tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Emerg Infect Dis
. 2024 Apr;30(4):711-720.
doi: 10.3201/eid3004.231299.
Bus Riding as Amplification Mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 Transmission, Germany, 2021[SUP]1[/SUP]
Meike Schöll, Christoph Höhn, Johannes Boucsein, Felix Moek, Jasper Plath, Maria An der Heiden, Matthew Huska, Stefan Kröger, Sofia Paraskevopoulou, Claudia Siffczyk, Udo Buchholz, Raskit Lachmann
To examine the risk associated with bus riding and identify transmission chains, we investigated a COVID-19 outbreak in Germany in 2021 that involved index case-patients among bus-riding students. We used routine surveillance data, performed laboratory analyses, interviewed case-patients, and conducted a cohort study. We identified 191 case-patients, 65 (34%) of whom were elementary schoolchildren. A phylogenetically unique strain and epidemiologic analyses provided a link between air travelers and cases among bus company staff, schoolchildren, other bus passengers, and their respective household members. The attack rate among bus-riding children at 1 school was ≈4 times higher than among children not taking a bus to that school. The outbreak exemplifies how an airborne agent may be transmitted effectively through (multiple) short (<20 minutes) public transport journeys and may rapidly affect many persons.
Keywords: 2019 novel coronavirus disease; COVID-19; Germany; SARS-CoV-2; bus; coronavirus disease; outbreak; respiratory infections; schools; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; travel; viruses; whole-genome sequencing; zoonoses.
. 2024 Apr;30(4):711-720.
doi: 10.3201/eid3004.231299.
Bus Riding as Amplification Mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 Transmission, Germany, 2021[SUP]1[/SUP]
Meike Schöll, Christoph Höhn, Johannes Boucsein, Felix Moek, Jasper Plath, Maria An der Heiden, Matthew Huska, Stefan Kröger, Sofia Paraskevopoulou, Claudia Siffczyk, Udo Buchholz, Raskit Lachmann
- PMID: 38526123
- DOI: 10.3201/eid3004.231299
To examine the risk associated with bus riding and identify transmission chains, we investigated a COVID-19 outbreak in Germany in 2021 that involved index case-patients among bus-riding students. We used routine surveillance data, performed laboratory analyses, interviewed case-patients, and conducted a cohort study. We identified 191 case-patients, 65 (34%) of whom were elementary schoolchildren. A phylogenetically unique strain and epidemiologic analyses provided a link between air travelers and cases among bus company staff, schoolchildren, other bus passengers, and their respective household members. The attack rate among bus-riding children at 1 school was ≈4 times higher than among children not taking a bus to that school. The outbreak exemplifies how an airborne agent may be transmitted effectively through (multiple) short (<20 minutes) public transport journeys and may rapidly affect many persons.
Keywords: 2019 novel coronavirus disease; COVID-19; Germany; SARS-CoV-2; bus; coronavirus disease; outbreak; respiratory infections; schools; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; travel; viruses; whole-genome sequencing; zoonoses.