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. 2021 Apr 25;18(9):4540.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094540.

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Healthcare Workers in Germany: A Follow-Up Study

Johannes Korth  1 , Benjamin Wilde  1 , Sebastian Dolff  2 , Jasmin Frisch  2 , Michael Jahn  1 , Adalbert Krawczyk  2   3 , Mirko Trilling  3 , Leonie Schipper  2 , Sebastian Cordes  4 , Birgit Ross  5 , Monika Lindemann  6 , Andreas Kribben  1 , Ulf Dittmer  3 , Oliver Witzke  2 , Anke Herrmann  3 , Olympia Evdoxia Anastasiou  3
Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Healthcare Workers in Germany: A Follow-Up Study

Johannes Korth et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is a worldwide challenge for the medical sector. Healthcare workers (HCW) are a cohort vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection due to frequent and close contact with COVID-19 patients. However, they are also well trained and equipped with protective gear. The SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody status was assessed at three different time points in 450 HCW of the University Hospital Essen in Germany. HCW were stratified according to contact frequencies with COVID-19 patients in (I) a high-risk group with daily contacts with known COVID-19 patients (n = 338), (II) an intermediate-risk group with daily contacts with non-COVID-19 patients (n = 78), and (III) a low-risk group without patient contacts (n = 34). The overall seroprevalence increased from 2.2% in March-May to 4.0% in June-July to 5.1% in October-December. The SARS-CoV-2 IgG detection rate was not significantly different between the high-risk group (1.8%; 3.8%; 5.5%), the intermediate-risk group (5.1%; 6.3%; 6.1%), and the low-risk group (0%, 0%, 0%). The overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence remained low in HCW in western Germany one year after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Germany, and hygiene standards seemed to be effective in preventing patient-to-staff virus transmission.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; healthcare workers; hygiene standards; seroprevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

OW has received research grants for clinical studies, speaker’s fees, honoraria, and travel expenses from Amgen, Alexion, Astellas, Basilea, Biotest, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Correvio, Chiesi, Gilead, Hexal, Janssen, Dr. F. Köhler Chemie, MSD, Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, Sanofi, TEVA and UCB. The other authors declared no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency of healthcare workers testing positive for SARS-COV-2 IgG (grey); the COVID19 cases (black) treated at the University Hospital Essen; the COVID-19 incidence per 100,000 inhabitants in the Essen district from March 2020 (week 10) to December 2020 (week 53). The data of the COVID-19 incidence in the district of Essen are publicly available from the Survstat@RKI 2.0 server. Robert Koch-Institut: SurvStat@RKI 2.0, https://survstat.rki.de, accessed on: 22 February 2021.
Figure 2
Figure 2
IgG ELISA signal to cutoff (S/CO) in healthcare workers testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgG. The black line indicates the follow-up of participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgG during the first observational period. The grey lines indicate the follow-up of participants who tested positive during the second observational period. The triangles illustrate the S/CO’s of participants who tested positive within the third observational period.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution and follow up of neutralizing antibody titers in healthcare workers. (A) Follow up of 5 patients with detectable neutralizing antibody titers in April and December 2020. The undetectable SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titer of two participants are not illustrated. (B) Correlation of EUROIMMUN SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA signal to cutoff (S/CO) ratio and neutralization antibody titers.
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