Journal
ISCIENCE
Volume 24, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102646
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Funding
- Hamad Medical Corporation
- Ministry of Public Health
- Biomedical Research Program at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar
- Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Biomathematics Research Core at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar
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The study found that less than two in every 10 individuals in Qatar's urban population had detectable antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, indicating that herd immunity is still far off and there is a risk of subsequent infection waves. Higher antibody titers may serve as a biomarker of repeated exposures to the infection.
The study objective was to the assess level of detectable severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in the urban population of Qatar. Antibody testing was performed on residual blood specimens for 112,941 individuals (similar to 10% of Qatar's urban population) attending for routine/other clinical care between May 12 and September 9, 2020. Seropositivity was 13.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 13.1-13.6%) and was independently associated with sex, age, nationality, clinical care encounter type, and testing date. Median optical density (antibody titer) among antibody-positive persons was 27.0 (range = 1.0-150.0), with higher values associated with age, nationality, clinical care encounter type, and testing date. Seropositivity by nationality was positively correlatedwith the likelihood of having higher antibody titers (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.47-0.96). Less than two in every 10 individuals in Qatar's urban population had detectable antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, suggesting this population is still far from herd immunity and at risk of subsequent infection waves. Higher antibody titer appears to be a biomarker of repeated exposures to the infection.
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