Source avec lien : J Infect Dis, (Prépublication). 10.1093/infdis/jiac412
Les bases de l’Antarctique britannique offrent un environnement semi-fermé pour évaluer la transmission et la persistance des virus respiratoires saisonniers.
BACKGROUND: The British Antarctic bases offer a semi-closed environment for assessing the transmission and persistence of seasonal respiratory viruses. METHODS: Weekly swabbing was performed for respiratory pathogen surveillance (including SARS-CoV-2), at two British Antarctic Survey bases, during 2020: King Edward Point (KEP, 30 June-29 September, 9 participants, 124 swabs) and Rothera (9 May-6 June, 27 participants, 127 swabs). Symptom questionnaires were collected for any newly symptomatic cases that presented during this weekly swabbing period. RESULTS: At KEP, swabs tested positive for non-SARS-CoV-2 seasonal coronavirus (2), adenovirus (1) parainfluenza 3 (1) and respiratory syncytial virus B (1). At Rothera, swabs tested positive for non-SARS-CoV-2 seasonal coronavirus (3), adenovirus (2) parainfluenza 4 (1) and human metapneumovirus (1). All bacterial agents identified were considered to be colonizers and not pathogenic. CONCLUSIONS: At KEP, the timeline indicated that the parainfluenza 3 and adenovirus infections could have been linked to some of the symptomatic cases that presented. For the other viruses, the only other possible sources were the visiting ship crew members. At Rothera, the single symptomatic case presented too early for this to be linked to the subsequent viral detections, and the only other possible source could have been a single non-participating staff member.