Abstract
Objectives: To calculate the seroprevalence of asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) in our institution.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among asymptomatic HCWs in a large hospital during the peak of the pandemic (from July to August 2020 and followed them up until February 2021) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We collected the data in a Microsoft Word document after collecting a single serum sample for detection of antibodies from each participant then we compared the results statically in Microsoft Excel tables.
Results: We enrolled 188 participants and measured their IgG antibodies from venous blood samples using CLIA. Six (3.2%) had positive antibodies despite being asymptomatic. Most of these were from non-COVID-19 working areas (4 out of 6), but all had an exposure with a positive COVID-19 patient at some point in the preceding 2 months.
Conclusions: Our results are consistent with similar local studies showing low seroprevalence among HCWs while most positive cases are from non-COVID-19 areas. Despite this low seroprevalence, HCWs are still considered a high-risk group; hence, there is a need to encourage strict implementation and adherence to infection control measures and vaccination among HCWs, especially when these measures are relaxed on the national level.
Keywords: COVID-19; IgG antibodies; Saudi Arabia; healthcare workers; seroprevalence.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Healthcare workers, Seroprevalence, Saudi Arabia, IgG antibodies, 【초록키워드】 CLIA, IgG, infection control, vaccination, pandemic, antibody, cross-sectional, hospital, Seroprevalence, Local, Saudi Arabia, healthcare worker, serum, cross-sectional study, IgG antibody, Asymptomatic, IgG antibodies, HCWs, healthcare, implementation, Patient, HCW, venous blood, Microsoft Excel, Non-COVID-19, Microsoft Word, blood sample, measure, participant, National, positive, positive COVID-19, MOST, venous, enrolled, collected, conducted, calculate, 【제목키워드】 healthcare worker, SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence, Care,