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. 2021 Apr;26(13):2001782.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.13.2001782.

Prior infection by seasonal coronaviruses, as assessed by serology, does not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease in children, France, April to June 2020

Isabelle Sermet-Gaudelus  1   2   3   4 , Sarah Temmam  4   5 , Christèle Huon  5 , Sylvie Behillil  6   7 , Vincent Gajdos  8   9 , Thomas Bigot  10   5 , Thibaut Lurier  11   12   13 , Delphine Chrétien  5 , Marija Backovic  14 , Agnès Delaunay-Moisan  15 , Flora Donati  6   7 , Mélanie Albert  6   7 , Elsa Foucaud  16 , Bettina Mesplées  17 , Grégoire Benoist  18 , Albert Faye  19 , Marc Duval-Arnould  20 , Célia Cretolle  2 , Marina Charbit  2 , Mélodie Aubart  2 , Johanne Auriau  2 , Mathie Lorrot  21 , Dulanjalee Kariyawasam  2 , Laura Fertitta  2 , Gilles Orliaguet  2 , Bénédicte Pigneur  2 , Brigitte Bader-Meunier  2 , Coralie Briand  17 , Vincent Enouf  22   6   7 , Julie Toubiana  2   23   3 , Tiffany Guilleminot  24 , Sylvie van der Werf  6   7 , Marianne Leruez-Ville  24 , Marc Eloit  25   5
Affiliations

Prior infection by seasonal coronaviruses, as assessed by serology, does not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease in children, France, April to June 2020

Isabelle Sermet-Gaudelus et al. Euro Surveill. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

BackgroundChildren have a low rate of COVID-19 and secondary severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) but present a high prevalence of symptomatic seasonal coronavirus infections.AimWe tested if prior infections by seasonal coronaviruses (HCoV) NL63, HKU1, 229E or OC43 as assessed by serology, provide cross-protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection.MethodsWe set a cross-sectional observational multicentric study in pauci- or asymptomatic children hospitalised in Paris during the first wave for reasons other than COVID (hospitalised children (HOS), n = 739) plus children presenting with MIS (n = 36). SARS-CoV-2 antibodies directed against the nucleoprotein (N) and S1 and S2 domains of the spike (S) proteins were monitored by an in-house luciferase immunoprecipitation system assay. We randomly selected 69 SARS-CoV-2-seropositive patients (including 15 with MIS) and 115 matched SARS-CoV-2-seronegative patients (controls (CTL)). We measured antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV as evidence for prior corresponding infections and assessed if SARS-CoV-2 prevalence of infection and levels of antibody responses were shaped by prior seasonal coronavirus infections.ResultsPrevalence of HCoV infections were similar in HOS, MIS and CTL groups. Antibody levels against HCoV were not significantly different in the three groups and were not related to the level of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the HOS and MIS groups. SARS-CoV-2 antibody profiles were different between HOS and MIS children.ConclusionPrior infection by seasonal coronaviruses, as assessed by serology, does not interfere with SARS-CoV-2 infection and related MIS in children.

Keywords: 229E; COVID-19; HKU1; NL63; OC43; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses in HOS-P, MIS-P and CTL children, France, April–June 2020 (n =184)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Antibody responses against seasonal HCoV in HOS-P, MIS-P and CTL children, France, April–June 2020 (n =184)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlation of SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses with seasonal HCoV, France, April–June 2020 (n =184)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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