SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological trend before vaccination era: a seroprevalence study in Apulia, Southern Italy, in 2020
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Published:2023-02-04
Issue:
Volume:
Page:
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ISSN:2198-1833
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Container-title:Journal of Public Health
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language:en
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Short-container-title:J Public Health (Berl.)
Author:
Marchi SerenaORCID, Coppola Chiara, Piu Pietro, Benincasa Linda, Dapporto Francesca, Manenti Alessandro, Viviani Simonetta, Montomoli Emanuele, Trombetta Claudia Maria
Abstract
Abstract
Aim
The present study aimed at assessing the prevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in the general population in the province of Bari (Apulia region, Southern Italy) during the year 2020.
Subject and methods
In this study, 1325 serum samples collected from January to December 2020 were tested for the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies against whole-virus SARS-CoV-2 antigen by commercial ELISA. Positive samples were further tested by in-house ELISA for the detection of anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) IgM and IgG antibodies and by micro-neutralization (MN) assay for the detection of neutralizing antibody.
Results
One hundred (7.55%) samples had the presence of at least one antibody class against SARS-CoV-2 by commercial ELISA, of which 88 (6.6%) showed IgG and 19 (1.4%) showed IgM antibodies. The proportion of samples with IgG antibodies increased from 1.9% in January–February to 9.6% in November–December, while no significant increase was observed for IgM. When tested by in-house ELISA and MN assay, 17.0% and 31.6% were found positive to RBD IgG and RBD IgM, respectively, while 12.0% showed neutralizing antibody.
Conclusion
The proportion of samples with SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies increased during 2020, especially in the second half of the year, consistent with data reported by the routine epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 cases. Despite the high number of reported cases, the seroprevalence values are relatively low, and only a small proportion of samples had neutralizing antibodies.
Funder
Università degli Studi di Siena
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
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