Seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among health care workers in a large Spanish reference hospital

Alberto L García‐Basteiro ,Susana Méndez,Robert A Mitchell,Marta Ribes,Alfons Jiménez,Pau Cisteró,Eugenia Chóliz,Carlota Dobaño,Natalia Ortega,Gemma Moncunill,Caterina Guinovart,Neus Rosell,Ruth Aguilar,Sílvia Fochs ,Rebeca Santano,Antoni Trilla,Chenjerai Jairoce,Selena Alonso,Patricia Sotomayor,Mikel J Martínez ,Montserrat Lamoglia,Angeline Cruz,Anna Llupiá ,Sarah Williams,Diana Barrios,Anna Vilella,Laura Puyol,Sara Torres,Carlo Carolis,Sergi Sanz,Alfredo Mayor,José Muñóz ,Jochen Hecht,Marta Vidal,Pilar Varela,Núria Pey ,Sónia Barroso ,Marta Tortajada

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17318-x

Abstract

Health care workers (HCW) are a high-risk population to acquire SARS-CoV-2 infection from patients or other fellow HCW. This study aims at estimating the seroprevalence against SARS-CoV-2 in a random sample of HCW from a large hospital in Spain. Of the 578 participants recruited from 28 March to 9 April 2020, 54 (9.3%, 95% CI: 7.1–12.0) were seropositive for IgM and/or IgG and/or IgA against SARS-CoV-2. The cumulative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection (presence of antibodies or past or current positive rRT-PCR) was 11.2% (65/578, 95% CI: 8.8–14.1). Among those with evidence of past or current infection, 40.0% (26/65) had not been previously diagnosed with COVID-19. Here we report a relatively low seroprevalence of antibodies among HCW at the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic in Spain. A large proportion of HCW with past or present infection had not been previously diagnosed with COVID-19, which calls for active periodic rRT-PCR testing in hospital settings.

Highlights

Health care workers (HCW) are a high-risk population to acquire SARS-CoV-2 infection from patients or other fellow HCW
This study aims to estimate the seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and characterize the antibody profile in HCW from Hospital Clínic of Barcelona (HCB), one of the reference centers in Spain for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 disease
We found that 9.3% of HCW from a large Spanish referral hospital developed detectable IgA, IgG, and/or IgM antibodies

Summary

Introduction

Health care workers (HCW) are a high-risk population to acquire SARS-CoV-2 infection from patients or other fellow HCW. The cumulative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection (presence of antibodies or past or current positive rRT-PCR) was 11.2% (65/578, 95% CI: 8.8–14.1). Among those with evidence of past or current infection, 40.0% (26/65) had not been previously diagnosed with COVID-19. A large proportion of HCW with past or present infection had not been previously diagnosed with COVID-19, which calls for active periodic rRT-PCR testing in hospital settings. Health care workers (HCW) are the frontline workforce for clinical care of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases. They are presumably exposed to a higher risk of acquiring the disease than the general population and, if infected, pose a risk to vulnerable patients and fellow HCW7. In a tertiary hospital in Madrid, Spain

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