Serological Testing Reveals the Hidden COVID-19 Burden among Health Care Workers Experiencing a SARS-CoV-2 Nosocomial Outbreak.

ABSTRACT: We describe the results of testing health care workers, from a tertiary care hospital in Japan that had experienced a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak during the first peak of the pandemic, for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific antibody seroconversion. Using two chemiluminescent immunoassays and a confirmatory surrogate virus neutralization test, serological testing revealed that a surprising 42% of overlooked COVID-19 diagnoses (27/64 cases) occurred when case detection relied solely on SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT). Our results suggest that the NAAT-positive population is only the tip of the iceberg and the portion left undetected might potentially have led to silent transmissions and triggered the spread. A questionn

SUBMITTER: Nakagama Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8557877 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature