High Asymptomatic Carriage With the Omicron Variant in South Africa
Nigel Garrett, Asa Tapley, Jessica Andriesen, Ishen Seocharan, Leigh H. Fisher, Lisa Bunts, Nicole Espy, Carole L. Wallis, April K. Randhawa, Maurine D. Miner, Nzeera Ketter, Margaret Yacovone, Ameena Goga, Yunda Huang, John Hural, Philip Kotze, Linda‐Gail Bekker, Glenda Gray, Lawrence Corey, Ubuntu Study Team, Khatija Ahmed, Sharlaa Badal‐Faesen, Shaun Barnabas, William Brumskine, Kim Comline, Andreas Diacon, Thozama Dubula, Katherine Gill, Coert Grobbelaar, Craig Innes, Sheetal Kassim, Sheena Kotze, Erica Lazarus, Johannes Lombaard, Angelique Kany Kany Luabeya, Rebone Maboa, Scott Mahoney, Disebo Mahkaza, Moelo Malahleha, Daniel R Malan, Kathryn Mngadi, Nivashnee Naicker, Vimla Naicker, Logashvari Naidoo, Maphoshane Nchabeleng, Mohammed Rassool, Elizabeth Spooner, Hugo Tempelman, Nyaradzo Mgodi, Sufia Dadabhai, Joe Makhema, Harriet Nuwagaba‐Biribonwoha, Taraz Samandari, Peter Elyanu, Roma Chilengi, Zvavahera M. Chirenje, Julie McElrath, Myron S. Cohen, James G. Kublin, Peter B. Gilbert, Melissa Peda, Erica Andersen‐Nissen, Guido Ferrari, Manuel Villarán, Azwidhwi Takalani, Marianne Gildea, Michelle Nebergall, Carrie Sopher, Lori Proulx-Burns, D Govender, Lisa J. Sanders, Jen Hanke, Kagisho Baepanye, Bert Le Roux, Haven Wilvich, Smitha Sripathy, Daciana Margineantu, Valerie Brown, Kim Linton, Haley Howell, Bianca Noronha, Sarah Nikles, Alicia Y. Toledano, Jeanine May, Jill El-Khorazaty, Keshani Naidoo, Azwidhwi Takalani, Kentse Khuto, Fatima Mayat, Lara Fairall, Ian Sanne
Abstract
We report a 23% asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) Omicron carriage rate in participants being enrolled into a clinical trial in South Africa, 15-fold higher than in trials before Omicron. We also found lower CD4 + T-cell counts in persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) strongly correlated with increased odds of being SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive.