Altawalah Haya, Alfouzan Wadha, Dhar Rita, Alali Walid, Bastaki Hamad, Al-Fadalah Talal, Al-Ghimlas Fahad, Rabaan Ali A, Ezzikouri Sayeh
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait.
Virology Unit, Yacoub Behbehani center, Sabah Hospital, Ministry of Health, Kuwait.
J Clin Virol Plus. 2021 Jun;1(1):100017. doi: 10.1016/j.jcvp.2021.100017. Epub 2021 May 3.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged as a global pandemic. Seroprevalence surveillance is urgently needed to estimate and monitor the growing burden of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study is to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among worker population residing in areas under lockdown in Kuwait and investigated their risk factors associated with a positive status. From April 18 to May 10, 2020 a randomly sampled, worker-based survey was conducted in 7 governorate in Kuwait (Ahmadi, Farwaniya, Hawali, Asma, Jahra, and Mubarak Alkabeer) among 10,256 workers. SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies was assessed using a commercially point-of-care lateral flow immunoassay (Biozek medical COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test Cassette). We estimated an overall seroprevalence (IgG or IgM positive) of 5.9% (95% CI: 5.4-6.3). Notably, SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity was significantly higher in males (6.2%) than females (1.9%) ( < 0.001). Furthermore, the seroprevalence was significantly different by age group, governorate, and nationality of the workers. These results highlighted that the relatively low prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in hotspot areas in a specific population. Thus, we emphasize to repeat the serosurvey in the general population to assess the magnitude of viral spread and monitor the growing burden of COVID-19 in Kuwait.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）已引发全球大流行。迫切需要进行血清流行率监测，以估计和监测2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）日益加重的负担。本研究的目的是估计居住在科威特封锁地区的工人人群中SARS-CoV-2感染的血清流行率，并调查与阳性状态相关的风险因素。2020年4月18日至5月10日，在科威特的7个省（艾哈迈迪、法瓦尼亚、哈瓦利、阿斯马、贾赫拉和穆巴拉克·阿尔卡比尔）对10256名工人进行了一项基于工人的随机抽样调查。使用商业即时检测侧向流动免疫分析法（Biozek medical COVID-19 IgG/IgM快速检测试剂盒）评估SARS-CoV-2 IgG和IgM抗体。我们估计总体血清流行率（IgG或IgM阳性）为5.9%（95%CI：5.4-6.3）。值得注意的是，男性的SARS-CoV-2血清阳性率（6.2%）显著高于女性（1.9%）（<0.001）。此外，血清流行率在工人的年龄组、省份和国籍方面存在显著差异。这些结果突出表明，特定人群中热点地区抗SARS-CoV-2抗体的患病率相对较低。因此，我们强调在普通人群中重复进行血清学调查，以评估病毒传播的程度，并监测科威特COVID-19日益加重的负担。
