Open AccessSero-surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare providers in four hospitals in Thailand one year after the first community outbreak
Author(s) -
Wanitchaya Kittikraisak,
Phunlerd Piyaraj,
Apichat Vachiraphan,
Thanapat Wongrapee,
Somsak Punjasamanvong,
Taweewun Hunsawong,
Chalinthorn Sinthuwattanawibool,
Chaniya Leepiyasakulchai,
Pornsak Yoocharoen,
Eduardo AzzizBaumgartner,
Joshua A. Mott,
Suthat Chottanapund
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.0254563
Subject(s) - outbreak , medicine , antibody , covid-19 , virology , population , coronavirus , immunology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , environmental health
Background Thailand was the first country outside China to report SARS-CoV-2 infected cases. Since the detection of the first imported case on January 12 th , 2020 to the time this report was written, Thailand experienced two waves of community outbreaks (March-April 2020 and December 2020-March 2021). We examined prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among healthcare providers (HCPs) in four hospitals approximately one year after SARS-CoV-2 first detected in Thailand. By March 2021, these hospitals have treated a total of 709 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods Blood specimens, collected from COVID-19 unvaccinated HCPs during January-March 2021, were tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to nucleocapsid (IgG-nucleocapsid) and spike (IgG-spike) proteins using Euroimmune ® enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Results Of 600 HCPs enrolled, 1 (0.2%) tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 IgG-spike antibodies, but not the IgG-nucleocapsid. Conclusion The presence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies was rare in this sample of HCPs, suggesting that this population remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.