Dataset Information

Implemented occupational health surveillance limits the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron at the workplace.

ABSTRACT: The global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has put an enormous pressure on human societies, at both health and economic levels. Early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has proved an efficient method to rapidly isolate positive individuals and reduce transmission rates, thus alleviating its negative impact on society's well-being and economic growth. In this work, through a coordinated and centralized effort to monitor SARS-CoV-2 circulation in companies from the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we have detected and linked an early rise of infection rates in January 2022 to the introduction of the Omicron variant of concern (VoC) (BA.1). Interestingly, when the Omicron genomic isolates were compared to correlates from public datasets, it was revealed that introduction events were multiple, with possible migration routes mapping to: Mali; Oman and United States; and Italy, Latin America, and United States. In addition, we have built a haplotype network with our genomic dataset and found no strong evidence of transmission chains, between and within companies. Considering Omicron's particularly high transmissibility, and that most of our samples (>87%) arose from 3 out of 10 companies, these findings suggest that workers from such environments were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 outside their company boundaries. Thus, using a mixed strategy in which quick molecular diagnosis finds support in comprehensive genomic analysis, we have shown that a successfully implemented occupational health program should contribute to document emerging VoC and to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 at the workplace.

SUBMITTER: Gesto JSM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9468326 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Implemented occupational health surveillance limits the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron at the workplace.

Gesto João Silveira Moledo JSM Cabanelas Adriana A Farjun Bruna B Dos Santos Monique Cristina MC Fidalgo-Neto Antonio A AA Kuriyama Sergio N SN Souza Thiago Moreno L TML

Frontiers in medicine 20220830

The global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has put an enormous pressure on human societies, at both health and economic levels. Early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has proved an efficient method to rapidly isolate positive individuals and reduce transmission rates, thus alleviating its negative impact on society's well-being and economic growth. In this work, through a coordinated and centralized ef ...[more]

PMID: 36111122

Similar Datasets

Project description:Routine testing for SARS-CoV-2 is rare for institutes of higher education due to prohibitive costs and supply chain delays. During spring 2021, we routinely tested all residential students 1 to 2 times per week using pooled, RNA-extraction-free, reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) testing of saliva at a cost of $0.43/sample with same-day results. The limit of detection was 500 copies/ml on individual samples, and analysis indicates 1,000 and 2,500 copies/ml in pools of 5 and 10, respectively, which is orders of magnitude more sensitive than rapid antigen tests. Importantly, saliva testing flagged 83% of semester positives (43,884 tests administered) and was 95.6% concordant with nasopharyngeal diagnostic results (69.0% concordant on the first test when the nucleocapsid gene (N1) cycle threshold (CT) value was >30). Moreover, testing reduced weekly cases by 59.9% in the spring despite far looser restrictions, allowing for more normalcy while eliminating outbreaks. We also coupled our testing with a survey to clarify symptoms and transmissibility among college-age students. While only 8.5% remained asymptomatic throughout, symptoms were disparate and often cold-like (e.g., only 37.3% developed a fever), highlighting the difficulty with relying on symptom monitoring among this demographic. Based on reported symptom progression, we estimate that we removed 348 days of infectious individuals by routine testing. Interestingly, viral load (CT value) at the time of testing did not affect transmissibility (R2 = 0.0085), though those experiencing noticeable symptoms at the time of testing were more likely to spread the virus to close contacts (31.6% versus 14.3%). Together, our findings support routine testing for reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Implementation of cost- and resource-efficient approaches should receive strong consideration in communities that lack herd immunity. IMPORTANCE This study highlights the utility of routine testing for SARS-CoV-2 using pooled saliva while maintaining high sensitivity of detection (under 2,500 copies/ml) and rapid turnaround of high volume (up to 930 samples in 8 h by two technicians and one quantitative PCR [qPCR] machine). This pooled approach allowed us to test all residential students 1 to 2 times per week on our college campus during the spring of 2021 and flagged 83% of our semester positives. Most students were asymptomatic or presented with symptoms mirroring common colds at the time of testing, allowing for removal of infectious individuals before they otherwise would have sought testing. To our knowledge, the total per-sample consumable cost of $0.43 is the lowest to date. With many communities still lagging in vaccination rates, routine testing that is cost-efficient highlights the capacity of the laboratory's role in controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Project description:The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has drastically affected the world economy, raised public anxiety, and placed a substantial psychological burden on the governments and healthcare professionals by affecting over 4.7 million people worldwide. As a preventive measure to minimise the risk of community transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in India, a nationwide lockdown was imposed initially for 21 days to limit the movement of 1.3 billion people. These restrictions continue in most areas, with a conditional relaxation occurring in a few Indian states. In an attempt to assess the emerging mutants of SARS-CoV-2 and determine their spread in India, we analysed 112 complete genomes of SARS-CoV-2 in a time-lapse manner. We found 72 distinct SARS-CoV-2 haplotypes, defined by 143 polymorphic sites and high haplotype diversity, suggesting that this virus possesses a high evolutionary potential. We also demonstrated that early introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into India was from China, Italy and Iran and observed signs of community spread of the virus following its rapid demographic expansion since its first outbreak in the country. Additionally, we identified 18 mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and a few selected mutations showed to increase stability, binding affinity, and molecular flexibility in the overall tertiary structure of the protein that may facilitate interaction between the receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike protein and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. The study provides a pragmatic view of haplotype-dependent spread of SARS-CoV-2 in India which could be important in tailoring the pharmacologic treatments to be more effective for those infected with the most common haplotypes. The findings based on the time-lapse sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 will aid in the development of a real-time practical framework to tackle the ongoing, fast-evolving epidemic challenges in the country.

Dataset Information

Implemented occupational health surveillance limits the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron at the workplace.

Publications

Implemented occupational health surveillance limits the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron at the workplace.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets