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 28;10(9):1909.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10091909.

Screening and Confirmatory Testing for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies: Comparison of Health and Non-Health Workers in a Nationwide Healthcare Organization in Central Europe

Johann Bartko  1 , Sonja Zehetmayer  2 , Lukas Weseslindtner  3 , Karin Stiasny  3 , Andrea Schloegl  1 , Ernst Forjan  4 , Elisabeth Zwettler  5 , Andreas Krauter  6 , Felix Keil  4 , Nazanin Sédille-Mostafaie  1
Affiliations

Screening and Confirmatory Testing for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies: Comparison of Health and Non-Health Workers in a Nationwide Healthcare Organization in Central Europe

Johann Bartko et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Despite being located close to the European epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, Austria has managed to control the first wave. In Austria, the largest health insurance fund covers 7 million people and has 12,000 employees, including 3700 healthcare workers (HCW). For patient and staff safety, transmission control measures were implemented and mass testing of employees for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was conducted. An IgG SARS-CoV-2 rapid test on fingerstick blood was used as a screening test (ST), followed by serologic studies with 3 different immunoassays and confirmatory testing by a neutralization test (NT). Among 7858 employees, 144 had a positive ST and 88 were confirmed by a NT (1.12%, CI: 0.9-1.38%). The positive predictive value (PPV) of the ST was 69.3% (CI: 60.5-77.2). Interestingly, 40% of the NT positive serum samples were tested negative in all 3 immunoassays. Of the total sample, 2242 HCW (28.5%) were identified. Unexpectedly, there was no difference in the prevalence of NT positives in HCW compared to non-HCW (23/2242 vs. 65/5301, p = 0.53). SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence was not increased among HCW. Although HCW are at potentially increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection, transmission control measures in healthcare facilities appear sufficient to limit transmission of infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; health personnel.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of the study in context of the epidemiologic situation in Austria.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flow diagram. Healthcare workers: HCW.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage frequencies of common symptom reported by individuals with SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. De Filippo O., D’Ascenzo F., Angelini F., Bocchino P.P., Conrotto F., Saglietto A., Secco G.G., Campo G., Gallone G., Verardi R., et al. Reduced Rate of Hospital Admissions for ACS during Covid-19 Outbreak in Northern Italy. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;383:88–89. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2009166. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pessoa-Amorim G., Camm C.F., Gajendragadkar P., De Maria G.L., Arsac C., Laroche C., Zamorano J.L., Weidinger F., Achenbach S., Maggioni A.P., et al. Admission of patients with STEMI since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey by the European Society of Cardiology. Eur. Heart J. Qual. Care Clin. Outcomes. 2020;6:210–216. doi: 10.1093/ehjqcco/qcaa046. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lapolla P., Mingoli A., Lee R. Deaths from COVID-19 in healthcare workers in Italy—What can we learn? Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2021;42:364–365. doi: 10.1017/ice.2020.241. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zheng L., Wang X., Zhou C., Liu Q., Li S., Sun Q., Wang M., Zhou Q., Wang W. Analysis of the Infection Status of Healthcare Workers in Wuhan During the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Cross-sectional Study. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2020;71:2109–2113. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa588. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gómez-Ochoa S.A., Franco O.H., Rojas L.Z., Raguindin P.F., Roa-Díaz Z.M., Wyssmann B.M., Guevara S.L.R., Echeverría L.E., Glisic M., Muka T. COVID-19 in Health-Care Workers: A Living Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prevalence, Risk Factors, Clinical Characteristics, and Outcomes. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2021;190:161–175. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwaa191. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources