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 Dec 1;40(12):e516-e519.
doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000003325.

Antibodies to Seasonal Coronaviruses Rarely Cross-React With SARS-CoV-2: Findings From an African Birth Cohort

Heather J Zar  1 , Mark P Nicol  1   2 , Rae MacGinty  1 , Lesley Workman  1 , Wonita Petersen  1 , Marina Johnson  3   4 , David Goldblatt  3   4
Affiliations

Antibodies to Seasonal Coronaviruses Rarely Cross-React With SARS-CoV-2: Findings From an African Birth Cohort

Heather J Zar et al. Pediatr Infect Dis J. .

Abstract

Antibodies to seasonal human-coronaviruses (sHCoV) may cross-protect against SARS-CoV-2. We investigated antibody responses in biobanked serum obtained before the pandemic from infants with polymerase chain reaction-confirmed sHCoV. Among 141 samples with antibodies to sHCoV, 4 (2.8%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2-S1 and 8 (5.7%) for SARS-CoV-2-S2. Antibodies to sHCoV rarely cross-react with SARS-CoV-2 antigens and are unlikely to account for mild pediatric illness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

    1. Ludvigsson JF. Systematic review of COVID-19 in children shows milder cases and a better prognosis than adults. Acta Paediatr. 2020;109:1088–1095. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Worldometers.info. Worldometer COVID-19 coronavirus data. Available at: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/. Accessed June 26, 2021.
    1. Monthly COVID-19 in children. National Institute Communicable Diseases (NICD), South Africa. Available at: https://www.nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-index/disease-index-covid-19/surveil.... Accessed June 26, 2021.
    1. Zar HJ, Dawa J, Fischer GB, et al. . Challenges of COVID-19 in children in low- and middle-income countries. Paediatr Respir Rev. 2020;35:70–74. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Braun J, Loyal L, Frentsch M, et al. . SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells in healthy donors and patients with COVID-19. Nature. 2020;587:270–274. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances