Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Neutralising antibodies to SARS coronavirus 2 in Scottish blood donors - a pilot study of the value of serology to determine population exposure
Craig P Thompson; Nicholas Grayson; Robert Paton; Jai S Bolton; José Lourenço; Bridget Penman; Lian Ni Lee; Valerie Odon; Juthathip Mongkolsapaya; Senthil Chinnakannan; Wanwisa Dejnirattisai; Matthew Edmans; Alexander Fyfe; Carol Imlach; Kreepa Kooblall; Nicholas Lim; Chang Liu; Cesar Lopez-Camacho; Carol-Anne McInally; Narayan Ramamurthy; Jeremy Ratcliff; Piyada Supasa; Beibei Wang; Alexander J Mentzer; Marc Turner; Oliver Sampson; Calum Semple; John Kenneth Baillie; - ISARIC4C Investigators; Heli Harvala; Gavin Screaton; Nigel Temperton; Paul Klenerman; Lisa Jarvis; Sunetra Gupta; Peter Simmonds.
  • Craig P Thompson; University of Oxford
  • Nicholas Grayson; University of Oxford
  • Robert Paton; University of Oxford
  • Jai S Bolton; University of Oxford
  • José Lourenço; University of Oxford
  • Bridget Penman; University of Warwick
  • Lian Ni Lee; University of Oxford
  • Valerie Odon; University of Oxford
  • Juthathip Mongkolsapaya; University of Oxford
  • Senthil Chinnakannan; University of Oxford
  • Wanwisa Dejnirattisai; University of Oxford
  • Matthew Edmans; University of Oxford
  • Alexander Fyfe; University of Oxford
  • Carol Imlach; Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
  • Kreepa Kooblall; University of Oxford
  • Nicholas Lim; University of Oxford
  • Chang Liu; University of Oxford
  • Cesar Lopez-Camacho; University of Oxford
  • Carol-Anne McInally; University of Oxford
  • Narayan Ramamurthy; University of Oxford
  • Jeremy Ratcliff; University of Oxford
  • Piyada Supasa; University of Oxford
  • Beibei Wang; University of Oxford
  • Alexander J Mentzer; University of Oxford
  • Marc Turner; Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
  • Oliver Sampson; University of Oxford
  • Calum Semple; University of Liverpool
  • John Kenneth Baillie; University of Liverpool
  • - ISARIC4C Investigators;
  • Heli Harvala; University College London
  • Gavin Screaton; University of Oxford
  • Nigel Temperton; University of Kent
  • Paul Klenerman; University of Oxford
  • Lisa Jarvis; Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service
  • Sunetra Gupta; University of Oxford
  • Peter Simmonds; University of Oxford
Preprint En | PREPRINT-MEDRXIV | ID: ppmedrxiv-20060467
BackgroundThe progression and geographical distribution of SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the UK and elsewhere is unknown because typically only symptomatic individuals are diagnosed. We performed a serological study of blood donors in Scotland between the 17th of March and the 18th of May to detect neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 as a marker of past infection and epidemic progression. AimTo 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 group comprised samples from 3,500 blood donors collected in Scotland between the 17th of March and 19th of May, 2020. Controls were collected from 100 donors in Scotland during 2019. ResultsAll samples collected on the 17th March, 2020 (n=500) were negative in the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 virus microneutralisation assay. Neutralising antibodies were detected in 6/500 donors from the 23th-26th of March. The number of samples containing neutralising antibodies did not significantly rise after the 5th-6th April until the end of the study on the 18th of May. We find that infections are concentrated in certain postcodes indicating that outbreaks of infection are extremely localised. In contrast, other areas remain comparatively untouched by the epidemic. ConclusionThese data indicate that sero-surveys of blood banks can serve as a useful tool for tracking the emergence and progression of an epidemic like the current SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.

cc_by
XML
XML