tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Viruses
. 2022 Nov 21;14(11):2581.
doi: 10.3390/v14112581.
Assessing the Pre-Vaccination Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG Seroprevalence among Residents and Staff in Nursing Home in Niigata, Japan, November 2020
Keita Wagatsuma[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Sayaka Yoshioka[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Satoru Yamazaki[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Ryosuke Sato[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Wint Wint Phyu[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Irina Chon[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yoshiki Takahashi[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Hisami Watanabe[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Reiko Saito[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in a nursing home in Niigata, Japan, November 2020, with an attack rate of 32.0% (63/197). The present study was aimed at assessing the pre-vaccination seroprevalence almost half a year after the COVID-19 outbreak in residents and staff in the facility, along with an assessment of the performance of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA), regarding test seropositivity and seronegativity in detecting immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies (anti-nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) proteins). A total of 101 people (30 reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR)-positive and 71 RT-PCR-negative at the time of the outbreak in November 2020) were tested for anti-IgG antibody titers in April 2021, and the seroprevalence was approximately 40.0-60.0% for residents and 10.0-20.0% for staff, which was almost consistent with the RT-PCR test results that were implemented during the outbreak. The seropositivity for anti-S antibodies showed 90.0% and was almost identical to the RT-PCR positives even after approximately six months of infections, suggesting that the anti-S antibody titer test is reliable for a close assessment of the infection history. Meanwhile, seropositivity for anti-N antibodies was relatively low, at 66.7%. There was one staff member and one resident that were RT-PCR-negative but seropositive for both anti-S and anti-N antibody, indicating overlooked infections despite periodical RT-PCR testing at the time of the outbreak. Our study indicated the impact of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a vulnerable elderly nursing home in the pre-vaccination period and the value of a serological study to supplement RT-PCR results retrospectively.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; epidemiology; nursing home; pre-vaccination; seroprevalence.
. 2022 Nov 21;14(11):2581.
doi: 10.3390/v14112581.
Assessing the Pre-Vaccination Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG Seroprevalence among Residents and Staff in Nursing Home in Niigata, Japan, November 2020
Keita Wagatsuma[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Sayaka Yoshioka[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Satoru Yamazaki[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Ryosuke Sato[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Wint Wint Phyu[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Irina Chon[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yoshiki Takahashi[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Hisami Watanabe[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Reiko Saito[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 36423190
- DOI: 10.3390/v14112581
Abstract
An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in a nursing home in Niigata, Japan, November 2020, with an attack rate of 32.0% (63/197). The present study was aimed at assessing the pre-vaccination seroprevalence almost half a year after the COVID-19 outbreak in residents and staff in the facility, along with an assessment of the performance of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA), regarding test seropositivity and seronegativity in detecting immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies (anti-nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) proteins). A total of 101 people (30 reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR)-positive and 71 RT-PCR-negative at the time of the outbreak in November 2020) were tested for anti-IgG antibody titers in April 2021, and the seroprevalence was approximately 40.0-60.0% for residents and 10.0-20.0% for staff, which was almost consistent with the RT-PCR test results that were implemented during the outbreak. The seropositivity for anti-S antibodies showed 90.0% and was almost identical to the RT-PCR positives even after approximately six months of infections, suggesting that the anti-S antibody titer test is reliable for a close assessment of the infection history. Meanwhile, seropositivity for anti-N antibodies was relatively low, at 66.7%. There was one staff member and one resident that were RT-PCR-negative but seropositive for both anti-S and anti-N antibody, indicating overlooked infections despite periodical RT-PCR testing at the time of the outbreak. Our study indicated the impact of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a vulnerable elderly nursing home in the pre-vaccination period and the value of a serological study to supplement RT-PCR results retrospectively.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; epidemiology; nursing home; pre-vaccination; seroprevalence.