Age-related risk of household transmission of COVID-19 in Singapore.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Pung R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7646651 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Respiratory failure in COVID-19 is characterized by widespread disruption of the lung’s alveolar gas exchange interface. To elucidate determinants of alveolar lung damage, we performed epithelial and immune cell profiling in lungs from 24 COVID-19 autopsies and 43 uninfected organ donors ages 18-92 years. We found marked loss of type 2 alveolar epithelial (T2AE) cells and increased peri-alveolar lymphocyte cytotoxicity in all fatal COVID-19 cases, even at early stages before typical patterns of acute lung injury are histologically apparent. In lungs from uninfected organ donors, there is also progressive loss of T2AE with increasing age which may increase susceptibility to COVID-19 mediated lung damage in older individuals. In the fatal COVID-19 cases, macrophage infiltration differed according to the histopathological pattern of lung injury. In cases with acute lung injury, we found accumulation of CD4+ macrophages that express distinctly high levels of T-cell activation and co-stimulation genes and strongly correlate with increased extent of alveolar epithelial cell depletion and CD8 T-cell cytotoxicity. Together, our results show that T2AE deficiency may underlie age-related COVID-19 risk and initiate alveolar dysfunction shortly after infection; and we define immune cell mediators that may contribute to alveolar injury in distinct pathological stages of fatal COVID-19.
2022-04-19 | GSE200988 | GEO
Project description:Household habitat conditions matter for diseases transmission and control, especially in the case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). These conditions include availability and adequacy of sanitation facilities, and number of persons per room. Despite this, little attention is being paid to these conditions as a pathway to understanding the transmission and prevention of COVID-19, especially in Africa, where household habitat conditions are largely suboptimal. This study assesses household sanitation and isolation capacities to understand the COVID-19 transmission risk at household level across Africa. We conducted a secondary analysis of the Demographic and Health Surveys of 16 African countries implemented between 2015 and 2018 to understand the status of households for prevention of COVID-19 transmission in home. We assessed handwashing capacity and self-isolation capacity using multiple parameters, and identified households with elderly persons, who are most at risk of the disease. We fitted two-level random intercept logit models to explore independent relationships among the three indicators, while controlling for the selected explanatory variables. Handwashing capacity was highest in Tanzania (48.2%), and lowest in Chad (4.2%), varying by household location (urban or rural), as well as household wealth. Isolation capacity was highest in South Africa (77.4%), and lowest in Ethiopia (30.9%). Senegal had the largest proportion of households with an elderly person (42.1%), while Angola (16.4%) had the lowest. There were strong, independent relationships between handwashing and isolation capacities in a majority of countries. Also, strong associations were found between isolation capacity and presence of older persons in households. Household capacity for COVID-19 prevention varied significantly across countries, with those having elderly household members not necessarily having the best handwashing or isolation capacity. In view of the age risk factors of COVID-19 transmission, and its dependence on handwashing and isolation capacities of households, each country needs to use the extant information on its risk status to shape communication and intervention strategies that will help limit the impact of the disease in its population across Africa.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41118-021-00130-w.
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Project description:ObjectiveTo explore and compare the age, source and future risk of COVID-19 infection in Hong Kong SAR China and Singapore as of March 5, 2020.ResultsWe find significant difference in age patterns of confirmed cases in these 2 localities early in the pandemic.ConclusionWe highlight the potential importance of population age structure in confirmed cases, which should be considered in evaluation of the effectiveness of control effort in different localities.
| S-EPMC7356138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Highlights • Infection risk of household contacts is 10 times higher than other contacts.• Risk of household transmission in adults is about 3-times higher than that in children.• SARS-CoV-2 is much more transmissible than SARS-CoV and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus in households, which challenges the home isolation of COVID-19 patients.
| S-EPMC7446647 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:As of March 31, 2020, the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic that started in China in December 2019 is now generating local transmission around the world. The geographic heterogeneity and associated intervention strategies highlight the need to monitor in real time the transmission potential of COVID-19. Singapore provides a unique case example for monitoring transmission, as there have been multiple disease clusters, yet transmission remains relatively continued. METHODS:Here we estimate the effective reproduction number, Rt, of COVID-19 in Singapore from the publicly available daily case series of imported and autochthonous cases by date of symptoms onset, after adjusting the local cases for reporting delays as of March 17, 2020. We also derive the reproduction number from the distribution of cluster sizes using a branching process analysis that accounts for truncation of case counts. RESULTS:The local incidence curve displays sub-exponential growth dynamics, with the reproduction number following a declining trend and reaching an estimate at 0.7 (95% CI 0.3, 1.0) during the first transmission wave by February 14, 2020, while the overall R based on the cluster size distribution as of March 17, 2020, was estimated at 0.6 (95% CI 0.4, 1.02). The overall mean reporting delay was estimated at 6.4?days (95% CI 5.8, 6.9), but it was shorter among imported cases compared to local cases (mean 4.3 vs. 7.6?days, Wilcoxon test, p?<?0.001). CONCLUSION:The trajectory of the reproduction number in Singapore underscores the significant effects of successful containment efforts in Singapore, but it also suggests the need to sustain social distancing and active case finding efforts to stomp out all active chains of transmission.
