Author(s)

Mai Kitahara¹, Hisami Sameshima¹, Rie Tanuma¹, Kumi Setoyama¹, Yuka Yamaguchi¹, Akiyo Kamachi¹, Satoko Nakamura¹, Mayuko Sakuma¹, Yoichi Kawaike¹, Tamotsu Furuya², Shinji Ijichi^1*

¹Health Service Center, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.
²Center for Management of Information Technologies, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.

Aim: To detect risk and preventive factors associated with the Omicron variant infection in university students, a combination of a web-based survey and multivariate logistic regression analysis was introduced as the front-line initiatives by the school health practitioners. Design: Questionnaire survey. Methods: The school-wide web-based questionnaire survey was conducted among our university students as a part of the annual health check-up in April, 2023. The positive outcome was confined to the first symptomatic COVID-19 onset during the Omicron variant outbreak. Results: In this self-administered survey, risk or protective associations were merely estimated statistically in university students (n = 5406). In measured factors, karaoke and club/group activities could maintain the statistical significance in adjusted odds ratios (ORs) as relative risk factors, and science course, measles/ rubella (MR) vaccination, and COVID-19 vaccination remained as relative protective factors in adjusted OR analyses. Club/group activities with member gathering and karaoke sing-along sessions in university students may frequently have WHO’s three Cs. These risk factors are still important topics for the infection control of COVID-19 in university students. Together with some recent reports from other researchers, the significant protective role of MR vaccine in our survey warrants further clinical investigation. If the breakthrough infection continuously constitutes the majority of infection, real data in test-negative case-control or web-based questionnaire design continue to be important for statistical analysis to determine the minimal requirement of our strategies which may be equivalent to or replace COVID-19 vaccines.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Omicron Variant, Risk Behaviors, Protective Factors

Kitahara, M. , Sameshima, H. , Tanuma, R. , Setoyama, K. , Yamaguchi, Y. , Kamachi, A. , Nakamura, S. , Sakuma, M. , Kawaike, Y. , Furuya, T. and Ijichi, S. (2024) Symptomatic COVID-19 in University Students: A School-Wide Web-Based Questionnaire Survey during the Omicron Variant Outbreak. Advances in Infectious Diseases, 14, 133-146. doi: 10.4236/aid.2024.141010.