
Prevalence of Seropositivity to SARS-CoV-2 among Health Care Workers in Tertiary COVID-19 Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Correspondence Address :Mukesh G Gohel,
T/20, Shantam Bunglows, Near Khodiyar Temple, Chenpur Road, New Ranip,
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
E-mail: mks.gohel@gmail.com
Introduction: Healthcare Workers (HCW) are at increased risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARSCoV-2) infection due to occupational exposure to infected patients and contaminated surfaces.
Aim: To determine the prevalence of seropositivity against SARS-CoV-2 among HCW in a tertiary COVID-19 designated hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between 1st July to 31st July, 2020 on 1333 HCWs. HCWs included doctors, nurses, lab personnel, general service assistants and ancillary staff who work in hospital. Anti SARSCoV-2 total antibodies were measured in serum sample by chemiluminescent technique.
Results: Prevalence of seropositivity was found in 27.76% (370 out of 1333). It was highest among general service assistant 34.76% (especially among house keeping staff, 43.44%) and lowest among doctors (19.33%). The percentage of seropositivity among asymptomatic HCWs was 24.84%.
Conclusion: The percentage of seropositivity among asymptomatic HCWs indicates that a large amount of infection passes asymptomatically. The discrepancy between various job categories might be due to differential occupational exposure and risk, lack of awareness and seriousness regarding transmission and risk of getting infection, various demographic factors like literacy, residential environment, community prevalence etc.
Coronavirus-2, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, Seroprevalence
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2021/46817.14599
Date of Submission: Sep 18, 2020
Date of Peer Review: Nov 22, 2020
Date of Acceptance: Dec 31, 2020
Date of Publishing: Mar 01, 2021
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. NA
PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Sep 19, 2020
• Manual Googling: Dec 30, 2020
• iThenticate Software: Jan 21, 2021 (11%)
ETYMOLOGY: Author Origin
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science, thomsonreuters)
- Index Copernicus ICV 2017: 134.54
- Academic Search Complete Database
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Embase
- EBSCOhost
- Google Scholar
- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
- Indian Science Abstracts (ISA)
- Journal seek Database
- Popline (reproductive health literature)
- www.omnimedicalsearch.com