Coronavirus infection most likely to come from this person: study
The review was published in JAMA Network Open this week
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With household transmission of the novel coronavirus being a common occurrence, a federal health agency said last month, a new meta-analysis found that there is one household member, in particular, who is most likely to give you COVID-19: Your spouse.
In a meta-analysis of 54 studies that involved a total of more than 77,700 participants across 20 countries, researchers concluded that an estimated 37.8% of COVID-19 patients passed the virus to their spouses.
“Infection risk was highest for spouses, followed by non-spouse family members and other relatives, which were all higher than other contacts,” the researchers found.
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“Spouses were at higher risk than other family contacts, which may explain why the secondary attack rate was higher in households with 1 vs 3 or greater contacts,” the researchers continued, saying that this “may reflect intimacy, sleeping in the same room, or longer or more direct exposure to index cases.”
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The researchers noted, however, that “further investigation is required to determine whether sexual contact is a transmission route.”
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Additionally, while the researchers who conducted the review concluded that adults are more likely to spread the virus within their households, they were less likely to pass COVID-19 to any children they may live with. An estimated 16.8% of those who tested positive for the novel virus later gave the disease to a child they live with, per the review, which was published on Monday in JAMA Network Open.
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The review comes after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study in November found that 53% of people who lived with someone who was positive for the novel virus also contracted it, “with approximately 75% of infections identified within 5 days of the index patient’s illness onset,” the health agency wrote at the time.
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“The findings of this study suggest that given that individuals with suspected or confirmed infections are being referred to isolate at home, households will continue to be a significant venue for transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” the authors of the meta-analysis concluded.