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Seroprevalence of anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 antibodies in COVID‐19 patients and healthy volunteers up to six months post disease onset
First published: 21 October 2020
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/eji.202048970
This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as
Abstract
SARS‐CoV‐2 has emerged as a human pathogen, causing clinical signs, from fever to pneumonia – COVID‐19 – but may remain mild or asymptomatic. To understand the continuing spread of the virus, to detect those who are and were infected, and to follow the immune response longitudinally, reliable and robust assays for SARS‐CoV‐2 detection and immunological monitoring are needed. We quantified immunoglobulin (Ig) M, IgG and IgA antibodies recognizing the SARS‐CoV‐2 receptor‐binding domain (RBD) or the Spike (S) protein over a period of five months following COVID‐19 onset. We report the detailed setup to monitor the humoral immune response from over 300 COVID‐19 hospital patients and healthcare workers, 2500 University staff and 198 post‐COVID‐19 volunteers. Anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 antibody responses follow a classic pattern with a rapid increase within the first three weeks after symptoms. Although titres reduce subsequently, the ability to detect anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG antibodies remained robust with confirmed neutralisation activity for up to six months in a large proportion of previously virus‐positive screened subjects. Our work provides detailed information for the assays used, facilitating further and longitudinal analysis of protective immunity to SARS‐CoV‐2. Importantly, it highlights a continued level of circulating neutralising antibodies in most people with confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2.