By Tarun Sai LomteJun 26 2023Reviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc. A recent study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases evaluates infection rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants of concern among close contacts.
More recently, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has been shown to elicit a higher household secondary attack rate as compared to the previously dominant Alpha and Delta variants. The susceptibility and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants vary among studies, with children often considered to be more susceptible to these viral variants as compared to adults.
To this end, clinical data and activity history on COVID-19 cases and their contacts in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, during pre-VOC, Alpha, Delta, and Omicron periods were obtained through telephonic interviews. These periods spanned from July 1, 2020, to October 31, 2020, April 1, 2021, to April 30, 2021, July 3, 2021, to August 15, 2021, and January 3, 2022, to January 23, 2022, respectively.
Contacts were stratified into non-household and household contacts and were tested for COVID-19, irrespective of symptom status. Baseline characteristics of index cases and contacts were obtained for each of the four study periods. Of these, 358 contacts without polymerase chain reaction test results were excluded. Infection rates in the Omicron wave were 35% and 15.1% among household and non-household contacts, with 6.2- and 3.5-fold higher odds of infection than in the pre-VOC period, respectively, after adjusting for age, sex, symptoms, contact history, and household size.
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