Detection of neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 to determine population exposure in Scottish blood donors between March and May 2020.
Euro Surveill
; 25(42)2020 10.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33094713
ABSTRACT
BackgroundThe progression and geographical distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere is unknown because typically only symptomatic individuals are diagnosed. We performed a serological study of blood donors in Scotland in the spring of 2020 to detect neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 as a marker of past infection and epidemic progression.AimOur objective was to determine if sera from blood bank donors can be used to track the emergence and progression of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.MethodsA pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 virus microneutralisation assay was used to detect neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. The study comprised samples from 3,500 blood donors collected in Scotland between 17 March and 18 May 2020. Controls were collected from 100 donors in Scotland during 2019.ResultsAll samples collected on 17 March 2020 (n = 500) were negative in the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 virus microneutralisation assay. Neutralising antibodies were detected in six of 500 donors from 23 to 26 March. The number of samples containing neutralising antibodies did not significantly rise after 5-6 April until the end of the study on 18 May. We found that infections were concentrated in certain postcodes, indicating that outbreaks of infection were extremely localised. In contrast, other areas remained comparatively untouched by the epidemic.ConclusionAlthough blood donors are not representative of the overall population, we demonstrated that serosurveys of blood banks can serve as a useful tool for tracking the emergence and progression of an epidemic such as the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Neumonía Viral
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Donantes de Sangre
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Vigilancia de la Población
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Infecciones por Coronavirus
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Anticuerpos Neutralizantes
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Pandemias
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Betacoronavirus
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Anticuerpos Antivirales
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
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Prevalence_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Límite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Euro Surveill
Asunto de la revista:
DOENCAS TRANSMISSIVEIS
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido