Household transmission and immunity to SARS-CoV-2 among paediatric clients of a primary care centre in a low-resource community in Rio de Janeiro

Understanding SARS-CoV-2 in children is important for their health, as well as for their families and communities, particularly in crowded living conditions such as slums, where households are very small and it is almost impossible to keep children within their homes.The aim of this project is to study the household transmission dynamics of the COVID-19 in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The researchers will examine and test for COVID-19 in a sample of children and their families from one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city, with regular follow-up visits over two years. The study expects to bring more evidence to the role of children in disease transmission, answering questions such as whether adults catch the virus at work, then transmit it to their children or do children catch the virus from neighbours, then bring it back to their families. "The risk of catching SARS-CoV-2 comes down to a variety of factors, from genetics, to behaviour, to the environment in the home. We're hoping to tease variables apart with statistical models and figure out which ones are the most important." Leonard Bastos, Associate Researcher, FIOCRUZ, Brazil