Preceding anti-spike IgG levels predicted risk and severity of COVID-19 during the Omicron-dominant wave in Santa Fe city, Argentina

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Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has increased infectivity and immune escape compared with previous variants, and caused massive COVID-19 waves globally. Despite a vast majority (∼90%) of the population of Santa Fe city, Argentina, had been vaccinated and/or had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 by the arrival of Omicron, the epidemic wave that followed was by far the largest one experienced in the city. A serosurvey conducted prior to the arrival of Omicron allowed to assess the acquired humoural defences preceding the wave and to evaluate associations with infection risk and severity during the wave. A very large proportion of the 1455 sampled individuals had immunological memory against COVID-19 at the arrival of Omicron (almost 90%), and about half (48.9%) had high anti-Spike IgG levels (>200 UI/ml). The antibody titres were strongly associated with the number of vaccine shots and the vaccine platform received, and also depended markedly on prior COVID-19 diagnosis and the days elapsed since last antigen exposure (vaccine shot or natural infection). Following-up 514 participants provided real-world data linking antibody levels with protection against COVID-19 during a period of high risk of exposure to an immune-escaping highly transmissible variant. Pre-wave antibody titres were strongly associated with COVID-19 incidence and severity of symptoms during the wave. Also, receiving a vaccine shot during the follow-up period reduced the COVID-19 risk drastically (15-fold). These results highlight the importance of maintaining high defences through vaccination anticipating or during a period of high risk of exposure to immune-escaping variants.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2022.05.18.22275138: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Those households were visited from the end of October to mid-December 2021, and the occupants were invited to participate in a study that involved answering a first questionnaire and providing a blood sample to measure IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
    SARS-CoV-2
    suggested: None
    Anti-Human IgG, HRP-linked antibody was then used to recognize the bound IgG.
    Anti-Human IgG
    suggested: None

    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.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.


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