Healthcare workers acquired COVID-19 disease from patients? An investigation by phylogenomics

Link to article at PubMed

J Hosp Infect. 2021 Jun 4:S0195-6701(21)00221-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2021.05.017. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The increasing number of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the community has posed a significant epidemic pressure to the healthcare settings. When healthcare workers (HCWs) acquire COVID-19, contact tracing and epidemiological investigation might not be adequate for determining the source of transmission. Here, we report a phylogenetic investigation involving two infected HCWs and nine patients to determine whether patient-to-HCWs transmission had occurred in a hospital without a previous COVID-19 outbreak. This is the first study to apply phylogenomics to investigate suspected nosocomial transmission in a region with low prevalence of COVID-19. Our results do not support the occurrence of direct patient-to-HCWs transmission.

PMID:34098050 | DOI:10.1016/j.jhin.2021.05.017

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