Seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to SARS-coronavirus in asymptomatic or subclinical population groups.
We systematically reviewed the current understanding of human population immunity against SARS-CoV in different groups, settings and geography. Our meta-analysis, which included all identified studies except those on wild animal handlers, yielded an overall seroprevalence of 0.10% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.02-0.18]. Health-care workers and others who had close contact with SARS patients had a slightly higher degree of seroconversion (0.23%, 95% CI 0.02-0.45) compared to healthy blood donors, others from the general community or non-SARS patients recruited from the health-care setting (0.16%, 95% CI 0-0.37). When analysed by the two broad classes of testing procedures, it is clear that serial confirmatory test protocols resulted in a much lower estimate (0.050%, 95% CI 0-0.15) than single test protocols (0.20%, 95% CI 0.06-0.34). Potential epidemiological and laboratory pitfalls are also discussed as they may give rise to false or inconsistent results in measuring the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV.
Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, ChinaTakemi Program, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. gmleung@hkucc.hk
G M
GM
Leung
W W
WW
Lim
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Ho
T-H
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Lam
A C
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Ghani
C A
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Donnelly
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Fraser
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Riley
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Ferguson
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Anderson
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Hedley
D000917:Antibody Formation; D001782:Blood Donors; D005843:Geography; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis*; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*
D007074:Immunoglobulin G