1. Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in an area of unrestricted viral circulation: Mass seroepidemiological screening in Castiglione d'Adda, Italy.
- Author
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Pagani, Gabriele, Giacomelli, Andrea, Conti, Federico, Bernacchia, Dario, Rondanin, Rossana, Prina, Andrea, Scolari, Vittore, Rizzo, Arianna, Beltrami, Martina, Caimi, Camilla, Gandolfi, Cecilia Eugenia, Castaldi, Silvana, Rivieccio, Bruno Alessandro, Buonanno, Giacomo, Marano, Giuseppe, Ottomano, Cosimo, Boracchi, Patrizia, Biganzoli, Elia, and Galli, Massimo
- Subjects
SARS-CoV-2 ,VIRAL antibodies - Abstract
Castiglione D'Adda is one of the municipalities more precociously and severely affected by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic in Lombardy. With our study we aimed to understand the diffusion of the infection by mass serological screening. We searched for SARS-CoV-2 IgGs in the entire population on a voluntary basis using lateral flow immunochromatographic tests (RICT) on capillary blood (rapid tests). We then performed chemioluminescent serological assays (CLIA) and naso-pharyngeal swabs (NPS) in a randomized representative sample and in each subject with a positive rapid test. Factors associated with RICT IgG positivity were assessed by uni- and multivariate logistic regression models. Out of the 4143 participants, 918 (22·2%) showed RICT IgG positivity. In multivariable analysis, IgG positivity increases with age, with a significant non-linear effect (p = 0·0404). We found 22 positive NPSs out of the 1330 performed. Albeit relevant, the IgG prevalence is lower than expected and suggests that a large part of the population remains susceptible to the infection. The observed differences in prevalence might reflect a different infection susceptibility by age group. A limited persistence of active infections could be found after several weeks after the epidemic peak in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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