@article{3056319,
    title = "Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among health care workers in a country with low burden of COVID-19",
    author = "Psichogiou, M. and Karabinis, A. and Pavlopoulou, I.D. and Basoulis, D. and Petsios, K. and Roussos, S. and Pratikaki, M. and Jahaj, E. and Protopapas, K. and Leontis, K. and Rapti, V. and Kotanidou, A. and Antoniadou, A. and Poulakou, G. and Paraskevis, D. and Sypsa, V. and Hatzakis, A.",
    journal = "PLOS ONE",
    year = "2020",
    volume = "15",
    number = "12 December",
    publisher = "Public Library of Science",
    doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0243025",
    keywords = "immunoglobulin G antibody;  immunoglobulin M antibody;  SARS-CoV-2 antibody, adult;  aged;  Article;  controlled study;  coronavirus disease 2019;  COVID-19 testing;  cross-sectional study;  disease burden;  female;  Greece;  health care personnel;  heart surgery;  hospital infection;  human;  infection risk;  intermethod comparison;  major clinical study;  male;  middle aged;  patient care;  point of care testing;  risk assessment;  risk factor;  seroprevalence;  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2;  statistical significance;  tertiary care center;  university hospital;  adolescent;  diagnosis;  epidemiology;  health care personnel, Adolescent;  Adult;  Aged;  COVID-19;  COVID-19 Serological Testing;  Female;  Greece;  Health Personnel;  Humans;  Male;  Middle Aged",
    abstract = "Introduction Greece is a country with limited spread of SARS-CoV-2 and cumulative infection attack rate of 0.12% (95% CI 0.06–0.26). Health care workers (HCWs) are a well-recognized risk group for COVID-19. The study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in a nosocomial setting and assess potential risk factors. Methods HCWs from two hospitals participated in the study. Hospital-1 was a tertiary university affiliated center, involved in the care of COVID-19 patients while hospital-2 was a tertiary specialized cardiac surgery center not involved in the care of these patients. A validated, CE, rapid, IgM/IgG antibody point-of-care test was used. Comparative performance with a reference globally available assay was assessed. Results 1,495 individuals consented to participate (response rate 77%). The anti-SARS-CoV-2 weighted prevalence was 1.26% (95% CI 0.43, 3.26) overall and 0.53% (95% CI 0.06, 2.78) and 2.70% (95% CI 0.57, 9.19) in hospital-1 and hospital-2, respectively although the study was underpowered to detect statistically significant differences. The overall, hospital-1, and hospital-2 seroprevalence was 10, 4 and 22 times higher than the estimated infection attack rate in general population, respectively. Suboptimal use of personal protective equipment was noted in both hospitals. Conclusions These data have implications for the preparedness of a second wave of COVID-19 epidemic, given the low burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection rate, in concordance with national projections. © 2020 Psichogiou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited."
}