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. 2022 Dec 13;226(12):2105-2112.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac412.

Prospective Surveillance of Respiratory Infections in British Antarctic Survey Bases During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Katharine H Ganly  1 , James C Bowyer  1 , Paul W Bird  2 , Nicholas J Willford  2 , Jessica Shaw  2 , Mina Odedra  2 , Georgia Osborn  2 , Tom Everett  1 , Matthew Warner  1 , Simon Horne  1 , Michael Dinn  1 , Claire L McMurray  2 , Christopher W Holmes  2 , Sharon S F Koo  2 , Julian Wei-Tze Tang  2   3
Affiliations

Prospective Surveillance of Respiratory Infections in British Antarctic Survey Bases During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Katharine H Ganly et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: The British Antarctic bases offer a semiclosed environment for assessing the transmission and persistence of seasonal respiratory viruses.

Methods: Weekly swabbing was performed for respiratory pathogen surveillance (including SARS-CoV-2), at 2 British Antarctic Survey bases, during 2020: King Edward Point (KEP, 30 June to 29 September, 9 participants, 124 swabs) and Rothera (9 May to 6 June, 27 participants, 127 swabs). Symptom questionnaires were collected for any newly symptomatic cases that presented during this weekly swabbing period.

Results: At KEP, swabs tested positive for non-SARS-CoV-2 seasonal coronavirus (2), adenovirus (1), parainfluenza 3 (1), and respiratory syncytial virus B (1). At Rothera, swabs tested positive for non-SARS-CoV-2 seasonal coronavirus (3), adenovirus (2), parainfluenza 4 (1), and human metapneumovirus (1). All bacterial agents identified were considered to be colonizers and not pathogenic.

Conclusions: At KEP, the timeline indicated that the parainfluenza 3 and adenovirus infections could have been linked to some of the symptomatic cases that presented. For the other viruses, the only other possible sources were the visiting ship crew members. At Rothera, the single symptomatic case presented too early for this to be linked to the subsequent viral detections, and the only other possible source could have been a single nonparticipating staff member.

Keywords: Antarctic; SARS-CoV-2; imported; infection; personnel; respiratory virus; surveillance; symptomatic; transmission.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. The authors: No reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
King Edward Point base timeline of events. Note the central dateline. The vertical arrows or brackets represent roughly weekly sampling time points, with symptomatic cases and PCR-confirmed viral infections as indicated. In some weeks, the sampling dates (brackets) were more spread out due to participants' convenience. *Two late samples (both PCR negative) were collected on 6 October 2020 (MC220, MC462) as part of this last weekly batch of samples. Abbreviations: AdV+, adenovirus positive; Fish Vess Inspect, fisheries vessel inspection; FPV, Fisheries Protection Vessel; GO, government officer; isol, isolated; MC, King Edward Point participating base personnel; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PIV3+, parainfluenza 3 positive; RSV B+, respiratory syncytial virus B positive; Seas CoV+, seasonal coronavirus positive; Summer Pop Depart, summer population of base personnel departure; Symp, symptomatic; Wkly, weekly.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Rothera base timeline of events. Note the central dateline. The vertical arrows represent sampling time points, with symptomatic cases and PCR-confirmed viral infections as indicated. Abbreviations: AdV+, adenovirus positive; hMPV+, human metapneumovirus positive; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PIV4+, parainfluenza 4 positive; RC, Rothera participating base personnel; RRS JCR, Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross; Seas CoV+, seasonal coronavirus positive; Summer Pop Depart, summer population of base personnel; Symp, symptomatic; Wkly, weekly.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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