title: Seroprevalence of antibodies to the influenza A (H1N1) virus among healthcare workers prior to the 2009 pandemic peak.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to study the proportion of healthcare workers with a positive serology for Influenza A(H1N1)2009 without having flu, in a Spanish hospital at the beginning of the pandemic.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey study carried out during August 2009 (before the peak of the pandemic in Spain) in the Hospital Costa del Sol, a second level hospital with almost 300 beds in the South of Spain. The participants were workers in the following hospital units: Emergencies, Medical Area (Internal Medicine, Chest Diseases), Surgical Area (General Surgery and Anaesthesia) of any professional category. A study was made of the proportion of healthcare workers in our hospital with positive serology for the new influenza A (H1N1)2009 virus, as determined by the haemagglutination inhibition technique (≥1/40). The subjects completed a health status questionnaire, and provided a blood sample for serology testing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 239 workers participated, of whom 25.1% had positive serology. The hospital area in which most individuals had positive serology was the Emergency Department (36.6%), while the professional category in which most individuals with a positive serology worked was that of the orderlies (41.7%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Around 25% of healthcare workers in our hospital had positive serology before the peak of the pandemic, none of them had received vaccine for Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 or had been diagnosed of influenza previously.
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella, Spain. Julio.olalla@gmail.com
authors.forename: Julián
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olalla
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Ory
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Casas
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Del Arco
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Montiel
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rivas-Ruiz
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de la Torre
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Prada
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Alegría
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000276:immunology*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D058873:Pandemics; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral