{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T02:18:55Z","timestamp":1788315535763,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,15]],"date-time":"2025-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736899200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020044","name":"Yale School of Public Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020044","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100004319","name":"Pfizer","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100004319","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Yale researchers in consultation with Pfizer"},{"name":"Yale researchers in consultation with Pfizer"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,31]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Healthcare workers are at increased risk of exposure to respiratory pathogens including Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus). While little asymptomatic carriage has been reported in young-to-middle-aged adults, this may be due to nonsensitive diagnostic methods. The aim of the current study was to investigate the rates of pneumococcal carriage in a large cohort of healthcare workers, using saliva as a respiratory specimen.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We evaluated pneumococcal carriage in convenience samples of saliva, self-collected from asymptomatic healthcare workers (Connecticut, USA) who were testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from 30 March to 11 June 2020. DNA extracted from the culture-enriched saliva was later tested using quantitative polymerase chain reaction for piaB, lytA, and serotype. Saliva samples were considered positive for pneumococcus when the piaB cycle threshold value was &amp;lt;40.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Study participants were 22\u201374 years old (mean age, 38.5 years), 75% female, 75% white, and with occupations including registered nurses (48%), medical doctors (23%), and patient care assistants (5%). Overall, 138 of 1241 samples (11%) from 86 of 392 individuals (21%) tested piaB positive at some point during the 4-month study period, with 28 (33%) colonized individuals positive at multiple time points. Carriers reflected the overall study population. No significant demographic characteristics were associated with detection of pneumococcus. Colonized individuals primarily carried serotypes 19F (25.6%) and 3 (12.8%).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>During a period of mandatory masking, we identified a cumulative pneumococcal carriage prevalence of 21% among healthcare workers. This study highlights that healthcare workers may act as unrecognized reservoirs of pneumococcus in the population. Despite long-standing pediatric immunization programs, vaccine-targeted serotypes continue to be prevalent among the adult population.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/ofid\/ofaf008","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,5]],"date-time":"2025-01-05T15:12:55Z","timestamp":1736089975000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Detection of Pneumococcal Carriage in Asymptomatic Healthcare Workers"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Pari","family":"Waghela","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health , New Haven, Connecticut ,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raechel","family":"Davis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health , New Haven, Connecticut 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