Ninwattana Sasiprapa, Sterling Spencer L, Rattanatumhi Khwankamon, Thippamom Nattakarn, Hirunpatrawong Piyapha, Sangsub Pakamas, Cheun-Arom Thaniwan, Esposito Dominic, Tan Chee Wah, Yap Wee Chee, Zhu Feng, Wang Lin-Fa, Laing Eric D, Wacharapluesadee Supaporn, Putcharoen Opass
Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases Clinical Center, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Viruses. 2025 Jun 10;17(6):837. doi: 10.3390/v17060837.
Community-based serosurveillance for emerging zoonotic viruses can provide a powerful and cost-effective measurement of cryptic spillovers. Betacoronaviruses, including SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV, are known to infect bats and can cause severe respiratory illness in humans, yet remain under-surveyed in high-risk populations. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of betacoronaviruses in an occupational cohort in contact with bats before and after the emergence of SARS-CoV-2. Serum samples from pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic were screened using antigen-based multiplex microsphere immunoassays (MMIAs) and a multiplex surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT). Pre-pandemic samples showed no SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, while post-pandemic samples from vaccinated participants displayed binding and neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and a related bat CoV. Furthermore, one participant (1/237, 0.43%) had persistent antibodies against MERS-CoV in 2017, 2018 and 2021 but was seronegative in 2023, despite reporting no history of traveling abroad or severe pneumonia. The observed sustained antibody levels indicate a possible exposure to MERS-CoV or a MERS-CoV-like virus, although the etiology and clinical relevance of this finding remains unclear. Ongoing surveillance in high-risk populations remains crucial for understanding virus epidemiology and mitigating zoonotic transmission risk.
针对新出现的人畜共患病毒开展基于社区的血清学监测，能够有力且经济高效地衡量隐匿性病毒外溢情况。包括SARS-CoV、SARS-CoV-2和MERS-CoV在内的β冠状病毒已知可感染蝙蝠，并能导致人类严重呼吸道疾病，但在高危人群中仍未得到充分调查。本研究旨在确定SARS-CoV-2出现前后，与蝙蝠接触的职业队列中β冠状病毒的血清阳性率。使用基于抗原的多重微球免疫测定法（MMIA）和多重替代病毒中和试验（sVNT）对新冠疫情前后的血清样本进行筛查。疫情前的样本未显示出SARS-CoV-2抗体，而接种疫苗参与者的疫情后样本显示出针对SARS-CoV-2和一种相关蝙蝠冠状病毒的结合抗体和中和抗体。此外，一名参与者（1/237，0.43%）在2017年、2018年和2021年持续存在针对MERS-CoV的抗体，但在2023年血清学检测呈阴性，尽管该参与者报告无出国旅行史或严重肺炎病史。观察到的持续抗体水平表明可能接触过MERS-CoV或一种类似MERS-CoV的病毒，尽管这一发现的病因和临床相关性尚不清楚。对高危人群持续进行监测对于了解病毒流行病学和降低人畜共患传播风险仍然至关重要。
