High seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Chelsea, Massachusetts

Vivek Naranbhai, Christina C. Chang, Wilfredo F.Garcia Beltran, Tyler E. Miller, Michael G. Astudillo, Julian A. Villalba, Diane Yang, Jeffrey Gelfand, Bradley E. Bernstein, Jared Feldman, Blake M. Hauser, Timothy M. Caradonna, Galit Alter, Mandakolathur R. Murali, Rashmi Jasrasaria, Joan Quinlan, Dean C. Xerras, Joseph R. Betancourt, David N. Louis, Aaron G. SchmidtJochen Lennerz, Mark C. Poznansky, A. John Iafrate

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

53 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing allows quantitative determination of disease prevalence, which is especially important in high-risk communities. We performed anonymized convenience sampling of 200 currently asymptomatic residents of Chelsea, the epicenter of COVID-19 illness in Massachusetts, by BioMedomics SARS-CoV-2 combined IgM-IgG point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay. The seroprevalence was 31.5% (17.5% IgM+IgG+, 9.0% IgM+IgG-, and 5.0% IgM-IgG+). Of the 200 participants, 50.5% reported no symptoms in the preceding 4 weeks, of which 24.8% (25/101) were seropositive, and 60% of these were IgM+IgG-. These data are the highest seroprevalence rates observed to date and highlight the significant burden of asymptomatic infection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1955-1959
Number of pages5
JournalThe Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume222
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2020

Keywords

  • antibodies
  • Chelsea Massachusetts
  • COVID-19
  • epidemiology
  • immunoassay
  • lateral flow assay
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • seroprevalence
  • serosurveillance
  • validation

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