Abstract
Objectives: To report a prospective epidemiological, virological and serological investigation of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in a primary school.
Methods: As part of a longitudinal, prospective, school-based surveillance study, this investigation involved repeated testing of 73 pupils, 9 teachers, 13 non-teaching staff and 26 household members of participants who tested positive, with rapid antigen tests and/or RT-PCR (Day 0-2 and Day 5-7), serologies on dried capillary blood samples (Day 0-2 and Day 30), contact tracing interviews and SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing.
Results: We identified 20 children (aged 4 to 6 years from 4 school classes), 2 teachers and a total of 4 household members who were infected by the Alpha variant during this outbreak. Infection attack rates were between 11.8 and 62.0% among pupils from the 4 school classes, 22.2% among teachers and 0% among non-teaching staff. Secondary attack rate among household members was 15.4%. Symptoms were reported by 63% of infected children, 100% of teachers and 50% of household members. All analysed sequences but one showed 100% identity. Serological tests detected 8 seroconversions unidentified by SARS-CoV-2 virological tests.
Conclusions: This study confirmed child-to-child and child-to-adult SARS-CoV-2 transmission and introduction into households. Effective measures to limit transmission in schools have the potential to reduce the overall community circulation.
【초록키워드】 serological test, SARS-CoV-2, serology, children, primary school, Sequencing, Contact tracing, Transmission, RT-PCR, secondary attack rate, Rapid antigen tests, Schools, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, Whole genome sequencing, Seroconversion, Serological tests, rapid antigen test, Surveillance, outbreak, attack rate, Child, Households, Community, Alpha, epidemiological, School, Alpha variant, circulation, serological, Pupils, attack rates, identity, Virological, sequence, measure, participant, positive, virological tests, capillary blood, whole genome, infected children, pupil, repeated, limit, secondary, tested, were infected, involved, reported, Day, analysed, reduce, 【제목키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, outbreak, serological, Virological,