Sources of viral respiratory infections in Canadian acute care hospital healthcare personnel

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J Hosp Infect. 2020 Jan 16. pii: S0195-6701(20)30012-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2020.01.009. [Epub ahead of print] Sources of viral respiratory infections in Canadian acute care hospital healthcare personnel.

Buckrell S¹, Coleman BL², McNeil SA³, Katz K⁴, Muller MP⁵, Simor A⁶, Loeb M⁷, Powis J⁸, Kuster SP⁹, Di Bella JM¹⁰, Coleman KK¹¹, Drews SJ¹², Kohler P¹³, McGeer A¹⁴; Canadian Healthcare Worker Study Group.
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Author information

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Viral respiratory illnesses are common causes of outbreaks and can be fatal to some patients.
AIM:

To investigate the association between laboratory-confirmed viral respiratory infections and potential sources of exposure during the previous 7 days.
METHODS:

In this nested case-control analysis, healthcare personnel from 9 Canadian hospitals who developed acute respiratory illnesses during the winters of 2010/11-2013/14 submitted swabs that were tested for viral pathogens. Associated illness diaries and non-ill participants' weekly diaries provided information on contact with people displaying symptoms of acute respiratory illness in the previous week. Conditional logistic regression assessed the association between cases, who were matched by study week and site with controls with no respiratory symptoms.
FINDINGS:

There were 814 laboratory-confirmed viral respiratory illnesses. The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of a viral illness was higher for healthcare personnel reporting exposures to ill household members (7.0, 95% CI 5.4, 9.1), co-workers (3.4, 95% CI 2.4, 4.7) or other social contacts (5.1, 95% CI 3.6, 7.1). Exposures to patients with respiratory illness were not associated with infection (aOR 0.9, 95% CI 0.7, 1.2), however healthcare personnel with direct patient contact did have higher odds (aOR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1, 1.6). The aORs for exposure and for direct patient contact were similar for illnesses caused by influenza.
CONCLUSION:

Community and co-worker contacts are important sources of viral respiratory illness in healthcare personnel while exposure to patients with recognized respiratory infections is not associated. The comparatively low risk associated with direct patient contact may reflect transmission related to asymptomatic patients or unrecognized infections.
Copyright ? 2020 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


KEYWORDS:

adult; exposure; healthcare worker; hospital; respiratory; transmission; viral

PMID: 31954763 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2020.01.009