Emerging Infectious Diseases (Dec 2021)

Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Households with Children, Southwest Germany, May–August 2020

  • Maximilian Stich,
  • Roland Elling,
  • Hanna Renk,
  • Aleš Janda,
  • Sven F. Garbade,
  • Barbara Müller,
  • Hans-Georg Kräusslich,
  • Dorit Fabricius,
  • Maria Zernickel,
  • Peter Meissner,
  • Daniela Huzly,
  • Jürgen Grulich-Henn,
  • Anneke Haddad,
  • Tessa Görne,
  • Benedikt Spielberger,
  • Linus Fritsch,
  • Alexandra Nieters,
  • Hartmut Hengel,
  • Andrea N. Dietz,
  • Thomas Stamminger,
  • Tina Ganzenmueller,
  • Natalia Ruetalo,
  • Andreas Peter,
  • Jonathan Remppis,
  • Thomas Iftner,
  • Kathrin Jeltsch,
  • Tim Waterboer,
  • Axel R. Franz,
  • Georg Friedrich Hoffmann,
  • Corinna Engel,
  • Klaus-Michael Debatin,
  • Burkhard Tönshoff,
  • Philipp Henneke

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2712.210978
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 12
pp. 3009 – 3019

Abstract

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Resolving the role of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission in households with members from different generations is crucial for containing the current pandemic. We conducted a large-scale, multicenter, cross-sectional seroepidemiologic household transmission study in southwest Germany during May 11–August 1, 2020. We included 1,625 study participants from 405 households that each had ≥1 child and 1 reverse transcription PCR–confirmed SARS-CoV-2–infected index case-patient. The overall secondary attack rate was 31.6% and was significantly higher in exposed adults (37.5%) than in children (24.6%–29.2%; p = 60 years of age (72.9%; p = 0.039). Other risk factors for infectiousness of the index case-patient were SARS-CoV-2–seropositivity (odds ratio [OR] 27.8, 95% CI 8.26–93.5), fever (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.14–3.31), and cough (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.21–3.53). Secondary infections in household contacts generate a substantial disease burden.

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