Wilkins Hannah, Jastaniah Ebaa, Spray Beverly, Forrest James C, Boehme Karl W, Kirkpatrick Catherine, Boyanton Bobby L, Spiro David M, Crawley Lee, Quang Lawrence, Kennedy Joshua L
Department of Pediatrics Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine College of Medicine University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little Rock Arkansas USA.
Arkansas Children's Research Institute Little Rock Arkansas USA.
J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2022 May 16;3(3):e12743. doi: 10.1002/emp2.12743. eCollection 2022 Jun.
The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in pediatric front-line health care workers (HCWs) using SARS-CoV-2 serum antibodies as an indicator of infection.
In this cross-sectional study, we collected blood samples and survey responses from HCWs in a 38-bed pediatric emergency department. Serum antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (IgM and/or IgG) were measured using a 2-step enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies against the Spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD), the ectodomain of Spike (S), and the nucleoprotein (N).
We collected survey responses and serum samples from 54 pediatric front-line HCWs from October 2020 through April 2021. Among the 29 unvaccinated HCWs, 4 (13.7%) had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. For the 25 vaccinated HCWs, 10 (40%) were seropositive; 3 were <10 days from the first vaccine dose and 7 were ≥10 days after the first dose. Two of the 10 seropositive vaccines had a prior positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. Individuals ≥10 days from receiving the first vaccine dose were 37.5 (95% CI: 3.5-399.3) times more likely to have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies than unvaccinated individuals or those <10 days from first vaccine dose.
Evidence of widespread SARS-CoV-2 infections was not found in unvaccinated front-line HCWs from a pediatric ED as of April 2021. Future work will be required to determine the reasons underlying the lower SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence compared to adult HCWs.
本研究的目的是使用严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）血清抗体作为感染指标，确定儿科一线医护人员中SARS-CoV-2感染的患病率。
在这项横断面研究中，我们收集了一家拥有38张床位的儿科急诊科医护人员的血样和调查问卷回复。使用两步酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）检测针对刺突蛋白受体结合域（RBD）、刺突（S）胞外域和核蛋白（N）的抗体，以测量SARS-CoV-2血清抗体（IgM和/或IgG）。
我们在2020年10月至2021年4月期间收集了54名儿科一线医护人员的调查问卷回复和血清样本。在29名未接种疫苗的医护人员中，4人（13.7%）有SARS-CoV-2抗体。对于25名接种疫苗的医护人员，10人（40%）血清呈阳性；3人距离第一剂疫苗接种不到10天，7人在第一剂疫苗接种后≥10天。10名血清呈阳性的接种疫苗者中有2人之前逆转录聚合酶链反应检测呈阳性。距离接种第一剂疫苗≥10天的个体出现SARS-CoV-2抗体的可能性是未接种疫苗个体或距离第一剂疫苗接种不到10天个体的37.5倍（95%置信区间：3.5 - 399.3）。
截至2021年4月，在一家儿科急诊科未接种疫苗的一线医护人员中未发现SARS-CoV-2广泛感染的证据。未来需要开展工作以确定与成年医护人员相比SARS-CoV-2抗体患病率较低的原因。
