SARS-CoV-2 infections amongst personnel providing home care services for older persons in Stockholm, Sweden.
J Intern Med
; 290(2): 430-436, 2021 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33843090
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
In Sweden, home care services is a major external contact for older persons.METHODS:
Five home care service companies in Stockholm, Sweden, enrolled 405 employees to a study including serum IgG to SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 virus in throat swabs.RESULTS:
20.1% (81/403) of employees were seropositive, about twice as many as in a simultaneously enrolled reference population (healthcare workers entirely without patient contact, n = 3671; 9.7% seropositivity). 13/379 employees (3.4%) had a current infection (PCR positivity). Amongst these, 5 were also seropositive and 3 were positive with low amounts of virus. High amounts of virus and no antibodies (a characteristic for presymptomatic COVID-19) were present in 5 employees (1.3%).CONCLUSIONS:
Personnel providing home services for older persons appear to be a risk group for SARS-CoV-2. Likely presymptomatic employees can be readily identified by screening. Increased protection of employees and of the older persons they serve is warranted.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Health Personnel
/
COVID-19
/
Home Care Services
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
J Intern Med
Journal subject:
MEDICINA INTERNA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Suecia