TY - JOUR
T1 - Humoral response and PCR positivity in patients with COVID-19 in the New York City region, USA
T2 - an observational study
AU - Wajnberg, Ania
AU - Mansour, Mayce
AU - Leven, Emily
AU - Bouvier, Nicole M.
AU - Patel, Gopi
AU - Firpo-Betancourt, Adolfo
AU - Mendu, Rao
AU - Jhang, Jeffrey
AU - Arinsburg, Suzanne
AU - Gitman, Melissa
AU - Houldsworth, Jane
AU - Sordillo, Emilia
AU - Paniz-Mondolfi, Alberto
AU - Baine, Ian
AU - Simon, Viviana
AU - Aberg, Judith
AU - Krammer, Florian
AU - Reich, David
AU - Cordon-Cardo, Carlos
N1 - Funding Information:
Work on SARS-CoV-2 immunity in the Krammer laboratory (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA) is partly supported by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance contract HHSN272201400008C (FK), Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers contract 75N93019C00051 (FK), and the generous support of the JPB Foundation, the Open Philanthropy Project (number 2020-215611), and other philanthropic donations. We thank all the patients who generously came in for testing and plasma donation. We thank Kim Stone and Kim Muellers (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) for their work on data analysis. We also thank the medical students who helped to facilitate this project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global pandemic. The proportion of infected individuals who seroconvert is still an open question. In addition, it has been shown in some individuals that viral genome can be detected up to 3 months after symptom resolution. We investigated both seroconversion and PCR positivity in a large cohort of convalescent serum donors in the New York City (NY, USA) region. Methods: In this observational study, we ran an outreach programme in the New York City area. We recruited participants via the REDCap (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA) online survey response. Individuals with confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection were screened via PCR for presence of viral genome and via ELISA for presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies. One-way ANOVA and Fisher's exact test were used to measure the association of age, gender, symptom duration, and days from symptom onset and resolution with positive antibody results. Findings: Between March 26 and April 10, 2020, we measured SARS-CoV-2 antibody titres in 1343 people. Of the 624 participants with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who had serologies done after 4 weeks, all but three seroconverted to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, whereas 269 (37%) of 719 participants with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection seroconverted. PCR positivity was detected up to 28 days from symptom resolution. Interpretation: Most patients with confirmed COVID-19 seroconvert, potentially providing immunity to reinfection. We also report that in a large proportion of individuals, viral genome can be detected via PCR in the upper respiratory tract for weeks after symptom resolution, but it is unclear whether this signal represents infectious virus. Analysis of our large cohort suggests that most patients with mild COVID-19 seroconvert 4 weeks after illness, and raises questions about the use of PCR to clear positive individuals. Funding: None.
AB - Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global pandemic. The proportion of infected individuals who seroconvert is still an open question. In addition, it has been shown in some individuals that viral genome can be detected up to 3 months after symptom resolution. We investigated both seroconversion and PCR positivity in a large cohort of convalescent serum donors in the New York City (NY, USA) region. Methods: In this observational study, we ran an outreach programme in the New York City area. We recruited participants via the REDCap (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA) online survey response. Individuals with confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection were screened via PCR for presence of viral genome and via ELISA for presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies. One-way ANOVA and Fisher's exact test were used to measure the association of age, gender, symptom duration, and days from symptom onset and resolution with positive antibody results. Findings: Between March 26 and April 10, 2020, we measured SARS-CoV-2 antibody titres in 1343 people. Of the 624 participants with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who had serologies done after 4 weeks, all but three seroconverted to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, whereas 269 (37%) of 719 participants with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection seroconverted. PCR positivity was detected up to 28 days from symptom resolution. Interpretation: Most patients with confirmed COVID-19 seroconvert, potentially providing immunity to reinfection. We also report that in a large proportion of individuals, viral genome can be detected via PCR in the upper respiratory tract for weeks after symptom resolution, but it is unclear whether this signal represents infectious virus. Analysis of our large cohort suggests that most patients with mild COVID-19 seroconvert 4 weeks after illness, and raises questions about the use of PCR to clear positive individuals. Funding: None.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85093932041&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30120-8
DO - 10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30120-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85093932041
SN - 2666-5247
VL - 1
SP - e283-e289
JO - The Lancet Microbe
JF - The Lancet Microbe
IS - 7
ER -