High Seroprevalence of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG among Inhabitants of Sakaka City, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 26
• Main Authors: Taha, Ahmed E, Alduraywish, Abdulrahman A, Almaeen, Abdulrahman H, El-Metwally, Tarek H, Alayyaf, Mohammad, Mallick, Ayesha, Abouelkheir, Mohamed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.12.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Antibodies; Asymptomatic; Collaboration; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Data collection; Demographics; Disease control; Disease transmission; Epidemics; immunity; Immunoassay; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin M; Immunoglobulins; Infections; Infectious diseases; Inhabitants; Medical research; Middle East respiratory syndrome; Pandemics; prevalence; Respiratory diseases; SARS-CoV-2; Serology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sex differences; Signs and symptoms; Sociodemographics; Statistical analysis; Vaccination; Vaccines; Variables; Viral diseases; Viruses; Saudi Arabia; COVID-19; prevalence; SARS-CoV-2; antibodies; immunity; vaccination
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines11010026

(1) Backgrounds and Objectives: The global battle to contain the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still ongoing. This cross-sectional study aimed to detect the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG among previously symptomatic/asymptomatic and vaccinated/unvaccinated inhabitants of Sakaka City, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia. (2) Methods: Blood samples of 400 participants were tested for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG using colloidal gold immuno-chromatography lateral flow immunoassay cards. (3) Results: The prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG positivity was 45.8% and 42.3%, respectively. Statistically significant correlations (p < 0.05) were found between the previous RT-PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2-RNA and positivity for IgM and/or IgG. The highest seroprevalence of IgM and IgG were detected among smokers, participants aged ≥40 years, and patients with chronic diseases. Although most of the participants (58.5%) did not previously experience COVID-19 like symptoms, the anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG seropositivity amongst them was 49.1% and 25.6%, respectively, with higher seroprevalence among males than females. At the time of the study, the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination rate at our locality in Saudi Arabia was 43.8% with statistically significant correlation (p < 0.001) between being vaccinated and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM and/or IgG positivity, with more positivity after receiving the second vaccine dose. (4) Conclusions: Public assessment reflects the real scale of the disease exposure among the community and helps in identifying the asymptomatic carriers that constitute a major problem for controlling the SARS-CoV-2. To limit the spread of the virus, rigorous implementation of large-scale SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and anti-SARS-CoV-2 serological testing strategies should be empowered.