Results of screening examination of employees of a medical hospital for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2
AbstractWhile providing medical care to patients with a new coronavirus infection, medical workers are at risk of developing COVID-19 significantly more often than the general population. In addition to morbidity risks, an important question is the duration of the immune response to COVID-19.
The aim of our study is to assess the incidence of COVID-19 and the duration of the persistence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among hospital medical staff.
Material and methods. We conducted a retrospective non-randomized single-center study, based on the analysis of the laboratory database of the Municipal Clinical Hospital No. 52 (Moscow). The results of the 2160 employees were included into analysis. The inclusion criteria were as follows: at least one result of antibody determination to SARS-CoV-2 in period from June 2020 to January 2021; the date of the last antibody determination to SARS-CoV-2 no earlier than November 1, 2020.
Additionally, a group of 100 employees were selected for further investigation of the persistence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.
Additionally, a group of 100 employees was selected, who had a confirmed fact of seroconversion for IgG and the presence of at least three results of IgG to SARS-CoV-2 determination with an interval of at least 4 weeks.
Results. According to IgG determination results, by January 2021, 66.6% of all hospital employees have already been ill with COVID-19. The medical staff who worked with patients with COVID-19 been ill with COVID-19 in 78.2% of cases. The share of sick medical personnel who did not work with this group of patients was 55.3%. The first termination of antibodies persistence to SARS-CoV-2 from employees was marked from 3–4 months of observation. After 7–9 months, 23% of the observed group became seronegative.
Odds ratio for the risk of COVID-19 for medical staff, who worked with COVID-19 patients was 2.89 (95% CI 2.34–3.56) to other medical staff and 3.6 (95% CI 2.82–4.59) to non-medical staff.
Conclusion. The incidence of COVID-19 and the risk of infection among medical workers is significantly higher than among the general population, which dictates the need of further improvement of COVID-19 prevention measures among medical workers.
Keywords:COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; medical workers; antibodies
Funding. The study had no sponsor support.
Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Contribution. The concept and design of the study – Sayfullin R.F., Sinyavkin D.O.; collection and processing of the material – Sayfullin R.F., Pylaeva S.K.; statistical processing – Sayfullin R.F., Pylaeva S.K.; writing – Sayfullin R.F., Pylaeva S.K.; editing – Sayfullin R.F., Sinyavkin D.O.
For citation: Sayfullin R.F., Pylaeva S.K., Sinyavkin D.O. Results of screening examination of employees of a medical hospital for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Infektsionnye bolezni: novosti, mneniya, obuchenie [Infectious Diseases: News, Opinions, Training]. 2022; 11 (1): 28–33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33029/2305-3496-2022-11-1-28-33
References
1. Lumley S.F., O’Donnell D., Stoesser N.E., et al. Antibody status and incidence of sars-cov-2 infection in health care workers. N Engl J Med. 2021; 384: 533–40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2034545
2. Self W.H., Tenforde M.W., Stubblefield W.B., et al. Decline in SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after mild infection among frontline health care personnel in a Multistate Hospital Network – 12 States, April-August 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020; 69 (47): 1762–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6947a2
3. Kweon O.J., Lim Y.K., Kim H.R., et al. Antibody kinetics and serologic profiles of SARS-CoV-2 infection using two serologic assays. PLoS One. 2020; 15 (10): e0240395. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240395
4. Mazzini L., Martinuzzi D., Hyseni I., et al. Comparative analyses of SARS-CoV-2 binding (IgG, IgM, IgA) and neutralizing antibodies from human serum samples. J Immunol Methods. 2021; 489: 112937. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jim.2020.112937
5. Iyer A.S., Jones F.K., Nodoushani A., et al. Persistence and decay of human antibody responses to the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in COVID-19 patients. Sci Immunol. 2020; 5 (52): eabe0367. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciimmunol.abe0367
6. Post N., Eddy D., Huntley C., et al. Antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans: A systematic review. PLoS One. 2020; 15 (12): e0244126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244126
7. Dan J.M., Mateus J., Kato Y., et al. Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for up to 8 months after infection. Science. 2021; 371 (6529): eabf4063. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf4063
8. Perreault J., Tremblay T., Fournier M.J., et al. Waning of SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibodies in longitudinal convalescent plasma samples within 4 months after symptom onset. Blood. 2020; 136 (22): 2588–91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2020008367
9. Deisenhammer F., Borena W., Bauer A., et al. 6-month SARS-CoV-2 antibody persistency in a Tyrolian COVID-19 cohort. Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2021; 133 (7-8): 351–8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-020-01795-7
10. L’Huillier A.G., Meyer B., Andrey D.O., et al. Antibody persistence in the first six months following SARS-CoV-2 infection among hospital workers: a prospective longitudinal study. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021; 27 (5): 784.e1–8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2021.01.005
11. Nuccetelli M, Pieri M, Grelli S, et al. SARS-CoV-2 infection serology: a useful tool to overcome lockdown? Cell Death Discov. 2020; 6: 38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-020-0275-2
12. Smetanina S.V., Isaev A.N., Isaeva Yu.O., et al. Change in anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies (COVID-19) among the population of the Russian Federation regions and in convalescents in dynamics. Consilium Medicum. 2020; 22 (11): 47–50. DOI: 10.26442/20751753.2020.11.200417 (in Russian)