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. 2020 Oct;25(42):2001721.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.41.2001721.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence, titres and neutralising activity in an antenatal cohort, United Kingdom, 14 April to 15 June 2020

Sheila F Lumley  1   2   3 , David W Eyre  1   2   3   4 , Anna L McNaughton  1   3 , Alison Howarth  5 , Sarah Hoosdally  5 , Stephanie B Hatch  6 , James Kavanagh  5 , Kevin K Chau  5 , Louise O Downs  2 , Stuart Cox  7 , Laura Dunn  2 , Anita Justice  2 , Susan Wareing  2 , Kate Dingle  5 , Justine Rudkin  4 , Kathryn Auckland  5 , Alexander Fyfe  8 , Jai Bolton  8 , Robert Paton  8 , Alexander J Mentzer  2   5 , Katie Jeffery  2 , Monique I Andersson  2 , Tim James  7 , Tim E A Peto  2   5 , Brian D Marsden  9   10   11 , Gavin Screaton  12 , Richard J Cornall  12 , Paul Klenerman  1   2   5 , Daniel Ebner  6 , David I Stuart  9   10   6 , Derrick W Crook  2   5 , Nicole Stoesser  2   5 , Stephen H Kennedy  13 , Craig Thompson  8 , Sunetra Gupta  8 , Philippa C Matthews  1   2   3   5
Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence, titres and neutralising activity in an antenatal cohort, United Kingdom, 14 April to 15 June 2020

Sheila F Lumley et al. Euro Surveill. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 IgG screening of 1,000 antenatal serum samples in the Oxford area, United Kingdom, between 14 April and 15 June 2020, yielded a 5.3% seroprevalence, mirroring contemporaneous regional data. Among the 53 positive samples, 39 showed in vitro neutralisation activity, correlating with IgG titre (Pearson's correlation p<0.0001). While SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in pregnancy cohorts could potentially inform population surveillance, clinical correlates of infection and immunity in pregnancy, and antenatal epidemiology evolution over time need further study.

Keywords: COVID-19; ELISA; IgG; antenatal; antibody; epidemiology; neutralisation; pregnancy; prevalence; serology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: DWE declares lecture fees from Gilead outside the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 cases in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, shown in parallel with (B) prevalence of SARS-CoV-2-IgG-positive antenatal samples from the Oxford area, presented by week, March–June 2020
Figure 2
Figure 2
Map showing the location and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG-positive tests in antenatal women, Oxford area, South-East England, United Kingdom, March–June 2020 (n = 1,000 antenatal women testeda)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between SARS-CoV-2 IgG (standard units by ELISA) and neutralisation (based on pseudovirus microneutralisation assay) in serum samples from antenatal women in the Oxford area, United Kingdom, (n = 1,000 women tested)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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