SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody detection in healthcare workers in Germany with direct contact to COVID-19 patients.

Link to article at PubMed

SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody detection in healthcare workers in Germany with direct contact to COVID-19 patients.

J Clin Virol. 2020 May 13;128:104437

Authors: Korth J, Wilde B, Dolff S, Anastasiou OE, Krawczyk A, Jahn M, Cordes S, Ross B, Esser S, Lindemann M, Kribben A, Dittmer U, Witzke O, Herrmann A

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is associated with a severe respiratory manifestation, COVID-19, and presents a challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. Healthcare workers are a vulnerable cohort for SARS-CoV-2 infection due to frequent and close contact to patients with COVID-19.
STUDY DESIGN: Serum samples from 316 healthcare workers of the University Hospital Essen, Germany were tested for SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic and clinical data. Healthcare workers were grouped depending on the frequency of contact to COVID-19 patients in high-risk-group (n = 244) with daily contact to known or suspected SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, intermediated-risk-group (n = 37) with daily contact to patients without known or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection at admission and low-risk-group (n = 35) without patient contact.
RESULTS: In 5 of 316 (1.6 %) healthcare workers SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies could be detected. The seroprevalence was higher in the intermediate-risk-group vs. high-risk-group (2/37 (5.4 %) vs. 3/244 (1.2 %), p = 0.13). Four of the five subject were tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 via PCR. One (20 %) subject was not tested via PCR since he was asymptomatic.
CONCLUSION: The overall seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers of a tertiary hospital in Germany is low (1.6 %). The data indicate that the local hygiene standard might be effective.

PMID: 32434708 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *