Antibody Rapid Test Results in Emergency Medical Services Personnel during COVID-19 Pandemic; a Cross Sectional Study
Archives of Academic Emergency Medicine,
Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021),
1 January 2021
,
Page e2
https://doi.org/10.22037/aaem.v9i1.993
Abstract
Introduction: Like other infectious diseases, it is expected that COVID-19 will mostly end with the development of neutralizing antibody immunity. This study aimed to evaluate the value of COVID-19 antibody rapid test assessment in emergency medical services (EMS) personnel.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Tehran, Iran from 20th March until 20th May 2020. The results of chest computed tomography (CT) scan, and antibody rapid test were compared in EMS personnel with confirmed COVID-19, as well as symptomatic and asymptomatic ones who had exposure to a probable/confirmed COVID-19 teammate. In symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals who were only IgM-positive, chest CT scan or RT-PCR was recommended.
Results: A total of 243 EMS personnel with the mean age of 36.14±8.70 (range 21 to 59) years took part in this study (87.7% were males). Most of the participants (73.3%) had history of exposure. One hundred sixty-three EMS personnel were tested using either RT-PCR test or chest CT-scan or both, and 78 (47.9%) of them had at least one positive result. Among the participants who had undergone chest CT-scan and/or RT-PCR test (n=163), 78 had positive chest CT-scan and/or RT-PCR test; of these, 18 individuals had negative results for IgM and IgG. The rate of positive IgM and IgG in participants with positive chest CT-scan was 1.6 or 1.3 times more than those with negative chest CT-scan, respectively (p < 0.05). The percentage of positive results for both IgM and IgG in participants having positive RT-PCR test was 1.7 times more than those having negative RT-PCR test (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Rapid antibody test could help in diagnosis of COVID-19 in asymptomatic or symptomatic EMS personnel who did not undergo RT-PCR test or the test was reported as negative. However, its sensitivity could be enhanced through use along with other diagnostic methods.
- Antibodies; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; COVID-19; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; Emergency Medical Services
How to Cite
References
Kalkeri R, Goebel S, Sharma GD. SARS-CoV-2 Shedding from Asymptomatic Patients: Contribution of Potential Extrapulmonary Tissue Reservoirs. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 2020;103(1):18-21.
Vahidi E, Jalili M. Why COVID-19? Advanced Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2020;4(2s):e36.
Chen W, Zheng KI, Liu S, Yan Z, Xu C, Qiao Z. Plasma CRP level is positively associated with the severity of COVID-19. Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials. 2020;19(1):18.
Herold T, Jurinovic V, Arnreich C, Lipworth BJ, Hellmuth JC, Bergwelt-Baildon MV, et al. Elevated levels of IL-6 and CRP predict the need for mechanical ventilation in COVID-19. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology. 2020;146(1):128–36.e4.
Hong KH, Lee SW, Kim TS, Huh HJ, Lee J, Kim SY, et al. Guidelines for Laboratory Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Korea. Annals of laboratory medicine. 2020;40(5):351-60.
Hou H, Zhang B, Huang H, Luo Y, Wu S, Tang G, et al. Using IL-2R/lymphocytes for predicting the clinical progression of patients with COVID-19. Clinical and experimental immunology. 2020;201(1):76-84.
Chen J, Zhang Z, Chen Y, Long Q, Tian W, Deng H, et al. The clinical and immunological features of pediatric COVID-19 patients in China. Genes & diseases. 2020:doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2020.03.008 [Epub ahead of print].
Azkur A, Akdis M, Azkur D, Sokolowska M, van de Veen W, Brüggen M, et al. Immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and mechanisms of immunopathological changes in COVID-19. Allergy. 2020:doi: 10.1111/all.14364 [Epub ahead of print].
García LF. Immune Response, Inflammation, and the Clinical Spectrum of COVID-19. Frontiers in immunology. 2020;11:1441.
Catanzaro M, Fagiani F, Racchi M, Corsini E, Govoni S, Lanni C. Immune response in COVID-19: addressing a pharmacological challenge by targeting pathways triggered by SARS-CoV-2. Signal transduction and targeted therapy. 2020;5(1):84.
Ong D, de Man S, Lindeboom F, Koeleman J. Comparison of diagnostic accuracies of rapid serological tests and ELISA to molecular diagnostics in patients with suspected coronavirus disease 2019 presenting to the hospital. Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. 2020;26(8):1094.e7–.e10.
Paces J, Strizova Z, Smrz D, Cerny J. COVID-19 and the immune system. Physiological research. 2020;69(3):379-88.
Jalili M. How Should Emergency Medical Services Personnel Protect Themselves and the Patients During COVID-19 Pandemic?. Adv J Emerg Med. 2020;4(2s):e37.
Ontario. Case Definition – Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) 2020 [Available from: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/coronavirus/docs/2019_case_definition.pdf].
World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 61 2020 [Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200321-sitrep-61-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=ce5ca11c_2].
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Case definition for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as of 29 May 2020 2020 [Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/surveillance/case-definition].
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public Health Guidance for Community-Related Exposure 2020 [Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/public-health-recommendations.html].
Sun B, Feng Y, Mo X, Zheng P, Wang Q, Li P, et al. Kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgM and IgG responses in COVID-19 patients. Emerging microbes & infections. 2020;9(1):940-8.
Guo L, Ren L, Yang S, Xiao M, Chang D, Yang F, et al. Profiling Early Humoral Response to Diagnose Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 2020:ciaa310.
Long Q, Liu B, Deng H, Wu G, Deng K, Chen Y, et al. Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with COVID-19. Nature Medicine. 2020;26(6):845-8.
Zhao J, Yuan Q, Wang H, Liu W, Liao X, Su Y, et al. Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in patients of novel coronavirus disease 2019. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 2020:ciaa344.
Zhang W, Du RH, Li B, Zheng XS, Yang XL, Hu B, et al. Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes. Emerging microbes & infections. 2020;9(1):386-9.
Hoffman T, Nissen K, Krambrich J, Rönnberg B, Akaberi D, Esmaeilzadeh M, et al. Evaluation of a COVID-19 IgM and IgG rapid test; an efficient tool for assessment of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Infection Ecology & Epidemiology. 2020;10(1):1754538.
Heydari K, Rismantab S, Shamshirian A, Lotfi P, Shadmehri N, Houshmand P, et al. Clinical and Paraclinical Characteristics of COVID-19 patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences. 2020:Preprint (DOI: 10.1101/2020.03.26.20044057).
To KK, Tsang OT, Leung WS, Tam AR, Wu TC, Lung DC, et al. Temporal profiles of viral load in posterior oropharyngeal saliva samples and serum antibody responses during infection by SARS-CoV-2: an observational cohort study. The Lancet Infectious diseases. 2020;20(5):565-74.
european Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: increased transmission in the EU/EEA and the UK – sixth update 2020 [Available from: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: increased transmission in the EU/EEA and the UK – sixth update [Internet]. Stockholm, Sweden; 2020. [Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/RRA-sixth-updateOutbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-disease-2019-COVID -19.pdf].
- Abstract Viewed: 1112 times
- pdf Downloaded: 647 times
