Indian Journal of Medical Biochemistry

Register      Login

VOLUME 25 , ISSUE 1 ( January-April, 2021 ) > List of Articles

BRIEF RESEARCH COMMUNICATION

Change in Seroprevalence of Total Antibodies to COVID-19 Virus among Healthcare Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Mumbai

Sweta Shah, Pooja Thakkar, Tanu Singhal, Aamreen Kazi, Reshma Tejam

Keywords : COVID-19, Healthcare workers, SARS-CoV-2, Seroprevalence, Total antibodies

Citation Information : Shah S, Thakkar P, Singhal T, Kazi A, Tejam R. Change in Seroprevalence of Total Antibodies to COVID-19 Virus among Healthcare Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Mumbai. Indian J Med Biochem 2021; 25 (1):42-45.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10054-0170

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 00-00-0000

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2021; The Author(s).


Abstract

Serological tests for estimation of total antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 for healthcare workers (HCWs) help to understand the epidemiology of COVID-19 disease in the healthcare setting. Aims and objective: To note the seroprevalence of COVID-19 among HCWs in a tertiary care hospital. Settings and design: This study was done at a tertiary care hospital, Mumbai. Detection of the “Total antibody to SARS-CoV-2” virus was offered as part of the health check-up from September 24, 2020, to December 31, 2020, after taking due consent and history of the HCWs. Materials and methods: The test was anti-SARS-CoV-2 on Elecsys, Roche Diagnostics by ECLIA. Results: Five hundred and seventy (25.8%) HCWs out of a total of 2,211 working in the hospital were tested for total antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Two hundred and forty-eight (43.5%) HCWs were positive for the total antibody test to SARS-CoV-2 virus. 86.8% of the HCWs who were diagnosed to have COVID-19 in past were seropositive. 65.2% of HCWs even when were PCR negative but had been in contact with an infected person but were PCR negative developed antibodies. Twenty-eight percent of HCWs did not have any symptoms of COVID-19 infection or were not in close contact of positive contact were seropositive. Of these 248 antibody-positive HCWs, 105 (42.3%) had tested positive for RT-PCR in the past, 30 (12.1%) were symptomatic/close contacts of COVID-19 patients but had tested negative for RT-PCR in the past and 113 (45.6%) were not symptomatic, had no high-risk contact and were never tested. Conclusion: There is a marked increase in seroprevalence rates in asymptomatic HCWs from 4.3% in June 2020 to 28% between September and December 2020 at our center. Clinical significance: An increase in COVID-19 seroprevalence among HCWs indicates continued subclinical exposure during and after the first wave during a global pandemic and this should be used to predict the next surge of infections.


PDF Share
  1. Nguyen LH, Drew DA, Graham MS, et al. Risk of COVID-19 among front-line health-care workers and the general community: a prospective cohort study. Lancet 2020;5(9):E475–E483. DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30164-X.
  2. Government of India, Clinical management of COVID 19. Available from: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/UpdatedClinicalManagementProtocolforCOVID19 dated 03072020. pdf. [Last accessed on 2020 Jul 04].
  3. Indian Council of Medical Research. Newer Additional Strategies for COVID-19 Testing. Available from: https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/strategy/New_additional_Advisory_23062020_2.pdf. [Last accessed on 2020 Jul 04].
  4. Centers for Disease Control, Interim Guidelines for COVID-19 Antibody Testing in Clinical and Public Health Settings. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/resources/ antibody-tests-guidelines.html. [Last accessed on 2020 Jul 04].
  5. Singhal T, Shah S, Naik R, et al. Prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies in healthcare workers at the peak of the pandemic in Mumbai, India: a preliminary study. Indian J Med Microbiol 2020;38(3-4):461–463. DOI: 10.4103/ijmm.IJMM_20_308.
  6. Murhekar MV, Bhatnagar T, Selvaraju S, et al., Jeromie Wesley Vivian Thangaraj SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in India, August–September, 2020: findings from the second nationwide household serosurvey www.thelancet.com/lancetgh Published online January 27, 2021 10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30544-1.
  7. Malani A, Shah D, Kang G, et al. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in slums versus non-slums in Mumbai, India. Lancet Glob Health 2021;9(2):e110–e111. DOI: 10.1016/ S2214-109X(20)30467-8.
  8. George C, Inbaraj L, Chandrasingh S, et al. High seroprevalence of COVID-19 infection in a large slum in South India; what does it tell us about managing a pandemic and beyond? Epidemiol Infect 2021;149:E39. DOI: 10.1017/S0950268821000273.
  9. Babu GR, Sundaresan R, Athreya S, et al. The burden of active infection and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in the general population: results from a statewide survey in Karnataka, India. medRxiv 2020. preprint 10.1101/2020.12.04.20243949;.
  10. Selvaraju S, Kumar MS, Thangaraj JWV, et al. Chennai COVID sero-surveillance team. Population-based serosurvey for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission, Chennai, India. Emerg Infect Dis 2021;27(2):586–589. DOI: 10.3201/eid2702.203938.
  11. Baveja S, Karnik N, Natraj G, et al. Rapid volunteer-based SARS-Cov-2 antibody screening among health care workers of a hospital in Mumbai, India. Indian J Med Sci 2020;72(3):148–154. DOI: 10.25259/IJMS_234_2020.
  12. Kataria S, Phogat R, Sharma P, et al. Is Covid-19 seroprevalence different in health care workers as per their risk of exposure? A study from a tertiary care hospital in National Capital Region of India. medRxiv 2021. preprint 10.1101/2021.02.10.21251543this version posted February 12, 2021.
  13. Singhal T, Shah S, Naik R, et al. Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies beyond 6 months in health care workers in Mumbai. Indian J Med Microbiol 2021;39(2):267. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmmb.2021.02.003.
PDF Share
PDF Share

© Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) LTD.