Open AccessSeroprevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among health care workers from three pandemic hospitals of Turkey
Author(s) -
Gizem Alkurt,
Ahmet Murt,
Zeki Aydın,
Özge Tatlı,
Nihat Buğra Ağaoğlu,
Arzu İrvem,
Mehtap Aydın,
Rıdvan Karaali,
Mustafa Güneş,
Batuhan Yesilyurt,
Hasan Türkez,
Adil Mardinoğlu,
Mehmet Doğanay,
Filiz Basınoğlu,
Nurhan Seyahi,
Gizem Dinler Doğanay,
Levent Doganay
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0247865
Subject(s) - seroprevalence , medicine , pandemic , transmission (telecommunications) , infection control , covid-19 , health care , serology , virology , emergency medicine , environmental health , disease , immunology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , antibody , intensive care medicine , economic growth , economics , electrical engineering , engineering
COVID-19 is a global threat with an increasing number of infections. Research on IgG seroprevalence among health care workers (HCWs) is needed to re-evaluate health policies. This study was performed in three pandemic hospitals in Istanbul and Kocaeli. Different clusters of HCWs were screened for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Seropositivity rate among participants was evaluated by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. We recruited 813 non-infected and 119 PCR-confirmed infected HCWs. Of the previously undiagnosed HCWs, 22 (2.7%) were seropositive. Seropositivity rates were highest for cleaning staff (6%), physicians (4%), nurses (2.2%) and radiology technicians (1%). Non-pandemic clinic (6.4%) and ICU (4.3%) had the highest prevalence. HCWs in “high risk” group had similar seropositivity rate with “no risk” group (2.9 vs 3.5 p = 0.7). These findings might lead to the re-evaluation of infection control and transmission dynamics in hospitals.