TY - JOUR
T1 - The Alpha variant was not associated with excess nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection in a multi-centre UK hospital study
AU - COG-UK HOCI Variant Substudy Consortium
AU - The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium
AU - Boshier, Florencia A. T.
AU - Venturini, Cristina
AU - Stirrup, Oliver
AU - Guerra-Assunção, José Afonso
AU - Alcolea-Medina, Adela
AU - Becket, Angela H.
AU - Byott, Matthew
AU - Charalampous, Themoula
AU - Filipe, Ana da Silva
AU - Frampton, Dan
AU - Glaysher, Sharon
AU - Khan, Tabassum
AU - Kulasegara-Shylini, Raghavendran
AU - Kele, Beatrix
AU - Monahan, Irene M.
AU - Mollett, Guy
AU - Parker, Matthew
AU - Pelosi, Emanuela
AU - Randell, Paul
AU - Roy, Sunando
AU - Taylor, Joshua F.
AU - Weller, Sophie J.
AU - Wilson-Davies, Eleri
AU - Wade, Phillip
AU - Williams, Rachel
AU - Copas, Andrew J.
AU - Cutino-Moguel, Teresa
AU - Freemantle, Nick
AU - Hayward, Andrew C.
AU - Holmes, Alison
AU - Hughes, Joseph
AU - Mahungu, Tabitha W.
AU - Nebbia, Gaia
AU - Nastouli, Eleni
AU - Partridge, David G.
AU - Pope, Cassie F.
AU - Price, James R.
AU - Robson, Samuel C.
AU - Saeed, Kordo
AU - Shin, Gee Yen
AU - de Silva, Thushan I.
AU - Snell, Luke B.
AU - Thomson, Emma C.
AU - Witney, Adam A.
AU - Breuer, Judith
AU - Bashton, Matthew
AU - Nelson, Andrew
AU - McCann, Clare
AU - Smith, Darren
AU - Young, Greg
N1 - Matthew Bashton, Andrew Nelson, Clare McCann, Greg Young and Darren Smith are members of the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium.
Funding information: COG-UK HOCI funded by COG-UK consortium. The COG-UK consortium is supported by funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and Genome Research Limited, operating as the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Objectives: Recently emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants have been associated with an increased rate of transmission within the community. We sought to determine whether this also resulted in increased transmission within hospitals. Methods: We collected viral sequences and epidemiological data of patients with community and healthcare associated SARS-CoV-2 infections, sampled from 16th November 2020 to 10th January 2021, from nine hospitals participating in the COG-UK HOCI study. Outbreaks were identified using ward information, lineage and pairwise genetic differences between viral sequences. Results: Mixed effects logistic regression analysis of 4184 sequences showed healthcare-acquired infections were no more likely to be identified as the Alpha variant than community acquired infections. Nosocomial outbreaks were investigated based on overlapping ward stay and SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence similarity. There was no significant difference in the number of patients involved in outbreaks caused by the Alpha variant compared to outbreaks caused by other lineages. Conclusions: We find no evidence to support it causing more nosocomial transmission than previous lineages. This suggests that the stringent infection prevention measures already in place in UK hospitals contained the spread of the Alpha variant as effectively as other less transmissible lineages, providing reassurance of their efficacy against emerging variants of concern.
AB - Objectives: Recently emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants have been associated with an increased rate of transmission within the community. We sought to determine whether this also resulted in increased transmission within hospitals. Methods: We collected viral sequences and epidemiological data of patients with community and healthcare associated SARS-CoV-2 infections, sampled from 16th November 2020 to 10th January 2021, from nine hospitals participating in the COG-UK HOCI study. Outbreaks were identified using ward information, lineage and pairwise genetic differences between viral sequences. Results: Mixed effects logistic regression analysis of 4184 sequences showed healthcare-acquired infections were no more likely to be identified as the Alpha variant than community acquired infections. Nosocomial outbreaks were investigated based on overlapping ward stay and SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence similarity. There was no significant difference in the number of patients involved in outbreaks caused by the Alpha variant compared to outbreaks caused by other lineages. Conclusions: We find no evidence to support it causing more nosocomial transmission than previous lineages. This suggests that the stringent infection prevention measures already in place in UK hospitals contained the spread of the Alpha variant as effectively as other less transmissible lineages, providing reassurance of their efficacy against emerging variants of concern.
KW - Alpha variant
KW - COVID-19
KW - Lineage B.1.1.7
KW - Nosocomial outbreaks
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Transmissibility
KW - Variants of concern
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118322248&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.09.022
DO - 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.09.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 34610391
AN - SCOPUS:85118322248
SN - 0163-4453
VL - 83
SP - 693
EP - 700
JO - Journal of Infection
JF - Journal of Infection
IS - 6
ER -
