The antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 increases over 5 months in patients with anosmia/dysgeusia

Levi, R.; Ubaldi, L.; Pozzi, C.; Angelotti, G.; Sandri, M. T.; Azzolini, E.; Salvatici, M.; Savevski, V.; Mantovani, A.; Rescigno, M.

The factors involved in the persistence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 are unknown. We evaluated the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 in personnel from 10 healthcare facilities and its association with individuals' characteristics and COVID-19 symptoms in an observational study. We enrolled 4735 subjects (corresponding to 80% of all personnel) over a period of 5 months when the spreading of the virus was drastically reduced. For each participant, we determined the rate of antibody increase or decrease over time in relation to 93 features analyzed in univariate and multivariate analyses through a machine learning approach. In individuals positive for IgG (>= 12 AU/mL) at the beginning of the study, we found an increase [p= 0.0002] in antibody response in symptomatic subjects, particularly with anosmia/dysgeusia (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.753 - 4.301), in a multivariate logistic regression analysis. This may be linked to the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in the olfactory bulb.