Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37824253›Full record

ArticleEuro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin2023

The value of manual backward contact tracing to control COVID-19 in practice, the Netherlands, February to March 2021: a pilot study.

Timo Louis Boelsums, Inge Anna Theresia van de Luitgaarden, Jane Whelan, Hanna Poell, Charlotte Maria Hoffman, Ewout Fanoy, Maaike Buskermolen, Jan Hendrik Richardus

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Authors' response: Added value of backward contact tracing for COVID-19.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2024
    Article
  2. Letter to the editor: Added value of backward contact tracing for COVID-19.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Timo Louis BoelsumsDepartment of Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Inge Anna Theresia van de LuitgaardenDepartment of Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Jane WhelanDepartment of Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Hanna PoellDepartment of Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Charlotte Maria HoffmanDepartment of Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Ewout FanoyDepartment of Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Maaike BuskermolenDepartment of Infectious Disease Control, Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Jan Hendrik RichardusDepartment of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BackgroundContact tracing has been a key component of COVID-19 outbreak control. Backward contact tracing (BCT) aims to trace the source that infected the index case and, thereafter, the cases infected by the source. Modelling studies have suggested BCT will substantially reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in addition to forward contact tracing.AimTo assess the feasibility and impact of adding BCT in practice.MethodsWe identified COVID-19 cases who were already registered in the electronic database between 19 February and 10 March 2021 for routine contact tracing at the Public Health Service (PHS) of Rotterdam-Rijnmond, the Netherlands (pop. 1.3 million). We investigated if, through a structured questionnaire by dedicated contact tracers, we could trace additional sources and cases infected by these sources. Potential sources identified by the index were approached to trace the source's contacts. We evaluated the number of source contacts that could be additionally quarantined.ResultsOf 7,448 COVID-19 cases interviewed in the study period, 47% (n = 3,497) indicated a source that was already registered as a case in the PHS electronic database. A potential, not yet registered source was traced in 13% (n = 979). Backward contact tracing was possible in 62 of 979 cases, from whom an additional 133 potential sources were traced, and four were eligible for tracing of source contacts. Two additional contacts traced had to stay in quarantine for 1 day. No new COVID-19 cases were confirmed.ConclusionsThe addition of manual BCT to control the COVID-19 pandemic did not provide added value in our study setting.

Indexed as

COVID-19Contact TracingHumansNetherlandsPandemicsPilot ProjectsSARS-CoV-2backward contact tracingCOVID-19infectious disease controlpandemic preparednesspublic health responseSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID37824253
PMCPMC10571494

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.