SEROPREVALENCE OF SARS-CoV-2 SERUM IgG ANTIBODY IN ADULT POPULATION OF SIALKOT CITY, PAKISTAN: A CROSS- SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Seroprevalence studies provide necessary data on extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community. Identifying immune response of individuals exposed to this virus is one way of assessing community disease transmission and herd immunity. The aim of this study was to measure SARS- CoV-2 IgG antibody among adult individuals of Sialkot city overall and stratified by age and sex. Additionally, to describe COVID-19 presenting symptoms and its duration in these participants. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was undertaken in Sialkot city, where 453 participants completed in-person interview on COVID-19 symptoms, socio-demographic profile and provided 5ml blood sample for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody testing using electro-chemiluminescent immunoassay (ECLIA) technique. SPSS version 22 was utilized for data management and analysis. Sero-prevalence was calculated as percent of reactive for IgG among all tested. Chi-squared test was used for determining statistical significance with p <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Overall, sero-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody among adults in Sialkot was 64%. Almost, 134(29.5%) of these positive for COVID-19 IgG antibody had antibody titres level 15 units/dl or above. Three out of every four individuals reported one or more symptoms of COVID-19 dry cough (17%), fever (30%) loss of taste (6%), sore throat (5%) and anosmia (4.6%). Conclusion: Almost two-third of adult population in Sialkot city had SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody during 2021 survey that implies that herd immunity level for COVID-19 is achieved and negligible number of COVID-19 cases reported in Sialkot city supports this evidence.