Quantitative SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Screening of Healthcare Workers in the Southern Part of Kyoto City During the COVID-19 Pre-pandemic Period

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Kohei Fujita¹  Shinpei Kada²  Osamu Kanai¹  Hiroaki Hata²  Takao Odagaki²  Noriko Satoh-Asahara⁶  Tetsuya Tagami⁶  Akihiro Yasoda⁶ 

[1] Division of Respiratory Medicine, Center for Respiratory Diseases, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center;Department of Infectious Diseases, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center;Department of Otolaryngology, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center;Department of Surgery, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center;Department of General Medicine, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center;Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center;Division of Endocrinology, and Hypertension Research, Clinical Research Institute, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center

关键词: COVID-19;    seroprevalence;    SARS-CoV-2;    ELISA;    antibody;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2020.595348

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is associated with a heavy burden on the mental and physical health of patients, regional healthcare resources, and global economic activity. While understanding of the incidence and case-fatality rates has increased, there are limited data concerning seroprevalence of antibodies against the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in healthcare workers during the pre-pandemic period. This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in healthcare workers in the southern part of Kyoto city, Japan. Methods: We prospectively recruited healthcare workers from a single hospital between April 10 and April 20, 2020. We collected serum samples from these participants and quantitatively evaluated SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Results: Five (5.4%), 15 (16.3%), and 72 (78.3%) participants showed positive, borderline, and negative serum SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody status, respectively. We found the mean titer associated with each antibody status (overall, positive, borderline, and negative) was clearly differentiated. Participants working at the otolaryngology department and/or with a history of seasonal common cold symptoms had a significantly higher SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody titer ( p = 0.046, p = 0.046, respectively). Conclusions: Five (5.4%) and 15 (16.3%) participants tested positive and borderline, respectively, for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody during the COVID-19 pre-pandemic period. These rates were higher than expected, based on government situation reports. These findings suggest that COVID-19 had already spread within the southern part of Kyoto city at the early stage of the pandemic.

【 授权许可】

CC BY