Environmental Sampling for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 During a COVID-19 Outbreak on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship

Takuya Yamagishi; Makoto Ohnishi; Nobuaki Matsunaga; Kensaku Kakimoto; Hajime Kamiya; Kiyoko Okamoto; Motoi Suzuki; Yoshiaki Gu; Mikiyo Sakaguchi; Taichi Tajima; Saho Takaya; Norio Ohmagari; Makoto Takeda; Shutoku Matsuyama; Kazuya Shirato; Naganori Nao; Hideki Hasegawa; Tsutomu Kageyama; Ikuyo Takayama; Shinji Saito; Koji Wada; Retsu Fujita; Hiroki Saito; Keiji Okinaka; Mathew Griffith; Amy Elizabeth Parry; Brenda Barnetson; James Leonard; Takaji Wakita

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiaa437

Environmental Sampling for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 During a COVID-19 Outbreak on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship

J Infect Dis. 2020 Sep 1;222(7):1098-1102. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa437.

Authors

Takuya Yamagishi¹, Makoto Ohnishi², Nobuaki Matsunaga³, Kensaku Kakimoto⁴, Hajime Kamiya¹, Kiyoko Okamoto¹, Motoi Suzuki¹, Yoshiaki Gu³, Mikiyo Sakaguchi³, Taichi Tajima³, Saho Takaya⁵, Norio Ohmagari⁵, Makoto Takeda⁶, Shutoku Matsuyama⁶, Kazuya Shirato⁶, Naganori Nao⁶, Hideki Hasegawa⁷, Tsutomu Kageyama⁷, Ikuyo Takayama⁷, Shinji Saito⁷, Koji Wada⁸, Retsu Fujita⁹, Hiroki Saito¹⁰, Keiji Okinaka¹¹, Mathew Griffith¹², Amy Elizabeth Parry¹², Brenda Barnetson¹³, James Leonard¹³, Takaji Wakita²

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
² National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Antimicrobial Resistance Clinical Research Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Field Epidemiology Training Program, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Disease Control and Prevention Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Virology III, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
⁷ Influenza Virus Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Graduate School of Public Health, International University of Health and Welfare, Chiba, Japan.
⁹ Graduate School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁰ Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Yokohama City Seibu Hospital, St Marianna University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
¹¹ Division of General Internal Medicine, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Chiba, Japan.
¹² Health Emergency Program, World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines.
¹³ Department of Health Services, Princess Cruises, USA.

Abstract

During a COVID-19 outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship we sampled environmental surfaces after passengers and crew vacated cabins. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 58 of 601 samples (10%) from case cabins 1-17 days after cabins were vacated but not from noncase cabins. There was no difference in detection proportion between cabins of symptomatic (15%, 28/189; cycle quantification [Cq], 29.79-38.86) and asymptomatic cases (21%, 28/131; Cq, 26.21-38.99). No SARS-CoV-2 virus was isolated from any of the samples. Transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 from symptomatic and asymptomatic patients may be similar and surfaces could be involved in transmission.

Keywords: COVID-19; Diamond Princess; SARS-CoV-2; cruise ship; environmental sampling.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Betacoronavirus / genetics
Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Coronavirus Infections / transmission
Coronavirus Infections / virology
Disease Outbreaks*
Environmental Monitoring*
Humans
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Pneumonia, Viral / transmission
Pneumonia, Viral / virology
RNA, Viral / isolation & purification*
SARS-CoV-2
Sampling Studies
Ships
Specimen Handling

Substances

RNA, Viral

Grants and funding

001/WHO_/World Health Organization/International