COVID-19 Seroprevalence Study in Asymptomatic Healthcare Workers at a Tertiary Healthcare Centre, India
Introduction: The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has evolved into a pandemic disease. The present knowledge is mainly based on available numerator data of confirmed positive cases only. The asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases are not brought into pic...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/31faf910fe174c9c9f890a22a039cc34 |
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| Sumario: | Introduction: The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2
(SARS-CoV-2) infection has evolved into a pandemic disease. The
present knowledge is mainly based on available numerator data
of confirmed positive cases only. The asymptomatic and mildly
symptomatic cases are not brought into picture for testing at all,
which is a major contributor to the pandemicity and hence creating
bias in the documentation and understanding of the disease. The
magnitude of the exposure of Healthcare Workers (HCW) and their
potential for asymptomatic transmission makes it critical to know the
incidence of infection in the healthcare population.
Aim: To evaluate the seroprevalence of Immunoglobulin G (IgG)
SARS-CoV-2 among the asymptomatic HCW.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study
conducted between January 2021 to February 2021 in SRM
Medical College Hospital and Research Centre a tertiary care
hospital in Potheri, Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu, India. The
HCW were asked to complete the standardised questionnaire
including the basic information, symptoms of COVID-19 illness
and utility of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) based on World
Health Organization (WHO) risk assessment and management of
exposure of HCW in the context of COVID-19. They were divided
into two groups, the staff who had direct patient exposure as
group 1 with 82 participants and staff without direct patient
exposure as group 2 with 46 participants. The serodetection of IgG
SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was done using the Chemiluminescence
Immunoassay (CLIA). The obtained results were statistically
analysed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 20.0. A Chi-square test (χ2
) was performed and a p-value
less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 128 HCW were studied. In group 1, there
were 64.1% (n=82) of HCWs and in group 2 there were 35.9%
(n=46) of HCWs. There were total of 74 (57.8%) males and
54 (42.2%) females. No gender-specific differences were
observed. The mean age in group 1 was 28.93 years and group
2 was 32.2 years. The staffs older than 40 years were more
commonly affected. Adherence to strict PPE protocol was
observed in 92.6% (76/82) in group 1 and 82.6% (38/46) in
group 2. The difference between the groups were statistically
significant (p=0.025). In this study, though the seroprevalence
of COVID-19 infection was 9.8% (n=8) in group 1 and 13% (n=6)
in group 2, it was statistically not significant.
Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 Serology study helps to identify
the asymptomatic (unestimated) cases. The results of the
seroprevalence suggest that the strict adherence to PPE protocol
helps to prevent COVID-19. |
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