Healthcare Worker Seroconversion in SARS Outbreak

Abstract

Serum samples were obtained from healthcare workers 5 weeks after exposure to an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). A sensitive dot blot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, complemented by a specific neutralization test, shows that only persons in whom probable SARS was diagnosed had specific antibodies and suggests that subclinical SARS is not an important feature of the disease.

Keywords

• severe acute respiratory syndrome
• healthcare workers
• outbreak
• seroconversion
• subclinical infection
• dispatch