Download This Paper
Preprints with The Lancet is part of SSRN´s First Look, a place where journals identify content of interest prior to publication. Authors have opted in at submission to The Lancet family of journals to post their preprints on Preprints with The Lancet. The usual SSRN checks and a Lancet-specific check for appropriateness and transparency have been applied. Preprints available here are not Lancet publications or necessarily under review with a Lancet journal. These preprints are early stage research papers that have not been peer-reviewed. The findings should not be used for clinical or public health decision making and should not be presented to a lay audience without highlighting that they are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed. For more information on this collaboration, see the comments published in The Lancet about the trial period, and our decision to make this a permanent offering, or visit The Lancet´s FAQ page, and for any feedback please contact preprints@lancet.com.
Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody in Patients With or Without COVID-19
14 Pages Posted: 3 Jun 2020
More...Abstract
Objective: Sero-surveillance was conducted in the patients with or without COVID-19.
Methods: Sera were collected from 3062 patients of Wuhan, and the levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibody IgM and IgG were measured by the immuno-colloidal gold method. Nucleic acid (NA) of SARS-CoV-2 was measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Results: The study consisted of 1652 men and 1410 women. The mean seroprevalence for IgM and IgG in all participants was 2•81% and 7•51%, respectively. The positive rate of IgG was significantly higher in women than in men (P<0•05). As for subgroups, seroprevalence for IgM and IgG was significantly different among the age group, the highest positive rate of IgM was observed in 41-60 years of age (3•49%), while the highest seroprevalence for IgG observed in persons >60 years of age (8•61%). The positive rates of IgM and IgG in the convalescent patients were 31•82% and 77•27%, respectively, which was significantly higher compared with individuals with suspected syndromes or individuals without any clinical signs (P<0•01). Seroprevalence for IgG in medical staff was markedly higher than those in residents. Notably, the positive rate was higher in the individuals from the fever clinic where specifically for the screen the suspected patients. The seroprevalence in patients with various comorbidity was no significant difference (P>0•05).
Conclusion: The low positive rate of the SARS-CoV-2 IgM and NA test in residents of Wuhan indicated that SARS-CoV-2 outbreak is subsiding, and the possibility of reintroduction of the virus from an unidentified natural reservoir is low. Seroprevalence for IgG various among the patients with different comorbidity, which provide the information for humoral immunity and vaccine in the future.
Funding Statement: This study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2018YFE0204500), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81702273), Science and technology key project of Guangdong Province: Study on the source and epidemiology of COVID-19 (No .2020B111107001) ,and Scientific research project of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control in Guangdong universities (No.2020KZDZX1087).
Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Ethics Approval Statement: The study received ethics approval from the Ethics Committee of Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Sero-surveillance
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation