Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection Among Healthcare Workers in South Africa: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Marta C Nunes; Vicky L Baillie; Gaurav Kwatra; Sutika Bhikha; Charl Verwey; Colin Menezes; Clare L Cutland; David P Moore; Ziyaad Dangor; Yasmin Adam; Rudo Mathivha; Sithembiso C Velaphi; Merika Tsitsi; Ricardo Aguas; Shabir A Madhi; Bara HCW Study Group

doi:10.1093/cid/ciab398

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection Among Healthcare Workers in South Africa: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Nov 16;73(10):1896-1900. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab398.

Authors

Marta C Nunes^{1

2}, Vicky L Baillie^{1

2}, Gaurav Kwatra^{1

2}, Sutika Bhikha^{1

2}, Charl Verwey^{1

3}, Colin Menezes⁴, Clare L Cutland^{1

2

5}, David P Moore^{1

3}, Ziyaad Dangor^{1

3}, Yasmin Adam⁶, Rudo Mathivha⁷, Sithembiso C Velaphi³, Merika Tsitsi⁴, Ricardo Aguas⁸, Shabir A Madhi^{1

2

5}; Bara HCW Study Group

Collaborators

Bara HCW Study Group:
Firdose Nakwa, Sarah Van Blydenstein, Michelle Venter, Denasha Reddy, Jeanine du Plessis, Matt Laubscher, Lara van der Merwe, Nkululeko Mbele, Beya Mukendi, Shakeel McKenzie, Sihle Mtshali, Christian Kabasele Mukendi, Ayanda Nzimande, Wendy Zimkhitha Mandindi, Amit Jawaharlal Nana, Martin Mosotho Rafuma, Masego Nicole Mathibe, Andrew Moultrie

Affiliations

¹ South African Medical Research Council, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation, South African Research Chair Initiative in Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
³ Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁵ African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁶ Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁷ Department of Intensive Care, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁸ Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Abstract

From April to September 2020, we investigated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in a cohort of 396 healthcare workers (HCWs) from 5 departments at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, South Africa. Overall, 34.6% of HCWs had polymerase chain reaction-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (132.1 [95% confidence interval, 111.8-156.2] infections per 1000 person-months); an additional 27 infections were identified by serology. HCWs in the internal medicine department had the highest rate of infection (61.7%). Among polymerase chain reaction-confirmed cases, 10.4% remained asymptomatic, 30.4% were presymptomatic, and 59.3% were symptomatic.

Keywords: Africa; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; healthcare workers; hospital staff.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Cohort Studies
Health Personnel
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
SARS-CoV-2*
South Africa / epidemiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding