher Information: |
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd; eLife |
| Publication Year: |
2020 |
| Collection: |
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository |
| Subject Terms: |
Research Article; Epidemiology and Global Health; Human Biology and Medicine; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; infectious disease; virology; occupational health; emerging pathogens; Human; Virus |
| Description: |
Funder: Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals; FundRef: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002927 ; Significant differences exist in the availability of healthcare worker (HCW) SARS-CoV-2 testing between countries, and existing programmes focus on screening symptomatic rather than asymptomatic staff. Over a 3 week period (April 2020), 1032 asymptomatic HCWs were screened for SARS-CoV-2 in a large UK teaching hospital. Symptomatic staff and symptomatic household contacts were additionally tested. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect viral RNA from a throat+nose self-swab. 3% of HCWs in the asymptomatic screening group tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 17/30 (57%) were truly asymptomatic/pauci-symptomatic. 12/30 (40%) had experienced symptoms compatible with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)>7 days prior to testing, most self-isolating, returning well. Clusters of HCW infection were discovered on two independent wards. Viral genome sequencing showed that the majority of HCWs had the dominant lineage B∙1. Our data demonstrates the utility of comprehensive screening of HCWs with minimal or no symptoms. This approach will be critical for protecting patients and hospital staff. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf; application/zip; text/xml |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/307248 |
| DOI: |
10.17863/CAM.54345 |
| Availability: |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/307248; https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.54345 |
| Rights: |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.2FDD1888 |
| Database: |
BASE |