Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand.
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
BMJ Open. 2021 Oct 29;11(10):e046676. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046676.
We aimed to explore the seroprevalence of hospital staff comparing to preprocedural patients in Thai community hospitals to shed light on the situation of COVID-19 infection of frontline healthcare workers in low infection rate countries where mass screening was not readily available.
Cross-sectional study.
52 community hospitals in 35 provinces covered all regions of Thailand.
857 participants consisted of 675 hospital staff and 182 preprocedural patients.
COVID-19 seroprevalence using a locally developed rapid IgM/IgG test kit RESULTS: Overall, 5.5% of the participants (47 of 857) had positive IgM, 0.2% (2 of 857) had positive IgG which both of them also had positive IgM. Hospitals located in the central part of Thailand had the highest IgM seroprevalence (11.9%). Preprocedural patients had a higher rate of positive IgM than the hospital staff (12.1% vs 3.7%). Participants with present upper respiratory tract symptoms had a higher rate of positive IgM than those without (9.6% vs 4.5%). Three quarters (80.5%, 690 of 857) of the participants were asymptomatic, of which, 31 had positive IgM (4.5%) which consisted of 20 of 566 healthcare workers (3.5%) and 11 of 124 preprocedural patients (8.9%).
COVID-19 antibody test could detect a substantial number of potential silent spreaders in Thai community hospitals where the nasopharyngeal PCR was not readily available, and the antigen test was prohibited. Antibody testing should be encouraged for mass screening in a limited resource setting, especially in asymptomatic individuals.
TCTR20200426002.
本研究旨在比较泰国社区医院医护人员与术前患者的血清阳性率，以了解在大规模筛查难以实现的低感染率国家，新冠病毒感染前线医护人员的情况。
横断面研究。
35 个省的 52 家社区医院，覆盖泰国所有地区。
857 名参与者，包括 675 名医护人员和 182 名术前患者。
使用本地开发的快速 IgM/IgG 检测试剂盒检测 COVID-19 血清阳性率。
总体而言，5.5%（47/857）的参与者 IgM 阳性，0.2%（2/857）的参与者 IgG 阳性，且两者的 IgM 均为阳性。位于泰国中部的医院 IgM 血清阳性率最高（11.9%）。术前患者的 IgM 阳性率高于医护人员（12.1% vs. 3.7%）。有上呼吸道症状的参与者 IgM 阳性率高于无症状者（9.6% vs. 4.5%）。四分之三（80.5%，690/857）的参与者无症状，其中 31 人 IgM 阳性（4.5%），包括 566 名医护人员中的 20 人（3.5%）和 124 名术前患者中的 11 人（8.9%）。
在无法广泛进行鼻咽 PCR 检测且抗原检测受到限制的情况下，新冠病毒抗体检测可以在泰国社区医院发现大量潜在的无症状传播者。在资源有限的情况下，应鼓励进行大规模筛查，尤其是对无症状个体进行抗体检测。
TCTR20200426002。
