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. 2022 Aug 5:10:879107.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.879107. eCollection 2022.

Pooled surveillance testing for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections at a Veterinary Teaching Hospital College, University of Minnesota, December 2020-April 2021

Janice Mladonicky  1 , Addisalem Bedada  1 , Colin Yoder  1 , Kimberly VanderWaal  1 , Jerry Torrison  2 , Scott J Wells  1
Affiliations

Pooled surveillance testing for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections at a Veterinary Teaching Hospital College, University of Minnesota, December 2020-April 2021

Janice Mladonicky et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

To evaluate the use of asymptomatic surveillance, we implemented a surveillance program for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in a voluntary sample of individuals at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Self-collected anterior nasal samples were tested using real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in a 5:1 pooled testing strategy, twice weekly for 18 weeks. Positive pools were deconvoluted into individual tests, revealing an observed prevalence of 0.07% (3/4,525). Pooled testing allowed for large scale testing with an estimated cost savings of 79.3% and modeling demonstrated this testing strategy prevented up to 2 workplace transmission events, averting up to 4 clinical cases. At the study endpoint, antibody testing revealed 80.7% of participants had detectable vaccine antibody levels while 9.6% of participants had detectable antibodies to natural infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cost effective; pooled testing; serology; surveillance; veterinary medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The cumulative number of expected clinical cases when there is no testing and during bi-weekly testing. (A) shows the predicted number of cumulative clinical cases (in a population of 100) across scenarios with variable levels of workplace R and community transmission. For the same levels of workplace R and community transmission as (A,B) shows the predicted number of cumulative clinical cases when bi-weekly testing was employed. Across (A,B), lower to higher numbers are shaded in darker to lighter colors, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Model scenarios. (A) shows the total number of cases that were PCR-detected (clinical or non-clinical). Red, orange, and yellow text shows scenarios in which the 95% prediction interval overlapped the observed number (3) of PCR-positive cases in the cohort, with redder text indicating better correspondence between modeled and observed results. (B) shows how many workplace transmission events were avoided relative to the no testing baseline and (C) shows the total number of clinical cases averted during bi-weekly testing relative to no testing baseline. Across all panels, lower to higher numbers are shaded in darker to lighter colors, respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Sample submissions among participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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