Prevalenza di anticorpi anti-SARS-CoV-2 in una popolazione di operatori sanitari e amministrativi di un ospedale toscano

Contributo scientifico a cura di:
Fiamma Balboni, Laboratorio Analisi Istituto Fiorentino di Cura e Assistenza IFCA, Firenze
Andrea Baldini, U.O. Ortopedia Istituto Fiorentino di Cura e Assistenza IFCA, Firenze
Guglielmo Forgeschi, Direzione Aziendale Istituto Fiorentino di Cura e Assistenza IFCA, Firenze
Francesca Sequi, Settore Qualità Istituto Fiorentino di Cura e Assistenza IFCA, Firenze
Stefania Burbui, Laboratorio Analisi Istituto Fiorentino di Cura e Assistenza IFCA, Firenze
Giuseppe Lippi, Sezione di Biochimica Clinica, Università degli Studi di Verona, Verona

ABSTRACT
Serum prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody in a population of  health care and administrative workers ina hospital in Tuscany (Italy).
Introduction: the challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic forced scientific community to focus their efforts to improvediagnosis and management of patients. The recognized gold standard for the diagnosis is the reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on orofaringeal and nasal swabs. Recently, the antibody detection surge toattention with the aim of estimating the epidemiological impact of the pandemic.
Methods: the Screen Test COVID-19 2019-nCov IgG/IgM (Screen Italia, Perugia, Italy) an immunochromatographiclateral flow test has been used to assess the immunological status of 356 asymptomatic healthcare andadministrative workers of our hospital.
Results: only 26 (7.3%) of the screened subjects was positive for IgM and/or IgG anti SARS-CoV-2 virus although thebeginning of the epidemic in Tuscany can be dated two months before. The RT-PCR performed on these samplesrevealed that only 5 (19%) of them were positive for viral RNA on orofaringeal swab.
Conclusions: antibody detection will be of great value in the near future to assess global pandemic impact onpopulation and to drive health policy for the lock down release.