Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 12;43(1):3-8.
doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa170.

Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in residents of Karachi-challenges in acquiring herd immunity for COVID 19

Samreen Zaidi  1 , Faiza Rizwan  2 , Quratulain Riaz  3 , Asma Siddiqui  4 , Shabnam Khawaja  5 , Mehjabeen Imam  6 , Arshi Naz  3 , Samra Waheed  3 , Tahir Shamsi  3
Affiliations

Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in residents of Karachi-challenges in acquiring herd immunity for COVID 19

Samreen Zaidi et al. J Public Health (Oxf). .

Abstract

Background: The recent pandemic by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global emergency. There is large number of asymptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2 that are not reported. Hence, serological evidence of SARS-CoV2 antibodies is warranted for a better estimation of the actual number of infected patients to limit the disease spread and to get an idea of herd immunity.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted from May 2020 to July 2020 at National Institute of Blood Diseases at Pakistan. The study includes healthcare workers (HCWs), community and industrial workers. The anti-SARS-CoV-2 test was performed by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer.

Results: A total of 1675 samples have been received from three groups of population. The percentage positivity for industrial employees is high (50.3%) for HCW (13.2%) and community population (34%).Total percentage for positive antibodies result is ~36%.

Conclusion: Our seroprevalence is 36%, which still far from herd immunity that needs to be at least 60-70% in population. If we consider acquiring 60% seroprevalence in next few months, then herd immunity is not far from reality, provided the antibodies did not decline with time. Although the current study is based on a small sample of participants, the findings suggest a study with larger population to implement stronger and targeted interventions.

Keywords: infectious disease; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The figure showing the percentage inclusion of various residents including HCW, industrial employees and community population.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The above graph shows the percentage positivity for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for HCW, industrial employees and community.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Unhale SS, Ansar QB, Sanap S et al. . A review on corona virus (Covid-19). World J Pharm Life Sci 2020;6(4):109–15.
    1. Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Bonilla-Aldana DK, Tiwari R et al. . COVID-19, an emerging coronavirus infection: current scenario and recent developments-an overview. J Pure Appl Microbiol 2020;14:6150.
    1. Cascella M, Rajnik M, Cuomo A et al. . Features, Evaluation and Treatment Coronavirus (COVID-19) In Statpearls [internet] StatPearls Publishing, 2020. - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Wang Y, Chen Y, Qin Q. Unique epidemiological and clinical features of the emerging 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) implicate special control measures. J Med Virol 2020;92(6):568–76. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang D, Hu B, Hu C et al. . Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus–infected pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA 2020;323(11):1061–9. - PMC - PubMed

Substances