Household transmission investigation study for SARS-CoV-2 in French Guiana – EPI-COVID-19

Since December 2019, a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has been identified in the city of Wuhan in China. By 22 March 2020, the virus had spread to all continents, causing 294 110 confirmed cases and 12 944 deaths worldwide. The detection and spread of this emerging respiratory pathogen are accompanied by uncertainty about its main epidemiological, clinical and virological characteristics and in particular its ability to spread in the human population. To date, case reporting has mainly focused on the most serious infections and case-fatality estimates do not consider the possibility of minor forms of illness or even asymptomatic infections that do not require medical care. Therefore, it is essential that studies to test for the presence of the virus in potentially exposed asymptomatic individuals be conducted promptly to assess the true extent of infection with SARS-Cov-2. The EPI-COVID-19 study conducted by the Pasteur Institute of French Guiana aims to study, in a tropical context, the epidemiological parameters of transmission (secondary infection rate, reproduction number, generation interval, etc.) of the virus as well as the clinical spectrum of the disease in secondary cases. An epidemiological and virological follow-up of 300 household contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 will be carried out in order to study the extent of transmission of SARS-Cov2 and to provide health authorities with useful information for the adaptation of surveillance, prevention and control strategies.