Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-nwwvg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-22T01:22:34.039Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Low infectivity among asymptomatic patients with a positive severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) admission test at a tertiary care center, 2020–2022

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2023

Ralph Tayyar Open the ORCID record for Ralph Tayyar [Opens in a new window] ,
Melanie A. Kiener Open the ORCID record for Melanie A. Kiener [Opens in a new window] ,
Jane W. Liang Open the ORCID record for Jane W. Liang [Opens in a new window] ,
Gustavo Contreras Open the ORCID record for Gustavo Contreras [Opens in a new window] ,
Guillermo Rodriguez-Nava Open the ORCID record for Guillermo Rodriguez-Nava [Opens in a new window] ,
Alex N. Zimmet Open the ORCID record for Alex N. Zimmet [Opens in a new window] ,
Caitlin A. Contag Open the ORCID record for Caitlin A. Contag [Opens in a new window] ,
Krithika Srinivasan ,
Karen McIntyre  and
Aruna Subramanian
...Show all authors
Ralph Tayyar
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Melanie A. Kiener*
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Jane W. Liang
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Gustavo Contreras
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Guillermo Rodriguez-Nava
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Alex N. Zimmet
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Caitlin A. Contag
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Krithika Srinivasan
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Karen McIntyre
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Aruna Subramanian
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
John Shepard
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Lucy S. Tompkins
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Benjamin A. Pinsky
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Jorge L. Salinas
Affiliation:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
*
Author for correspondence: Melanie A. Kiener, MD, Infectious Diseases–Stanford Medicine, 300 Pasteur Dr, L-134, Stanford, CA 94035. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We used a strand-specific RT-qPCR to evaluate viral replication as a surrogate for infectiousness among 242 asymptomatic inpatients with a positive severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) admission test. Only 21 patients (9%) had detectable SARS-CoV-2 minus-strand RNA. Because most patients were found to be noninfectious, our findings support the suspension of asymptomatic admission testing.

Type
Concise Communication
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , February 2024 , pp. 241 - 243
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

a

Authors of equal contribution.

References

Larsen, CG, Bub, CD, Schaffler, BC, Walden, T, Intravia, JM. The impact of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection on ambulatory procedures and associated delays in care for asymptomatic patients. Surgery 2021;169:1340–1345.10.1016/j.surg.2021.01.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullard, J, Dust, K, Funk, D, et al. Predicting infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from diagnostic samples. Clin Infect Dis 2020;71:2663–2666.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singanayagam, A, Patel, M, Charlett, A, et al. Duration of infectiousness and correlation with RT-PCR cycle threshold values in cases of COVID-19, England, January to May 2020. Euro Surveill 2020;25:2001483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hogan, CA, Huang, C, Sahoo, MK, et al. Strand-specific reverse transcription PCR for detection of replicating SARS-CoV-2. Emerg Infect Dis 2021;27:632–635.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Srinivasan, V, Gohil, SK, Abeles, SR, et al. Finding a needle in a haystack: the hidden costs of asymptomatic testing in a low incidence setting. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2022;43:1525–1526.10.1017/ice.2021.288CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adjei, S, Hong, K, Molinari, NM, et al. Mortality risk among patients hospitalized primarily for COVID-19 during the omicron and delta variant pandemic periods—United States, April 2020–June 2022. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:1182–1189.10.15585/mmwr.mm7137a4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azzolini, E, Levi, R, Sarti, R, et al. Association between BNT162b2 vaccination and long COVID after infections not requiring hospitalization in healthcare workers. JAMA 2022;328:676–678.10.1001/jama.2022.11691CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xie, Y, Choi, T, and Al-Aly, Z. Nirmatrelvir and the risk of postacute sequelae of COVID-19. medRxiv 2022. doi: 10.1101/2022.11.03.22281783.Google Scholar
Talbot, TR, Hayden, MK, Yokoe, DS, et al. Asymptomatic screening for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as an infection prevention measure in healthcare facilities: challenges and considerations. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2023;44:2–7.10.1017/ice.2022.295CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alsuhaibani, MA, Kobayashi, T, Trannel, A. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) admission screening and assessment of infectiousness at an academic medical center in Iowa, 2020. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2022;43:974–978.10.1017/ice.2021.294CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: Image

Tayyar et al. supplementary material

Tayyar et al. supplementary material

Download Tayyar et al. supplementary material(Image)
Image 290.5 KB