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. 2022 Jan 24;22(1):80.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-022-07057-3.

Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 seroepidemiological investigation among healthcare workers at a tertiary care hospital in Germany

Sara Tomczyk  1 , Alexander Hönning  2 , Julia Hermes  3 , Marica Grossegesse  4 , Natalie Hofmann  4 , Janine Michel  4 , Markus Neumann  4 , Andreas Nitsche  4 , Berthold Hoppe  5 , Tim Eckmanns  3 , Hajo Schmidt-Traub  5 , Kristina Zappel  2
Affiliations

Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 seroepidemiological investigation among healthcare workers at a tertiary care hospital in Germany

Sara Tomczyk et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: SARS-CoV-2 cases in Germany increased in early March 2020. By April 2020, cases among health care workers (HCW) were detected across departments at a tertiary care hospital in Berlin, prompting a longitudinal investigation to assess HCW SARS-CoV-2 serostatus with an improved testing strategy and associated risk factors.

Methods: In May/June and December 2020, HCWs voluntarily provided blood for serology and nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal (NP/OP) samples for real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and completed a questionnaire. A four-tiered SARS-CoV-2 serological testing strategy including two different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and biological neutralization test (NT) was used. ELISA-NT correlation was assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Sociodemographic and occupational factors associated with seropositivity were assessed with multivariate logistic regression.

Results: In May/June, 18/1477 (1.2%) HCWs were SARS-CoV-2 seropositive, followed by 56/1223 (4.6%) in December. Among those tested in both, all seropositive in May/June remained seropositive by ELISA and positive by NT after 6 months. ELISA ratios correlated well with NT titres in May/June (R = 0.79) but less so in December (R = 0.41). Those seropositive reporting a past SARS-CoV-2 positive PCR result increased from 44.4% in May/June to 85.7% in December. HCWs with higher occupational risk (based on profession and working site), nurses, males, and those self-reporting COVID-19-like symptoms had significantly higher odds of seropositivity.

Conclusions: This investigation provides insight into the burden of HCW infection in this local outbreak context and the antibody dynamics over time with an improved robust testing strategy. It also highlights the continued need for effective infection control measures particularly among HCWs with higher occupational risk.

Keywords: Germany; Health care worker; Outbreak; SARS-CoV-2; Seropositivity; Tertiary hospital.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Hospital investigation in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in Berlin, Germany (N = 1944). *Dark blue denotes the first COVID-19 wave and light blue denotes the second COVID-19 wave
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Euroimmun ELISA ratios and NT titres over time among those seropositive in May/June 2020 (N = 12)*. *The results displayed are among those with follow-up testing including seven HCWs from the longitudinal sample with three blood samples between May/June 2020 and December 2020 and five HCW with only a second blood sample in August 2020; The respective colour in both figures corresponds to the same health care worker
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Correlation of Euroimmun ELISA ratios and NT titres among those tested with both assays (N = 122)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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