Contact tracing: a lesson from the Nipah virus in the time of COVID-19
Open Access
- 1 July 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Tropical Doctor
- Vol. 50 (3), 174-175
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0049475520928217
Abstract
Without a vaccine or proven therapeutic options in COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a combination of measures: rapid diagnosis and immediate isolation of cases; rigorous contact tracing; and precautionary self-isolation of close contacts to curb the spread of COVID-19. During a Nipah outbreak in Kerala, India in 2019, it was confined to a single case. The authors were involved in the in-hospital contact tracing. With a single patient producing a contact list of 98 in a healthcare setting, the implications in a community setting during a pandemic of the scale of COVID-19 are huge but it proves that early and rigorous tracing with quarantining is an effective strategy to limit clusters. We believe that if the public is encouraged to maintain their own contact list on a daily basis, it would help in significantly reducing the time and effort invested into contact tracing in the event of a person contracting COVID-19.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Early evidence of effectiveness of digital contact tracing for SARS-CoV-2 in SwitzerlandSwiss Medical Weekly, 2020
- COVID-19 epidemic in Switzerland: on the importance of testing, contact tracing and isolationSwiss Medical Weekly, 2020
- Nipah virus infection: A reviewEpidemiology and Infection, 2019
- Outbreak Investigation of Nipah Virus Disease in Kerala, India, 2018The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2018