Department of Infectious Diseases, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Office for Infection Control, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
J Korean Med Sci. 2021 Aug 23;36(33):e233. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e233.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission among non-close contacts is not infrequent. We evaluated the proportion and circumstances of individuals to whom SARS-CoV-2 was transmitted without close contact with the index patient in a nosocomial outbreak in a tertiary care hospital in Korea. From March 2020 to March 2021, there were 36 secondary cases from 14 SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. Of the 36 secondary cases, 26 (72%) had been classified as close contact and the remaining 10 (28%) were classified as non-close contact. Of the 10 non-close contact, 4 had short conversations with both individuals masked, 4 shared a space without any conversation with both masked, and the remaining 2 entered the space after the index had left. At least one quarter of SARS-CoV-2 transmissions occurred among non-close contacts. The definition of close contact for SARS-CoV-2 exposure based on the mode of droplet transmission should be revised to reflect the airborne nature of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）在非密切接触者之间的传播并不少见。我们评估了在韩国一家三级保健医院的医院暴发中，与指数患者没有密切接触的个体中 SARS-CoV-2 传播的比例和情况。从 2020 年 3 月到 2021 年 3 月，有 36 例继发病例来自 14 例 SARS-CoV-2 感染个体。在 36 例继发病例中，26 例（72%）被归类为密切接触者，其余 10 例（28%）被归类为非密切接触者。在 10 例非密切接触者中，有 4 人与两名均戴口罩的个体进行了简短交谈，有 4 人与两名均戴口罩的个体在没有任何交谈的情况下共享空间，其余 2 人在指数患者离开后进入了该空间。至少四分之一的 SARS-CoV-2 传播发生在非密切接触者之间。SARS-CoV-2 暴露的密切接触定义基于飞沫传播模式，应进行修订以反映 SARS-CoV-2 传播的空气传播性质。
