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
Comment
. 2021 Jul;83(1):119-145.
doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.03.007. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Retrospective serosurveillance for anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin during a time of low prevalence: A cautionary tale

Paul William Bird  1 , Christopher Holmes  2 , Oliver Fletcher  3 , Vinay Badhwar  4 , Oliver Toovey  5 , Julian Wei-Tze Tang  6
Affiliations
Comment

Retrospective serosurveillance for anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin during a time of low prevalence: A cautionary tale

Paul William Bird et al. J Infect. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

We performed a retrospective screening of 428 serum samples for anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin during a period of low prevalence. Employing two different serological tests yielded discrepant results for 10 samples; highlighting an increased risk of potential false positive results and the need for further confirmatory testing before publication of data.

Keywords: Low prevalence; SARS-CoV-2; Serological testing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest No authors have any conflicting interests to declare.

Comment on

References

    1. Gurgel R.Q. SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating in northeastern Brazil since February 2020: evidence for antibody detection in asymptomatic patients. J Infect. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.11.037. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Apolone G. Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the prepandemic period in Italy. Tumori. 2020 doi: 10.1177/0300891620974755. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ainsworth M. Performance characteristics of five immunoassays for SARS-CoV-2: a head-to-head benchmark comparison. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30634-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lisboa Bastos M. Diagnostic accuracy of serological tests for covid-19: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ. 2020 doi: 10.1136/bmj.m2516. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Usher-Smith J.A., Sharp S.J., Griffin S.J. The spectrum effect in tests for risk prediction, screening, and diagnosis. BMJ. 2016 doi: 10.1136/bmj.i3139. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Substances