Identification of a Super-Spreading Chain of Transmission Associated with COVID-19 at the Early Stage of the Disease Outbreak in Wuhan

  1. Ke Hu
  2. Yang Zhao
  3. Mengmei Wang
  4. Qiqi Zeng
  5. Xiaorui Wang
  6. Ming Wang
  7. Zhishui Zheng
  8. Xiaochen Li
  9. Yunting Zhang
  10. Tao Wang
  11. Shaolin Zeng
  12. Yan Jiang
  13. Dan Liu
  14. Wenzhen Yu
  15. Fang Hu
  16. Hongyu Qin
  17. Jingcan Hao
  18. Meng Jiang
  19. Binghong Zhang
  20. Bingyin Shi,
  21. Chengsheng Zhang

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Abstract

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.03.19.20026245: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: Patients and data collection: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board of Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University (No. WDRY2020-K019).
    Consent: Oral consent was obtained from the patients or their family members, whereas written informed consent was waived by the Provincial and National Health Commissions in China under the exceptional circumstances for investigation of an ongoing disease outbreak.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    The data we retrieved from the electronic medical records included demographic features, comorbidities, clinical presentation, laboratory investigation, RT-PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2, serum specific IgM and IgG antibodies, chest computed tomographic (CT) scan, and the disease outcome.
    IgG
    suggested: None
    Serum specific IgM and IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected using the immunoassay kit provided by the YHLO Biotech Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) and the fully-automated chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer (UniCel DxI800, Beckman Coulter, Inc., USA) according to the instructions of the manufacturers.
    SARS-CoV-2
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical analyses were done using the SPSS 22.0 software.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    We recognized that our study had a number of limitations and the findings need to be interpreted with caution. (1) Some cases had incomplete records of the exact exposure time and epidemiological history. (2) RT-PCR and serological testing were not carried out for some cases due to the irregular service during this outbreak. (3) The virus genomes of SARS-CoV-2 in this cohort were not were sequenced. In conclusion, we identified a super-spreading chain of nosocomial transmission that occurred in the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan. Given the fact that COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly in many other countries worldwide, it is conceivable that more super-spreading events will be identified in near future, and its impact on the disease outbreak and transmission warrant further investigation. The finding that a significant portion of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients were tested negative for the specific IgM and IgG at the convalescence stage should be addressed by additional studies.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.26502/acbr.50170187
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.03.19.20026245v1 on medRxiv