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. 2020 May:94:49-52.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.03.065. Epub 2020 Apr 3.

Diagnostic value and dynamic variance of serum antibody in coronavirus disease 2019

Yujiao Jin  1 , Miaochan Wang  1 , Zhongbao Zuo  1 , Chaoming Fan  2 , Fei Ye  3 , Zhaobin Cai  4 , Ying Wang  1 , Huaizhong Cui  1 , Kenu Pan  1 , Aifang Xu  5
Affiliations

Diagnostic value and dynamic variance of serum antibody in coronavirus disease 2019

Yujiao Jin et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 May.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of serological testing and dynamic variance of serum antibody in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: This study retrospectively included 43 patients with a laboratory-confirmed infection and 33 patients with a suspected infection, in whom the disease was eventually excluded. The IgM/IgG titer of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay analysis.

Results: Compared to molecular detection, the sensitivities of serum IgM and IgG antibodies to diagnose COVID-19 were 48.1% and 88.9%, and the specificities were 100% and 90.9%, respectively.In the COVID-19 group, the IgM-positive rate increased slightly at first and then decreased over time; in contrast, the IgG-positive rate increased to 100% and was higher than IgM at all times. The IgM-positive rate and titer were not significantly different before and after conversion to virus-negative. The IgG-positive rate was up to 90% and not significantly different before and after conversion to virus-negative. However, the median IgG titer after conversion to virus-negative was double that before, and the difference was significant.

Conclusions: Viral serological testing is an effective means of diagnosis for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The positive rate and titer variance of IgG are higher than those of IgM in COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Diagnosis; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin M; SARS-CoV-2; Serological test.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Serological test positive rates and SARS-CoV-2 viral load at different intervals: (A) days from laboratory confirmation to serological testing; (B) days from symptom onset to serological testing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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