639 - Respiratory pathogen surveillance in pediatric health care workers

Saturday, April 29, 2023

3:30 PM – 6:00 PM ET

Poster Number: 639
Publication Number: 639.226

Hanna R. Swerdin, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Hewlett, NY, United States; Lucia Janovicova, Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital, Syracuse, NY, United States; Clara El Nakib, Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital, Syracuse, NY, United States; Ghina Fakhri, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, United States; Manika Suryadevara, Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital, Syracuse, NY, United States; Joseph Domachowske, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, United States; Heather L. Wasik, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, United States

Presenting Author(s)

Lucia Janovic, MD (she/her/hers)

Resident Physician
Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital
Syracuse, New York, United States

Co-Author(s)

CE

Clara El Nakib, Medical Doctor

Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital
Syracuse, New York, United States
Heather L. Wasik, MD, MHS (she/her/hers)

Pediatric Nephrologist
State University of New York Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, New York, United States

Background: Pediatric healthcare workers (HCWs) may be exposed to respiratory pathogens at work. Few large-scale surveillance studies have analyzed respiratory infections in them.

Objective: To trend respiratory pathogen detection rates among pediatric HCWs and analyze factors associated with pathogen detection.

Design/Methods: Pediatric HCWs provide demographics, respiratory symptoms, household sick contacts, and occupational location, and submit self-collected nasal swabs bi-monthly. Swabs undergo testing for 21 respiratory pathogens with BioFire's multiplex PCR platform (Respiratory Panel 2.1). Associations between pathogen detection and demographic, household, and occupational factors assessed with Chi-squared tests and rank sum tests.

Results: 21 of 249 (9.0%) samples from 25 pediatric HCWs 2/2022–10/2022 tested positive for pathogen detection: 11 rhinovirus/enterovirus (1 with co-detection of adenovirus), 7 SARS-CoV-2, 1 human metapneumovirus, 1 human coronavirus (CoV) 229E, 1 CoV NL63. Pathogen detection associated with household exposure to sick contact (38.1% vs 18.5%, p=0.03), any respiratory symptom (61.9% vs 15.1%, p< 0.001), fever (4.8% vs 0%, p=0.001), cough (28.6% vs 3.3%, p< 0.001), nasal congestion (47.6% vs 10.8%, p< 0.001), and fatigue (14.3% vs 3.8%, p=0.03)(Tables 1, 2).

Conclusion(s): Respiratory infections in pediatric HCWs are common and associated with sick household contacts but not work role or location. This suggests that personal protective equipment effectively limits occupational spread of respiratory infections to HCWs.