Department of Medicine I, Saarland University Medical Center, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany.
Gemeinschaftsklinikum Mittelrhein, Kemperhof Koblenz, Koblenz, Germany.
HIV Med. 2022 May;23(5):564-569. doi: 10.1111/hiv.13207. Epub 2021 Nov 22.
Seroprevalence studies of SARS-CoV-2 have shown that there is a high number of undiagnosed missing cases. Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in people living with HIV (PLWH) is lacking. Therefore, we conducted a prospective cross-sectional study to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among PLWH without known diagnosis of COVID-19 in the south-west of Germany.
Serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies based on two assays was performed in PLWH who visited the outpatient HIV centre of two hospitals from April to June 2020. Additionally, patients had to answer questionnaires about possible COVID-19-related symptoms and predefined risk factors. Moreover, we tested 50 non-HIV-infected patients receiving post- or pre-exposure (PEP/PrEP) HIV prophylaxis.
In all, 594 (488 male, 106 female) PLWH (median age 51 years) and 50 PEP/PrEP-users were included in the study. The estimated seroprevalence of the PLWH cohort was 1.85% (11/594), with 11 positive tested cases in the cohort. Among all patients, only five had COVID-19-related symptoms. One PCR-positive patient did not show any antibody response in repeatedly carried out tests. None of the patients was hospitalized due to COVID-19. Three PrEP users were tested positive. Three patients had been previously diagnosed with SARS-COV-2 infection before inclusion. The used questionnaire did not help to detect SARS-CoV-2 positive patients.
Despite the limitation of being only a snapshot in time because of the ongoing pandemic, to our knowledge this is the largest study so far on seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in PLWH in Germany. Our study suggests that the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in PLWH is comparable to those previously reported for parts of the general German population and that the questionnaire used here might not be the best tool to predict COVID-19 diagnosis.
SARS-CoV-2 的血清流行率研究表明，存在大量未确诊的漏诊病例。在 HIV 感染者（PLWH）中，SARS-CoV-2 的血清流行率尚不清楚。因此，我们进行了一项前瞻性横断面研究，以估计德国西南部未经诊断的 COVID-19 的 PLWH 中 SARS-CoV-2 的血清流行率。
在 2020 年 4 月至 6 月期间，对来自两家医院门诊 HIV 中心的 PLWH 进行了基于两种检测方法的 SARS-CoV-2 免疫球蛋白 G（IgG）抗体血清学检测。此外，患者还必须回答有关可能的 COVID-19 相关症状和预定义危险因素的问卷。此外，我们还测试了 50 名接受过暴露前（PEP）或暴露后（PrEP）HIV 预防的非 HIV 感染者。
共纳入 594 名（488 名男性，106 名女性）PLWH（中位年龄 51 岁）和 50 名 PEP/PrEP 使用者。PLWH 队列的估计血清流行率为 1.85%（11/594），其中 11 例阳性病例。在所有患者中，仅有 5 例有 COVID-19 相关症状。一名 PCR 阳性患者在反复进行的检测中均未显示出任何抗体反应。没有患者因 COVID-19 住院。有 3 名 PrEP 使用者检测呈阳性。有 3 名患者在纳入前曾被诊断为 SARS-COV-2 感染。使用的问卷无助于发现 SARS-CoV-2 阳性患者。
尽管由于大流行，目前的研究只是一个时间点，但据我们所知，这是迄今为止在德国进行的关于 PLWH 中 SARS-CoV-2 血清流行率的最大研究。我们的研究表明，PLWH 中 SARS-CoV-2 的血清流行率与先前报告的德国部分普通人群的流行率相当，并且这里使用的问卷可能不是预测 COVID-19 诊断的最佳工具。
