A prospective study of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among individuals involved in academic research under limited operations during the COVID-19 pandemic

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorAudrey Pettifor
dc.contributor.authorBethany L DiPrete
dc.contributor.authorBonnie E Shook-Sa
dc.contributor.authorLakshmanane Premkumar
dc.contributor.authorKriste Kuczynski
dc.contributor.authorDirk Dittmer
dc.contributor.authorAllison Aiello
dc.contributor.authorShannon Wallet
dc.contributor.authorRobert Maile
dc.contributor.authorJoyce Tan
dc.contributor.authorRamesh Jadi
dc.contributor.authorLinda Pluta
dc.contributor.authorAravinda M de Silva
dc.contributor.authorDavid J Weber
dc.contributor.authorMin Kim
dc.contributor.authorArlene C Seña
dc.contributor.authorCorbin D Jones
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-08T20:19:48Z
dc.date.available2024-04-08T20:19:48Z
dc.date.issued2022-04-25
dc.description.abstractBackground: Early in the pandemic, transmission risk from asymptomatic infection was unclear, making it imperative to monitor infection in workplace settings. Further, data on SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence within university populations has been limited. Methods: We performed a longitudinal study of University research employees on campus July-December 2020. We conducted questionnaires on COVID-19 risk factors, RT-PCR testing, and SARS-CoV-2 serology using an in-house spike RBD assay, laboratory-based Spike NTD assay, and standard nucleocapsid platform assay. We estimated prevalence and cumulative incidence of seroconversion with 95% confidence intervals using the inverse of the Kaplan-Meier estimator. Results: 910 individuals were included in this analysis. At baseline, 6.2% (95% CI 4.29-8.19) were seropositive using the spike RBD assay; four (0.4%) were seropositive using the nucleocapsid assay, and 44 (4.8%) using the Spike NTD assay. Cumulative incidence was 3.61% (95% CI: 2.04-5.16). Six asymptomatic individuals had positive RT-PCR results. Conclusions: Prevalence and incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections were low; however, differences in target antigens of serological tests provided different estimates. Future research on appropriate methods of serological testing in unvaccinated and vaccinated populations is needed. Frequent RT-PCR testing of asymptomatic individuals is required to detect acute infections, and repeated serosurveys are beneficial for monitoring subclinical infection.
dc.description.librarianPM2023
dc.facultyFaculty of Health Sciences
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/38340
dc.language.isoen
dc.schoolPublic Health
dc.titleA prospective study of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among individuals involved in academic research under limited operations during the COVID-19 pandemic
dc.typeArticle
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
pone.0267353.pdf
Size:
761.62 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.43 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
SA-MRC/Wits Agincourt Unit (Research Outputs/Publications)