The Role of Children in Household Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Across Four Waves of the Pandemic

Abstract

Background It is important to understand the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in close-contact settings such as households. We hypothesized that children would most often acquire SARS-CoV-2 from a symptomatic adult caregiver. Methods This prospective cohort study was conducted from April 2020 to July 2022 in a low-resource, urban settlement in Brazil. We recruited families who brought their children to a public clinic. We collected nasopharyngeal and oral swabs from household members and tracked symptoms and vaccination. Results In total, 1,256 participants in 298 households were tested for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 4073 RT-PCR tests were run with 893 SARS-CoV-2 positive results (21.9%). SARS-CoV-2 cases were defined as isolated cases (n=158) or well-defined transmission events (n=175). The risk of household transmission was lower if the index case was a child (OR: 0.3 [95% CI: 0.16-0.55], p<0.001) or was vaccinated (OR: 0.29 [95%CI: 0.1-0.85], p=0.024), and higher if the index was symptomatic (OR: 2.53 [95% CI: 1.51-4.26], p<0.001). The secondary attack rate for child index cases to child contacts was 0.29, whereas the secondary attack rate from adult index cases to child contacts was 0.47 (p=0.08). Conclusions In this community, children were significantly less infectious to their household contacts than adolescents or adults. Most children were infected by a symptomatic adult, usually their mother. There was a double benefit of vaccination as it protected the vaccinee from severe illness and prevented onward transmission to household contacts. Our findings may also be valid for similar populations throughout Latin America.