Prevalence of Asymptomatic COVID-19 among Medical Laboratory Science Students of Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome. It has been spreading rapidly worldwide, causing serious public health crisis. Although most SARS-CoV-2-infected cases have asymptomatic or mild-to-moderate diseases. This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 among Students of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. A total of 100 Students were recruited for this study (50 males and 50 females). Ages were from 16 years upwards. 5ml of blood was drawn from each subject, 3 ml into an EDTA while 2ml was dispensed into plane tube for Elisa test of COVID-19 antibody dictation. The sensitivity and specificity of the Elisa kits used were 94.36% and 100% respectively. The full blood count was determined using Sysmex KX 21 Haematology autoanalyzer). Results of this showed that 48% of the subjects tested positive for COVID-19 antibody, while 52% tested negative. The mean white blood cells of COVID-19 antibody positive and negative subjects revealed 5.61±1.79x10/9 and 5.30±1.37x109/l respectively. There were no significant statistical differences (p>0.05) in the white cell, Red cell indices of subjects positive for COVID-19 antibody when compared with those negative for COVID-19 antibody. Also result shows that those positive for COVID-19, their platelets revealed significant (<0.001) lower count 234.1 ±151.1 x109/l when compared with those who were negative (250.0±152.7 x109/l). The study concludes that lymphocytes, neutrophils and mixed cell counts studied were lower in subjects positive for COVID-19 antibody while total white blood cell count was higher in positive group (p>0.05). There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the WBC, LYM, MXD and NEUT of the subjects with respect to age and sex.