Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) identified in 2019. The COVID-19 outbreak continues to have devastating consequences for human lives and the global economy. The B-LiFe mobile laboratory in Piedmont, Italy, was deployed for the surveillance of COVID-19 cases by large-scale testing of first responders. The objective was to assess the seroconversion among the regional civil protection (CP), police, health care professionals, and volunteers. The secondary objective was to detect asymptomatic individuals within this cohort in the light of age, sex, and residence. In this paper, we report the results of serological testing performed by the B-LiFe mobile laboratory deployed from 10 June to 23 July 2020. The tests included whole blood finger-prick and serum sampling for detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain (S-RBD) antibodies. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was approximately 5% (294/6013). The results of the finger-prick tests and serum sample analyses showed moderate agreement (kappa = 0.77). Furthermore, the detection rates of serum antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (NP) and S-RBD among the seroconverted individuals were positively correlated (kappa = 0.60), at least at the IgG level. Seroprevalence studies based on serological testing for the S-RBD protein or SARS-CoV-2 NP antibodies are not sufficient for diagnosis but might help in screening the population to be vaccinated and in determining the duration of seroconversion.
Highlights
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) were first isolated in China and the MiddleEast, respectively
The major phenotype of COVID-19 is the severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), similar to that observed in cases of SARS and MERS [4,5]
We report the SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in regional civil protection (CP), police, healthcare personnel, and volunteers working in the COVID pandemic phase during the first wave and thanks to the B-LiFe mobile laboratory convenience
Summary
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) were first isolated in China and the Middle. The transmission of these viruses from animals to humans has led to severe respiratory diseases in humans, namely SARS and MERS, in endemic areas [1]. In. December 2019, a new type of coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. December 2019, a new type of coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China This virus appears to be highly infectious with human-to-human transmission [2,3]. The major phenotype of COVID-19 is the severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), similar to that observed in cases of SARS and MERS [4,5]. If steroids are able to decrease the related systemic inflammation in severe cases, convalescent plasma with high concentration of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG levels was shown to be associated
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