| S-EPMC7268586 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundHouseholds are among the highest risk for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. In sub-Saharan Africa, very few studies have described household transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our work aimed to describe the epidemiologic parameters and analyze the secondary attack rate (SAR) in Antananarivo, Madagascar, following the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 in the country in March 2020.MethodsA prospective case-ascertained study of all identified close contacts of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections was conducted in Antananarivo from March to June 2020. Cases and household contacts were followed for 21 days. We estimated epidemic parameters of disease transmission by fitting parametric distributions based on infector-infected paired data. We assessed factors influencing transmission risk by analyzing the SAR.FindingsOverall, we included 96 index cases and 179 household contacts. Adjusted with the best-fit normal distribution, the incubation period was 4.1 days (95% CI 0.7-7.5]). The serial interval was 6.0 days (95% CI [2.4-9.6]) after adjusting with the best-fit Weibull distribution. On average, each index case infected 1.6 family members (95%CI [0.9-2.3]). The mean SAR among close contacts was 38.8% (95% CI [19.5-58.2]) with the best-fit gamma distribution. Contacts older than 35 years old were more likely to be infected, and the highest SAR was found among them.ConclusionThe results of our study provide key insights into the epidemiology of the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 in Madagascar. High rates of household transmission were found in Antananarivo, emphasizing the need for preventive measures to reduce community transmission.
| S-EPMC8447323 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Super-spreading events in an outbreak can change the nature of an epidemic. Therefore, it is useful for public health teams to determine whether an ongoing outbreak has any contribution from such events, which may be amenable to interventions. We estimated the basic reproductive number (R0) and the dispersion factor (k) from empirical data on clusters of epidemiologically linked coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. This allowed us to infer the presence or absence of super-spreading events during the early phase of these outbreaks. The relatively large values of k implied that large cluster sizes, compatible with super-spreading, were unlikely.
| S-EPMC7242928 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The true risk of a COVID-19 resurgence as states reopen businesses is unknown. In this paper, we used anonymized cell-phone data to quantify the potential risk of COVID-19 transmission in business establishments by building a Business Risk Index that measures transmission risk over time. The index was built using two metrics, visits per square foot and the average duration of visits, to account for both density of visits and length of time visitors linger in the business. We analyzed trends in traffic patterns to 1,272,260 businesses across eight states from January 2020 to June 2020. We found that potentially risky traffic behaviors at businesses decreased by 30% by April. Since the end of April, the risk index has been increasing as states reopen. There are some notable differences in trends across states and industries. Finally, we showed that the time series of the average Business Risk Index is useful for forecasting future COVID-19 cases at the county-level (P < 0.001). We found that an increase in a county's average Business Risk Index is associated with an increase in positive COVID-19 cases in 1 week (IRR: 1.16, 95% CI: (1.1-1.26)). Our risk index provides a way for policymakers and hospital decision-makers to monitor the potential risk of COVID-19 transmission from businesses based on the frequency and density of visits to businesses. This can serve as an important metric as states monitor and evaluate their reopening strategies.
| S-EPMC7966767 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We estimated the generation interval distribution for coronavirus disease on the basis of serial intervals of observed infector-infectee pairs from established clusters in Singapore. The short mean generation interval and consequent high prevalence of presymptomatic transmission requires public health control measures to be responsive to these characteristics of the epidemic.
| S-EPMC7853533 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSince December 2019, an outbreak of the Corona Virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, China, has become a public health emergency of international concern. The high fatality of aged cases caused by SARS-CoV-2 was a need to explore the possible age-related phenomena with non-human primate models.MethodsThree 3-5 years old and two 15 years old rhesus macaques were intratracheally infected with SARS-CoV-2, and then analyzed by clinical signs, viral replication, chest X-ray, histopathological changes and immune response.ResultsViral replication of nasopharyngeal swabs, anal swabs and lung in old monkeys was more active than that in young monkeys for 14 days after SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Monkeys developed typical interstitial pneumonia characterized by thickened alveolar septum accompanied with inflammation and edema, notably, old monkeys exhibited diffuse severe interstitial pneumonia. Viral antigens were detected mainly in alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages.ConclusionSARS-CoV-2 caused more severe interstitial pneumonia in old monkeys than that in young monkeys. Rhesus macaque models infected with SARS-CoV-2 provided insight into the pathogenic mechanism and facilitated the development of vaccines and therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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