Article
Immunology
Jenna R. Gettings, Jeremy A. W. Gold, Anne Kimball, Kaitlin Forsberg, Colleen Scott, Anna Uehara, Suxiang Tong, Marisa Hast, Megan R. Swanson, Elana Morris, Emeka Oraka, Olivia Almendares, Ebony S. Thomas, Lemlem Mehari, Jazmyn McCloud, Gurleen Roberts, Deanna Crosby, Abirami Balajee, Eleanor Burnett, Rebecca J. Chancey, Peter Cook, Morgane Donadel, Catherine Espinosa, Mary E. Evans, Katherine E. Fleming-Dutra, Catalina Forero, Esther A. Kukielka, Yan Li, Paula L. Marcet, Kiren Mitruka, Jasmine Y. Nakayama, Yoshinori Nakazawa, Michelle O'Hegarty, Caroline Pratt, Marion E. Rice, Roxana M. Rodriguez Stewart, Raquel Sabogal, Emanny Sanchez, Andres Velasco-Villa, Mark K. Weng, Jing Zhang, Grant Rivera, Tonia Parrott, Rachel Franklin, Janet Memark, Cherie Drenzek, Aron J. Hall, Hannah L. Kirking, Jacqueline E. Tate, Snigdha Vallabhaneni
Summary: This study assessed the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a Georgia school district. The results showed that indoor sports activities, staff meetings/lunches, and elementary school classrooms were high-risk environments for transmission, and staff members and symptomatic index cases were more likely to cause transmission. Preventing staff infections and conducting contact tracing are critical to reducing in-school transmission.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Marisa Hast, Megan Swanson, Colleen Scott, Emeka Oraka, Catherine Espinosa, Eleanor Burnett, Esther A. Kukielka, Marion E. Rice, Lemlem Mehari, Jazmyn McCloud, Danielle Miller, Rachel Franklin, Jacqueline E. Tate, Hannah L. Kirking, Elana Morris
Summary: This study investigated COVID-19 risk behaviors and their association with SARS-CoV-2 positivity among unvaccinated school staff and students. The results revealed the presence of various risk behaviors in schools, such as unmasked indoor activities and social gatherings. Student sports participation and contact with teachers were significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Therefore, reducing close-contact indoor sports and promoting mask use in unvaccinated individuals are crucial measures to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Manoj Murhekar, Tarun Bhatnagar, Jeromie Wesley Vivian Thangaraj, V Saravanakumar, Muthusamy Santhosh Kumar, Sriram Selvaraju, Kiran Rade, C. P. Girish Kumar, R. Sabarinathan, Alka Turuk, Smita Asthana, Rakesh Balachandar, Sampada Dipak Bangar, Avi Kumar Bansal, Vishal Chopra, Dasarathi Das, Alok Kumar Deb, Kangjam Rekha Devi, Vikas Dhikav, Gaurav Raj Dwivedi, S. Muhammad Salim Khan, M. Sunil Kumar, Avula Laxmaiah, Major Madhukar, Amarendra Mahapatra, Chethana Rangaraju, Jyotirmayee Turuk, Rajiv Yadav, Rushikesh Andhalkar, K. Arunraj, Dinesh Kumar Bharadwaj, Pravin Bharti, Debdutta Bhattacharya, Jyothi Bhat, Ashrafjit S. Chahal, Debjit Chakraborty, Anshuman Chaudhury, Hirawati Deval, Sarang Dhatrak, Rakesh Dayal, D. Elantamilan, Prathiksha Giridharan, Inaamul Haq, Ramesh Kumar Hudda, Babu Jagjeevan, Arshad Kalliath, Srikanta Kanungo, Nivethitha N. Krishnan, Jaya Singh Kshatri, Alok Kumar, Niraj Kumar, V. G. Vinoth Kumar, G. G. J. Naga Lakshmi, Ganesh Mehta, Nandan Kumar Mishra, Anindya Mitra, K. Nagbhushanam, Arlappa Nimmathota, A. R. Nirmala, Ashok Kumar Pandey, Ganta Venkata Prasad, Mariya Amin Qurieshi, Sirasanambatti Devarajulu Reddy, Aby Robinson, Seema Sahay, Rochak Saxena, Krithikaa Sekar, Vijay Kumar Shukla, Hari Bhan Singh, Prashant Kumar Singh, Pushpendra Singh, Rajeev Singh, Nivetha Srinivasan, Dantuluri Sheethal Varma, Ankit Viramgami, Vimith Cheruvathoor Wilson, Surabhi Yadav, Suresh Yadav, Kamran Zaman, Amit Chakrabarti, Aparup Das, R. S. Dhaliwal, Shanta Dutta, Rajni Kant, A. M. Khan, Kanwar Narain, Somashekar Narasimhaiah, Chandrasekaran Padmapriyadarshini, Krishna Pandey, Sanghamitra Pati, Shripad Patil, Hemalatha Rajkumar, Tekumalla Ramarao, Y. K. Sharma, Shalini Singh, Samiran Panda, D. C. S. Reddy, Balram Bhargava
Summary: The third serosurvey conducted in India between December 2020 and January 2021 revealed that nearly one in four individuals aged >10 years from the general population as well as healthcare workers had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020, with seroprevalence rates of 24.1% and 25.6% respectively.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Leigh Ellyn Preston, Araceli Rey, Simone Dumas, Andrea Rodriguez, Alida M. Gertz, Kristin C. Delea, Francisco Alvarado-Ramy, Deborah L. Christensen, Clive Brown, Tai -Ho Chen
Summary: This study examined trends in the number of COVID-19 infectious travelers in relation to vaccination rates and overall SARS-CoV-2 cases in the United States. The majority of travelers were asymptomatic during travel, indicating unknowing transmission. During periods of high community transmission, vaccination and mask-wearing are important for reducing the risk of transmission.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Peter M. DeJonge, Ian W. Pray, Ronald Gangnon, Katherine Mccoy, Carrie Tomasallo, Jonathan Meiman
Summary: In Wisconsin's K-12 school districts, a policy that required students and staff to wear masks was associated with significantly reduced risk of COVID-19 among in-person educators across all grade levels.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Summer E. Galloway, Prabasaj Paul, Duncan R. MacCannell, Michael A. Johansson, John T. Brooks, Adam MacNeil, Rachel B. Slayton, Suxiang Tong, Benjamin J. Silk, Gregory L. Armstrong, Matthew Biggerstaff, Vivien G. Dugan
Summary: The B.1.1.7 variant poses an increased threat to public health, which requires stronger mitigation strategies and higher vaccination coverage. Strengthening genomic surveillance systems and expanding sequencing efforts will enable timely identification and response to concerning variants.
MMWR-MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Jeremy A. W. Gold, Stacey Adjei, Adi V. Gundlapalli, Ya-Lin A. Huang, Tom Chiller, Kaitlin Benedict, Mitsuru Toda
Summary: Hospitalizations due to fungal infections in the US increased by 8.5% annually from 2019 to 2021. In 2020-2021, patients hospitalized with COVID-19-associated fungal infections had a higher in-hospital mortality rate (48.5%) compared to those with non-COVID-19-associated fungal infections (12.3%). Enhanced surveillance of fungal diseases is necessary, especially during respiratory virus pandemics.
EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Allison T. Chamberlain, Kathleen E. Toomey, Heather Bradley, Eric W. Hall, Mansour Fahimi, Benjamin A. Lopman, Nicole Luisi, Travis Sanchez, Cherie Drenzek, Kayoko Shioda, Aaron J. Siegler, Patrick Sean Sullivan
Summary: Using data from a probability survey of households in Georgia, United States, it was estimated that 1.3 million adults aged 18 and above had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 by November 16, 2020. One in four infections were reported and the infection fatality ratio was 0.78%. The study found that reported COVID-19 cases underestimated the true number of infections and data on asymptomatic infections are needed. The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections adjusted for antibody waning was estimated to be 16.1%, with higher seropositivity rates observed among non-Hispanic black and Hispanic adults compared to non-Hispanic white adults.
JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Editorial Material
Medicine, General & Internal
Tom T. Shimabukuro, Matthew Cole, John R. Su
Summary: This JAMA Insights review provides clinical details of anaphylactic reactions reported to and verified by the CDC in the first month of use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in the US, December 14, 2020-January 18, 2021.
JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Aaron J. Tande, Matthew J. Binnicker, Henry H. Ting, Carlos Del Rio, Lindsey Jalil, Matthew Brawner, Peter W. Carter, Kathleen Toomey, Nilay D. Shah, Elie F. Berbari
Summary: Research shows that having a negative SARS-CoV-2 molecular test within 72 hours before departure can reduce the risk of infection on commercial flights. During times of high prevalence, there may be 1 infected passenger per 1970 travelers.
MAYO CLINIC PROCEEDINGS
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Liesl M. Hagan, Charles Dusseau, Michael Crockett, Tami Rodriguez, Michael J. Long
Summary: The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in the United States carried out COVID-19 vaccine distribution operations from December 2020 to April 2021, achieving vaccination coverage rates of 50.2% for staff and 64.2% for incarcerated individuals. Vaccination coverage in BOP was comparable to the overall adult population in the states and territories where BOP facilities are located. Factors associated with lower vaccination acceptance among incarcerated individuals included younger age, female sex, non Hispanic Black and Asian race/ethnicity, and few underlying medical conditions, while higher acceptance was associated with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and being born outside the United States.
Article
Immunology
Sridhar Basavaraju, Monica E. Patton, Kacie Grimm, Mohammed Ata Ur Rasheed, Sandra Lester, Lisa Mills, Megan Stumpf, Brandi Freeman, Azaibi Tamin, Jennifer Harcourt, Jarad Schiffer, Vera Semenova, Han Li, Bailey Alston, Muyiwa Ategbole, Shanna Bolcen, Darbi Boulay, Peter Browning, Li Cronin, Ebenezer David, Rita Desai, Monica Epperson, Yamini Gorantla, Tao Jia, Panagiotis Maniatis, Kimberly Moss, Kristina Ortiz, So Hee Park, Palak Patel, Yunlong Qin, Evelene Steward-Clark, Heather Tatum, Andrew Vogan, Briana Zellner, Jan Drobeniuc, Matthew R. P. Sapiano, Fiona Havers, Carrie Reed, Susan Gerber, Natalie J. Thornburg, Susan L. Stramer
Summary: Residual archived samples from blood donations in the United States showed presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies prior to January 19, 2020, suggesting that the virus might have been introduced into the country earlier than previously thought.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Janko van Beek, Gwen Teesing, Bas B. Oude Munnink, Abraham Meima, Henrike J. Vriend, Jessica Elzakkers, Miranda de Graaf, Jeroen Langeveld, Gert-Jan Medema, Richard Molenkamp, Helene Voeten, Ewout Fanoy, Marion Koopmans
Summary: An outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant occurred at a primary school in Lansingerland, the Netherlands, and subsequently spread to neighboring schools and households. The study found that the secondary attack rate of the Alpha variant was significantly higher in households compared to other variants. Additionally, sequence analysis revealed multiple introductions of the Alpha variant in Lansingerland during the study period.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Elizabeth Robilotti, Karissa Whiting, Anabella Lucca, Chester Poon, Krupa Jani, Tracy McMillen, Scott Freeswick, Deborah Korenstein, N. Esther Babady, Venkatraman E. Seshan, Mini Kamboj
Summary: This study compares the effectiveness of 2-dose and 3-dose mRNA vaccines in healthcare workers during the Omicron variant dominance. The results show that 3-dose vaccination provides better protection against COVID-19 infection compared to 2-dose vaccination during the Omicron surge.
CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Ryan M. Close, Kateri Coles, Laura A. Enos, J. T. Nashio, James B. McAuley
Summary: SARS-CoV-2 has exposed limitations of public health mitigation measures such as traditional case investigations and contact tracing. An innovative case investigation contact tracing approach was developed at the Whiteriver Service Unit, a rural, acute care hospital on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. During the second wave of COVID-19, all newly identified cases were investigated and the majority of contacts were notified. Their experience suggests that when adapted based on local needs, case investigation and contact tracing remain valuable and feasible public health tools.
PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS
(2022)
