tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Hosp Infect
. 2021 Jun 4;S0195-6701(21)00221-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2021.05.017. Online ahead of print.
Healthcare workers acquired COVID-19 disease from patients? An investigation by phylogenomics
River Chun-Wai Wong[SUP] 1 [/SUP], May Kin-Ping Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Gilman Kit-Hang Siu[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Lam-Kwong Lee[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jake Siu-Lun Leung[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Eddie Chi-Man Leung[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Yolanda Iok-Ieng Ho[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Raymond Wai-Man Lai[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
The increasing number of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the community has posed a significant epidemic pressure to the healthcare settings. When healthcare workers (HCWs) acquire COVID-19, contact tracing and epidemiological investigation might not be adequate for determining the source of transmission. Here, we report a phylogenetic investigation involving two infected HCWs and nine patients to determine whether patient-to-HCWs transmission had occurred in a hospital without a previous COVID-19 outbreak. This is the first study to apply phylogenomics to investigate suspected nosocomial transmission in a region with low prevalence of COVID-19. Our results do not support the occurrence of direct patient-to-HCWs transmission.
Keywords: COVID-19 disease; Epidemiological analysis; Healthcare workers; Phylogenomics; SARS-CoV-2; Whole genome sequencing.
. 2021 Jun 4;S0195-6701(21)00221-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2021.05.017. Online ahead of print.
Healthcare workers acquired COVID-19 disease from patients? An investigation by phylogenomics
River Chun-Wai Wong[SUP] 1 [/SUP], May Kin-Ping Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Gilman Kit-Hang Siu[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Lam-Kwong Lee[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jake Siu-Lun Leung[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Eddie Chi-Man Leung[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Yolanda Iok-Ieng Ho[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Raymond Wai-Man Lai[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34098050
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2021.05.017
Abstract
The increasing number of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the community has posed a significant epidemic pressure to the healthcare settings. When healthcare workers (HCWs) acquire COVID-19, contact tracing and epidemiological investigation might not be adequate for determining the source of transmission. Here, we report a phylogenetic investigation involving two infected HCWs and nine patients to determine whether patient-to-HCWs transmission had occurred in a hospital without a previous COVID-19 outbreak. This is the first study to apply phylogenomics to investigate suspected nosocomial transmission in a region with low prevalence of COVID-19. Our results do not support the occurrence of direct patient-to-HCWs transmission.
Keywords: COVID-19 disease; Epidemiological analysis; Healthcare workers; Phylogenomics; SARS-CoV-2; Whole genome sequencing.