Tähtinen Paula A, Ivaska Lauri, Jalkanen Pinja, Kakkola Laura, Kainulainen Leena, Hytönen Jukka, Vuorinen Tytti, Waris Matti, Peltola Ville, Oksi Jarmo, Julkunen Ilkka, Lempainen Johanna
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Infections and Immunity Unit, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Infect Dis (Lond). 2022 Jun;54(6):448-454. doi: 10.1080/23744235.2022.2027008. Epub 2022 Jan 19.
Health care workers are at risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our aim was to study the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein and spike protein specific antibodies in health care workers with occupational exposure to COVID-19 in Turku, Finland, from May to December 2020.
Health care workers of Turku University Hospital units caring for COVID-19 patients or handling clinical SARS-CoV-2 samples were invited to participate in the study. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein and spike protein specific IgG antibodies were analysed with in-house enzyme immunoassay.
At study enrolment, only one of the 222 (0.5%) study participants was seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 protein specific antibodies. Two additional study participants (2/222, 0.9%) seroconverted during the follow-up. All these participants were diagnosed with a RT-PCR-positive COVID-19 infection before turning seropositive.
In our study population, the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity remained low. The absence of seropositive cases without previous RT-PCR confirmed infections demonstrate good access to diagnostics. In addition to high vaccine coverage, high standards of infection prevention practices and use of standard personal protective equipment seem sufficient in preventing occupational SARS-CoV-2 infection in a setting with low number of circulating virus. However, it remains unclear whether similar protective practices would also be effective against more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants.
医护人员有感染严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）的风险。我们的目的是研究2020年5月至12月在芬兰图尔库职业暴露于新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）的医护人员中SARS-CoV-2核蛋白和刺突蛋白特异性抗体的流行情况。
邀请图尔库大学医院负责护理COVID-19患者或处理临床SARS-CoV-2样本的科室的医护人员参与研究。采用内部酶免疫测定法分析SARS-CoV-2核蛋白和刺突蛋白特异性IgG抗体的存在情况。
在研究入组时，222名研究参与者中只有1人（0.5%）SARS-CoV-2蛋白特异性抗体血清学呈阳性。另外两名研究参与者（2/222，0.9%）在随访期间血清转化。所有这些参与者在血清学呈阳性之前均被诊断为逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）阳性的COVID-19感染。
在我们的研究人群中，SARS-CoV-2血清学阳性的流行率仍然很低。没有先前RT-PCR确诊感染的血清学阳性病例的缺乏表明诊断途径良好。除了高疫苗接种率外，高标准的感染预防措施和使用标准个人防护设备似乎足以在循环病毒数量较少的情况下预防职业性SARS-CoV-2感染。然而，尚不清楚类似的防护措施对更具传播性的SARS-CoV-2变体是否也有效。
