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Master of Public Health

Association of culturable-virus detection and household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 - California and Tennessee, 2020-2022

AUTHORS

Deyoe JE , Kelly JD , Grijalva CG , Bonenfant G , Lu S , Anglin K , Garcia-Knight M , Pineda-Ramirez J , Briggs Hagen M , Saydah S , Abedi GR , Goldberg SA , Tassetto M , Zhang A , Donohue KC , Davidson MC , Diaz Sanchez R , Djomaleu M , Mathur S , Shak JR , Deeks SG , Peluso MJ , Chiu CY , Zhu Y , Halasa NB , Chappell JD , Mellis A , Reed C , Andino R , Martin JN , Zhou B , Talbot HK , Midgley CM , Rolfes MA , . The Journal of infectious diseases. 2023 1 27; ().

ABSTRACT

From two SARS-CoV-2 household transmission studies (enrolling April 2020 – January 2022) with rapid enrollment and specimen collection for 14 days, 61% (43/70) of primary cases had culturable-virus detected ≥6 days post-onset. Risk of secondary infection among household contacts tended to be greater when primary cases had culturable-virus detected after onset. Regardless of duration of culturable-virus, most secondary infections [70% (28/40)] had serial intervals <6 days, suggesting early transmission. These data examine viral culture as a proxy for infectiousness, reaffirm the need for rapid control measures after infection and highlight the potential for prolonged infectiousness (≥6 days) in many individuals.

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