Seroprevalence of immunoglobulin M and G antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in China
Xin Xu, Jian Sun, Sheng Nie, Huiyuan Li, Yaozhong Kong, Min Liang, Jinlin Hou, Xianzhong Huang, Dongfeng Li, Tean Ma, Jiaqing Peng, Shikui Gao, Yong Shao, Hong Zhu, Johnson Yiu-Nam Lau, Guangyu Wang, Chunbao Xie, Li Jiang, Ailong Huang, Zhenglin Yang, Kang Zhang & Fan Fan Hou
Nature Medicine (2020)
Abstract
Detection of asymptomatic or subclinical novel human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical for understanding the overall prevalence and infection potential of COVID-19. To estimate the cumulative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in China, we evaluated the host serologic response, measured by the levels of immunoglobulins M and G in 17,368 individuals, in the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, and geographic regions in the country, during the period from 9 March 2020 to 10 April 2020. In our cohorts, the seropositivity in Wuhan varied between 3.2% and 3.8% in different subcohorts. Seroposivity progressively decreased in other cities as the distance to the epicenter increased.