Asymptomatic Shedding of Respiratory Virus among an Ambulatory Population across Seasons
subject: Asymptomatic infection, population health, Respiratory viruses
description: Respiratory viruses are common in human populations, causing significant levels of morbidity. Understanding the distribution of these viruses is critical for designing control methods. However, most data available are from medical records and thus predominantly represent symptomatic infections. Estimates for asymptomatic prevalence are sparse and span a broad range. In this study, we aimed to measure more precisely the proportion of infections that are asymptomatic in a general, ambulatory adult population. We recruited participants from a New York City tourist attraction and administered nasal swabs, testing them for adenovirus, coronavirus, human metapneumovirus, rhinovirus, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and parainfluenza virus. At recruitment, participants completed surveys on demographics and symptomology. Analysis of these data indicated that over 6% of participants tested positive for shedding of respiratory virus. While participants who tested positive were more likely to report symptoms than those who did not, over half of participants who tested positive were asymptomatic.Most observation of human respiratory virus carriage is derived from medical surveillance; however, the infections documented by this surveillance represent only a symptomatic fraction of the total infected population. As the role of asymptomatic infection in respiratory virus transmission is still largely unknown and rates of asymptomatic shedding are not well constrained, it is important to obtain more-precise estimates through alternative sampling methods. We actively recruited participants from among visitors to a New York City tourist attraction. Nasopharyngeal swabs, demographics, and survey information on symptoms, medical history, and recent travel were obtained from 2,685 adults over two seasonal arms. We used multiplex PCR to test swab specimens for a selection of common respiratory viruses. A total of 6.2% of samples (168 individuals) tested positive for at least…
creator: Ruthie Birger, Haruka Morita, Devon Comito, Ioan FILIP, Marta Galanti, Benjamin Lane, Chanel Ligon, Daniel Rosenbloom, Atinuke Shittu, Minhaz Ud-Dean, Rob DeSalle, Paul Planet, Jeffrey Shaman
source: mSphere
publisher: American Society for Microbiology
date: 2018
language: EN
identifier: DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00249-18
coverage: Microbiology