Children's Mercy Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, United States.
Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2024 Jul 23;12:1408281. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1408281. eCollection 2024.
Limited data about acute respiratory illness (ARI) and respiratory virus circulation are available in congregate community settings, specifically schools. To better characterize the epidemiology of ARI and respiratory viruses in schools, we developed School Knowledge of Infectious Diseases in Schools (School KIDS).
School KIDS is a prospective, respiratory viral testing program in a large metropolitan school district (pre-kindergarten-12th grade) in Kansas City, Missouri. During the 2022-2023 school year, all students and staff were eligible to participate in surveillance respiratory viral testing at school by submitting observed self-administered nasal swabs monthly. Participants could also submit a nasal swab for on-demand symptomatic testing when experiencing ≥1 ARI symptom, including cough, fever, nasal congestion, runny nose, shortness of breath, sore throat, and/or wheezing. Swabs were tested in a research laboratory using multipathogen respiratory polymerase chain reaction assays. Participants were evaluated for ongoing viral shedding by collecting two weekly nasal swabs (i.e., convalescent), following initial on-demand symptomatic testing. Participants were asked to complete an electronic survey to capture the presence and type of ARI symptom(s) before the collection of respiratory swabs.
From 31 October 2022 to 29 June 2023, School KIDS enrolled 978 participants, including 700 students, representing 3.4% of the district student population, and 278 staff members. Participants submitted a median of six surveillance, one symptomatic, and two convalescent specimens during the study period. A total of 6,315 respiratory specimens, including 4,700 surveillance, 721 on-demand symptomatic, and 894 convalescent specimens, were tested. Overall, a virus was detected in 1,168 (24.9%) surveillance and 363 (50.3%) symptomatic specimens. Of the 5,538 symptom surveys sent to participants before scheduled surveillance testing, 4,069 (73.5%) were completed; ARI symptoms were reported on 1,348 (33.1%) surveys.
Respiratory surveillance testing in schools is feasible and provides novel information about respiratory virus detections in students and staff attending school. Schools are an important community setting, and better knowledge of respiratory virus circulation in schools may be useful to identify respiratory virus transmission in the community and assess the impact of effective infection prevention measures.
关于急性呼吸道疾病（ARI）和呼吸道病毒传播的有限数据可在集体社区环境中获得，特别是在学校。为了更好地描述学校中 ARI 和呼吸道病毒的流行病学，我们开发了学校传染病知识（School KIDS）。
School KIDS 是密苏里州堪萨斯城一个大型都会学区（学前至 12 年级）的前瞻性呼吸道病毒检测计划。在 2022-2023 学年期间，所有学生和教职员工都有资格通过每月提交观察到的自我管理鼻拭子在学校进行监测性呼吸道病毒检测。当经历≥1 种 ARI 症状，包括咳嗽、发热、鼻塞、流鼻涕、呼吸急促、喉咙痛和/或喘息时，参与者也可以提交鼻拭子进行按需症状检测。拭子在研究实验室中使用多病原体呼吸道聚合酶链反应检测进行检测。通过在初始按需症状检测后收集两个每周的鼻拭子（即恢复期），对参与者进行持续病毒脱落的评估。在收集呼吸道拭子之前，参与者被要求完成一份电子调查，以捕获 ARI 症状（s）的存在和类型。
从 2022 年 10 月 31 日至 2023 年 6 月 29 日，School KIDS 招募了 978 名参与者，包括 700 名学生，占该地区学生人口的 3.4%，和 278 名教职员工。参与者在研究期间提交了中位数为六次监测、一次症状和两次恢复期标本。共检测了 6315 份呼吸道标本，包括 4700 份监测标本、721 份按需症状标本和 894 份恢复期标本。总体而言，在 1168 份（24.9%）监测和 363 份（50.3%）症状标本中检测到病毒。在发送给参与者的 5538 份症状调查中，有 4069 份（73.5%）完成；在 1348 份（33.1%）调查中报告了 ARI 症状。
学校的呼吸道监测检测是可行的，并提供了有关学生和教职员工在校期间呼吸道病毒检测的新信息。学校是一个重要的社区环境，更好地了解学校中呼吸道病毒的传播情况可能有助于识别社区中的呼吸道病毒传播，并评估有效感染预防措施的影响。
