PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

Seroprevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among health care workers from three pandemic hospitals of Turkey.

  • Gizem Alkurt,
  • Ahmet Murt,
  • Zeki Aydin,
  • Ozge Tatli,
  • Nihat Bugra Agaoglu,
  • Arzu Irvem,
  • Mehtap Aydin,
  • Ridvan Karaali,
  • Mustafa Gunes,
  • Batuhan Yesilyurt,
  • Hasan Turkez,
  • Adil Mardinoglu,
  • Mehmet Doganay,
  • Filiz Basinoglu,
  • Nurhan Seyahi,
  • Gizem Dinler Doganay,
  • Hamdi Levent Doganay

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247865
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 3
p. e0247865

Abstract

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COVID-19 is a global threat with an increasing number of infections. Research on IgG seroprevalence among health care workers (HCWs) is needed to re-evaluate health policies. This study was performed in three pandemic hospitals in Istanbul and Kocaeli. Different clusters of HCWs were screened for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Seropositivity rate among participants was evaluated by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. We recruited 813 non-infected and 119 PCR-confirmed infected HCWs. Of the previously undiagnosed HCWs, 22 (2.7%) were seropositive. Seropositivity rates were highest for cleaning staff (6%), physicians (4%), nurses (2.2%) and radiology technicians (1%). Non-pandemic clinic (6.4%) and ICU (4.3%) had the highest prevalence. HCWs in "high risk" group had similar seropositivity rate with "no risk" group (2.9 vs 3.5 p = 0.7). These findings might lead to the re-evaluation of infection control and transmission dynamics in hospitals.