COVID-19 outbreak among French firefighters, Marseille, France, 2020.

ABSTRACT: We investigated a COVID-19 outbreak at a fire station in Marseille, France. Confirmed cases were defined as individuals with positive SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and/or neutralising antibodies. All 85 firefighters at work during the outbreak period were included after questioning and sampled for RT-PCR and viral neutralisation assay. Twenty-three firefighters were confirmed positive, 19 of them were symptomatic, and four asymptomatic cases were confirmed by virus neutralisation. A total of 22 firefighters had specific neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Neutralising antibodies were found in four asymptomatic and 18 symptomatic cases. Eleven symptomatic cases had high titres (≥ 1:80). The earliest detection of neutralising antibodies was 7 days after symptom onset, and

SUBMITTER: Durand GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8518307 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature