1. Asymptomatic Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus infection using a serologic survey in Korea
- Author
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Song, Yeong-jun, Yang, Jeong-Sun, Yoon, Hee Jung, Nam, Hae-Sung, Lee, Soon Young, Cheong, Hae-Kwan, Park, Woo-Jung, Park, Sung Han, Choi, Bo Youl, Kim, Sung Soon, and Ki, Moran
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Epidemiology ,Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus ,Health Personnel ,030231 tropical medicine ,lcsh:Medicine ,Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ,medicine.disease_cause ,Asymptomatic ,Disease Outbreaks ,Serology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Seroepidemiologic Studies ,Internal medicine ,Republic of Korea ,Nosocomial infections ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Asymptomatic Diseases ,Coronavirus ,Cross Infection ,business.industry ,Asymptomatic infection ,lcsh:R ,Outbreak ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Enzyme-linked immunespecific assay ,Middle East respiratory syndrome ,Original Article ,medicine.symptom ,Coronavirus Infections ,business ,Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus - Abstract
Objectives The rates of asymptomatic infection with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus vary. A serologic study was conducted to determine the asymptomatic MERS infection rate in healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers by exposure status. Methods Study participants were selected from contacts of MERS patients based on a priority system in 4 regions strongly affected by the 2015 MERS outbreak. A sero-epidemiological survey was performed in 1,610 contacts (average duration from exposure to test, 4.8 months), and the collected sera were tested using an enzyme-linked immunespecific assay (ELISA), immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and plaque reduction neutralization antibody test (PRNT). Among the 1,610 contacts, there were 7 ELISA-positive cases, of which 1 exhibited positive IFA and PRNT results. Results The asymptomatic infection rate was 0.060% (95% confidence interval, 0.002 to 0.346). The asymptomatic MERS case was a patient who had been hospitalized with patient zero on the same floor of the hospital at the same time. The case was quarantined at home for 2 weeks after discharge, and had underlying diseases, including hypertension, angina, and degenerative arthritis. Conclusions The asymptomatic infection was acquired via healthcare-associated transmission. Thus, it is necessary to extend serologic studies to include inpatient contacts who have no symptoms.
- Published
- 2018
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