RAPID SEROLOGICAL TESTS HAVE A ROLE IN ASYMPTOMATIC HEALTH WORKERS COVID-19 SCREENING

Paradiso, Angelo Virgilio; De Summa, simona; Silvestris, Nicola; Tommasi, Stefania; Tufaro, Antonio; De Palma, Giuseppe; Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria; Chironna, Maria; D'Addabbo, Vincenzo; Raffaele, Donata; Cafagna, Vito; Garrisi, Vito

Health workers are at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and, if asymptomatic, for transmitting the virus on to fragile cancer patients. We screened 512 health workers of our Cancer Institute with rapid serological test Viva-Diag analyzing, with colorimetric test,IgG/IgM- COVID-19 associated. Five subjects (1%) resulted with Viva-Diag test not-negative for IgM. All of them had rt-PCR SARS-CoV-2 test negative while for 2 out of 5 cases, CLIA analysis confirmed positive IgM expression. In this original study on health workers we demonstrated that Viva-Diag is able to evidence subjects positive for IgM expression. However, discordant results with respect to rt-PCR and CLIA assays clearly refer to further studies to optimize the utilization of the serological test in asymptomatic and in at risk subjects.