Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases
Online ISSN : 1884-2836
Print ISSN : 1344-6304
ISSN-L : 1344-6304

This article has now been updated. Please use the final version.

Intra-familial transmission pattern of COVID-19 infection among the rural residents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat during an epidemic of SARS-CoV2 in India
Emeli Paul ChoudhuryAditi Munmun SenguptaBidisa SarkarDharmendra SinghKamalesh Sarkar
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS Advance online publication

Article ID: JJID.2021.267

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Abstract

We are yet to completely understand the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 which is a highly infectious disease and research exploring the same is lacking. Hence, a community-based cross-sectional study was conducted aiming to assess the intra-familial transmission pattern among the rural residents of Ahmedabad, Gujarat in relation to possible determinants with special focus on viral load as an important determinant. A cross-sectional study was done where 195 families were visited. Families having at least one infected case, were interviewed. Information about their socio-demographic profile and secondary transmission of case/s were recorded. Out of 195, 114 families confirmed to having at least one infected case within the family. About 38.6% (44/114) of the index cases were asymptomatic, which was much higher among low viral load index cases. Index cases with high, moderate and low viral load had transmitted the infection with an average of 3.3, 1.5, 0.4 secondary cases per index case respectively. About one third of COVID-19 infected cases was asymptomatic and was capable of spreading the disease within families. Secondly, index cases with higher viral load had higher transmission potential to generate more secondary cases compared to low viral load.

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