Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Division of Basic Sciences and Computational Biology Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
J Clin Microbiol. 2020 Oct 21;58(11). doi: 10.1128/JCM.02107-20.
The development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 would be greatly facilitated by the identification of immunological correlates of protection in humans. However, to date, studies on protective immunity have been performed only in animal models and correlates of protection have not been established in humans. Here, we describe an outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 on a fishing vessel associated with a high attack rate. Predeparture serological and viral reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) testing along with repeat testing after return to shore was available for 120 of the 122 persons on board over a median follow-up of 32.5 days (range, 18.8 to 50.5 days). A total of 104 individuals had an RT-PCR-positive viral test with a cycle threshold ( ) of <35 or seroconverted during the follow-up period, yielding an attack rate on board of 85.2% (104/122 individuals). Metagenomic sequencing of 39 viral genomes suggested that the outbreak originated largely from a single viral clade. Only three crew members tested seropositive prior to the boat's departure in initial serological screening and also had neutralizing and spike-reactive antibodies in follow-up assays. None of the crew members with neutralizing antibody titers showed evidence of bona fide viral infection or experienced any symptoms during the viral outbreak. Therefore, the presence of neutralizing antibodies from prior infection was significantly associated with protection against reinfection (Fisher's exact test, = 0.002).
开发针对 SARS-CoV-2 的疫苗将极大地受益于在人类中确定免疫保护相关性。然而,迄今为止,对保护性免疫的研究仅在动物模型中进行,并且在人类中尚未建立保护相关性。在这里,我们描述了一艘渔船爆发的 SARS-CoV-2 疫情,该疫情具有较高的发病率。122 名船员中有 120 人在中位随访 32.5 天(范围 18.8 至 50.5 天)时进行了出发前的血清学和病毒逆转录-PCR(RT-PCR)检测,并在返回岸边后进行了重复检测。共有 104 人在随访期间进行了 RT-PCR 阳性病毒检测,其循环阈值( )<35 或发生血清转换,船上的发病率为 85.2%(104/122 人)。39 个病毒基因组的宏基因组测序表明,该疫情主要起源于一个单一的病毒分支。在最初的血清学筛查中,只有 3 名船员在登船前检测呈血清阳性,并且在后续检测中也具有中和和刺突反应性抗体。在病毒爆发期间,具有中和抗体滴度的船员均未显示出真正的病毒感染证据或出现任何症状。因此,先前感染产生的中和抗体与免受再感染显著相关(Fisher 精确检验, = 0.002)。