Nosocomial or not? A combined epidemiological and genomic investigation to understand hospital-acquired COVID-19 infection on an elderly care ward.

ABSTRACT:

Background

COVID-19 has the potential to cause outbreaks in hospitals. Given the comorbid and elderly cohort of patients hospitalized, hospital-acquired COVID-19 infection is often fatal. Pathogen genome sequencing is becoming increasingly important in infection prevention and control (IPC).

Aim

To inform the understanding of in-hospital SARS-CoV-2 transmission in order to improve IPC practices and to inform the future development of virological testing for IPC.

Methods

Patients detected COVID-19 positive by polymerase chain reaction on Ward A in April and May 2020 were included with contact tracing to identify other potential cases. Genome sequencing was undertaken for a subgroup of cases. Epidemiological, genomic, and cluster analyses were performed to describe the

SUBMITTER: Wenlock RD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8397489 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature