Objectives
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contagion at work is well studied for healthcare workers, however it is not enough assessed in other working settings. Very little is known, indeed, about the risk of COVID-19 transmission through occupational exposure in non-health working places. This study aims to describe a COVID-19 cluster among workers in an office in Italy.
Methods
This was a retrospective observational study on a cluster of COVID-19 that occurred from 20 November through 3 December 2020 in a group of six colleagues (A–F) working in the same office full time 5 days a week, 8 h a day. The workers used the following prevention measures: social distancing (desks were >1 m, 1.76–5.01 m range), plexiglas panels, hands disinfection, and use of face mask. However, they did not wear face mask when in static position sitting at their desk and they did not aerate the place frequently.
Results
The disease spread from one worker (subject A) to four (80%) of the five colleagues (subjects B–F). Only subject D was negative to COVID-19 on 14 days after last contact with subject A (20 November 2020) as confirmed by nasopharyngeal swab testing. Subject D, in particular, did not contact subject A in the 48 h before symptoms onset. COVID-19 positivity of subject A was promptly communicated to the colleagues, who started self-isolation from their relatives and none of their households were infected. COVID-19 transmission was observed only in households of subject A.
Conclusions
The rapid communication of COVID-19 positivity to the colleagues and the prompt isolation of index case’s close contacts allowed to eliminate the secondary transmission to their households. The contagion of index case’s colleagues occurred from second day before symptoms onset. Distancing of >1 m, use of plexiglass panels, sanitizing hand gel, and inconstant use of face mask may not be enough for infection prevention in closed places with poor ventilation and high occupancy.
In the last few decades, more than 50 cancer syndromes have been described. The most commonly studied hereditary mutations are in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC syndrome), and the mismatch repair genes (e.g. MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, EPCAM), which are responsible for hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer syndrome (HNPCC syndrome or Lynch syndrome). Harmful mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, fallopian tube and peritoneal cancer, breast and prostate cancer in men, and pancreatic cancer
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.