Viral Load of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Adults During the First and Second Wave of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Houston, Texas: The Potential of the Superspreader.
J Infect Dis 2021;
223:1528-1537. [PMID:
33585934 PMCID:
PMC7928726 DOI:
10.1093/infdis/jiab097]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a minority of index cases are associated with a majority of secondary cases suggesting that super-spreaders could drive the pandemic. We identified a phenotype in individuals with extremely high viral load who could act as super-spreaders.
Methods
Data were analyzed from individuals tested for SARS-CoV-2 from March 18 through August 15, 2020. Outcomes were compared using contingency table and quantile regression to test the equality of medians between the pandemic waves and by viral load groups.
Results
Of the 11,564 samples tested, 1,319 (11.4%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2. An increase in weekly median viral load occurred in the second wave of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. This population was more likely to be women, outpatients, symptomatic and have an extremely high or high viral load. In patients with multiple RT-PCR positive tests, the duration of viral shedding was comparable between individuals with asymptomatic/mild and mild/moderate illness severity.
Conclusions
We detected a small group of individuals with extremely high SARS-CoV-2 viral load with mild illness. We believe that these individuals’ characteristics could be consistent with the super-spreader phenomenon and that greater awareness of the social dynamics of these individuals is needed to understand the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
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