Background
New York City (NYC) was the U.S. epicenter of the Spring 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We present seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and correlates of seropositivity immediately after the first wave.
Methods
From a serosurvey of adult NYC residents (May 13-July 21, 2020), we calculated the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies stratified by participant demographics, symptom history, health status, and employment industry. We used multivariable regression models to assess associations between participant characteristics and seropositivity.
Results
Seroprevalence among 45,367 participants was 23.6% (95% CI, 23.2%-24.0%). High seroprevalence (>30%) was observed among Black and Hispanic individuals, people from high poverty neighborhoods, and people in health care or essential worker industry sectors. COVID-19 symptom history was associated with seropositivity (adjusted relative risk=2.76; 95% CI, 2.65-2.88). Other risk factors included sex, age, race/ethnicity, residential area, employment sector, working outside the home, contact with a COVID-19 case, obesity, and increasing numbers of household members.
Conclusions
Based on a large serosurvey in a single U.S. jurisdiction, we estimate that just under one-quarter of NYC adults were infected in the first few months of the COVID-19 epidemic. Given disparities in infection risk, effective interventions for at-risk groups are needed during ongoing transmission.
Two cases of Escherichia coli O157 infection occurred in children after visiting an inner city open farm. Subsequently faecal samples collected from animal pens and samples of composted mixed animal manure and vegetable waste were examined for E. coli O157 by enrichment culture, immunomagnetic separation and culture of magnetic beads to cefixime tellurite sorbitol MacConkey agar. Strains of E. coli O157 were characterized by hybridization with DNA probes for VT1, VT2 and eaeA, plasmid profile analysis, phage typing and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Verocytotoxin-producing E. coli O157 strains were isolated from faecal samples from a cow, a horse, 3 breeds of pigs, 2 breeds of sheep and 2 breeds of goats and from 2 samples of compost which had been processed for 3 months. All strains were phage type 21, hybridized with probes for VT2 and eaeA but not with one for VT1, harboured 92 and 2 kb plasmids and gave indistinguishable banding patterns with PFGE. Although only two culture-confirmed cases of infection had been identified, the farm had over 100,000 visitors per year and so it was closed as a precaution both to allow a thorough investigation and to prevent further cases. The investigation identified many factors which may have contributed to transmission of E. coli O157 infection. Most of these were readily resolved by appropriate corrective measures and as there were no further cases associated with the farm during the ensuing 4 weeks it then re-opened. These cases highlight the risk, especially to young children, of acquiring zoonotic infections during visits to open farms and emphasize the need for adequate guidance and supervision before and during such visits.
The prevalence of asbestosis in stevedores intermittently transporting crocidolite asbestos in a South African port was found to be 30% in a cross-sectional survey. Diagnostic criteria are discussed in terms of the low index of suspicion for industrial diseases, the high probability of missing slight radiological changes, and the attribution of radiological lesions to other diseases, particularly tuberculosis, in a high prevalence area. Results are compared with other studies. Asbestosis was not associated with tuberculosis. Smoking was not significantly associated with asbestosis, other respiratory signs and symptoms, or radiological abnormality.
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