COVID-19 cluster surveillance using exposure data collected from routine contact tracing: The genomic validation of a novel informatics-based approach to outbreak detection in England.

Contact tracing was used globally to prevent onwards transmission of COVID-19. Tracing contacts alone is unlikely to be sufficient in controlling community transmission, due to the pre-symptomatic, overdispersed and airborne nature of COVID-19 transmission. We describe and demonstrate the validity of a national enhanced contact tracing programme for COVID-19 cluster surveillance in England.

Increased rates of hospital-onset Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in National Health Service acute trusts in England between June 2020 and March 2021: a national surveillance review.

A large increase in hospital-onset and intensive-care-unit-onset Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia rates in English acute trusts was observed between 2020 and 2021, coinciding with reported increases in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases and associated hospitalizations. Many of these S. aureus bacteraemia cases were defined as co-/secondary infections to COVID-19.

Trends in coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), England, 2010-2021.

Objective: To review the epidemiology of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) in England over the recent 12 year period.

Methods: Laboratory-confirmed CoNS reported from sterile sites in patients in England to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) between 2010 and 2021 were extracted from the national laboratory database and analysed.

Results: Overall, 668 857 episodes of CoNS were reported.

Incidence and aetiology of infant Gram-negative bacteraemia and meningitis: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: One in six infant deaths worldwide are caused by invasive bacterial infections, of which a substantial but unquantified proportion are caused by Gram-negative bacteria.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of studies published from 31 May 2010 to 1 June 2020 indexed in MEDLINE, Embase and Global Health databases. We performed meta-analyses of the incidence of Gram-negative bacteraemia and of individual Gram-negative species as proportions of all infant bacteraemia, stratified by onset (early vs late) and country income (low/middle vs high).

Workplace exposures associated with COVID-19: evidence from a case-control study with multiple sampling periods in England, August-October 2020.

We investigated risk factors associated with COVID-19 by conducting a retrospective, frequency-matched case-control study, with three sampling periods (August-October 2020). We compared cases completing routine contact tracing to asymptomatic population controls. Multivariable analyses estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for non-household community settings.