SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody detection in healthcare workers in Germany with direct contact to COVID-19 patients.

Korth, Johannes; Wilde, Benjamin; Dolff, Sebastian; Anastasiou, Olympia E; Krawczyk, Adalbert; Jahn, Michael; Cordes, Sebastian; Ross, Birgit; Esser, Stefan; Lindemann, Monika; Kribben, Andreas; Dittmer, Ulf; Witzke, Oliver; Herrmann, Anke; Anastasiou, Olympia E.

Background The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is associated with a severe respiratory manifestation, COVID-19, and presents a challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. Healthcare workers are a vulnerable cohort for SARS-CoV-2 infection due to frequent and close contact to patients with COVID-19. Study design Serum samples from 316 healthcare workers of the University Hospital Essen, Germany were tested for SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic and clinical data. Healthcare workers were grouped depending on the frequency of contact to COVID-19 patients in high-risk-group (n = 244) with daily contact to known or suspected SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, intermediated-risk-group (n = 37) with daily contact to patients without known or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection at admission and low-risk-group (n = 35) without patient contact. Results In 5 of 316 (1.6%) healthcare workers SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies could be detected. The seroprevalence was higher in the intermediate-risk-group vs. high-risk-group vs. 2/37 (5.4%) vs. (3/244 (1.2%), p = 0.13). Four of the five subject were tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 via PCR. One (20%) subject was not tested via PCR since he was asymptomatic. Conclusion The overall seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers of a tertiary hospital in Germany is low (1.6%). The data indicate that the local hygiene standard might be effective.