SARS-CoV-2-Specific Antibody Prevalence and Symptoms in a Local Austrian Population

  1. Dennis Ladage
  2. Yana Höglinger
  3. Dorothee Ladage
  4. Christoph Adler
  5. Israfil Yalcin
  6. Oliver Harzer
  7. Ralf J. Braun

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Abstract

Background: Since December 2019 the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is the center of global attention due to its rapid transmission and toll on health care systems and global economy. Population-based serosurveys measuring antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 provide one method for estimating previous infection rates including the symptom-free courses of the disease and monitoring the progression of the epidemic.

Methods: In June 2020 we succeeded in testing almost half of the population of an Austrian township (1,359 inhabitants) with a reported higher incidence for COVID-19 infections (17 PCR positive cases have been officially reported until the date of sample collection, i.e., 1.2% of the total population). We determined the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in this population, factors affecting, and symptoms correlated with prior infection. Antibodies were determined using a CE-certified quality-controlled ELISA test for SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and IgA antibodies.

Results: We found a high prevalence of 9% positive antibodies among the town population in comparison to 6% of the neighboring villages. This was considerably higher than the officially known RT-PCR-approved COVID-19 cases (1.2%) in the town population. Twenty percent of SARS-CoV-2-antibody positive cases declared being asymptomatic in a questionnaire. On the other hand, we identified six single major symptoms, including anosmia/ageusia, weight loss, anorexia, general debility, dyspnea, and fever, and especially their combination to be of high prognostic value for predicting SARS-CoV-2 infection in a patient.

Conclusions: This population study demonstrated a high prevalence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 as a marker of past infections in an Austrian township. Several symptoms revealed a diagnostic value especially in combination.

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  1. Version published to 10.3389/fmed.2021.632942
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.03.20219121: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a protocol registration statement.

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.11.03.20219121v1 on medRxiv