S. Naushin, V. Sardana, Rajat Ujjainiya, Nitin Bhatheja, Rintu Kutum, A. Bhaskar, S. Pradhan, S. Prakash, Raju Khan, B. S. Rawat, K. Tallapaka, M. Anumalla, G. Chandak, Amit Lahiri, Susanta Kar, S. R. Mulay, M. Mugale, Mrigank Srivastava, Shaziya Khan, Anjali Srivastava, Bhawna Tomar, M. Veerapandian, G. Venkatachalam, Selvamani Raja Vijayakumar, Ajay Agarwal, Dinesh Gupta, P. Halami, M. S. Peddha, G. Sundaram, R. P. Veeranna, Anirban Pal, V. K. Agarwal, A. K. Maurya, Ranvijay Kumar Singh, Ashoke K Raman, S. Anandasadagopan, P. Karuppanan, S. Venkatesan, H. K. Sardana, A. Kothari, Dhruv Batra, Anupma Thakur, D. Parihar, A. Saifi, Jasleen Kaur, Virendra Kumar, Avinash Mishra, Iranna Goger, G. Rayasam, Praveen Singh, R. Chakraborty, G. Chaturvedi, Pinreddy Karunakar, Rohit Yadav, Sunanda Singhmar, Dayanidhi Singh, Sharmistha Sarkar, Purbasha Bhattacharya, S. Acharya, Vandana Singh, Shweta Verma, Drishti Soni, Surabhi Seth, Shakshi Vashisht, S. Thakran, F. Fatima, A. Singh, Akanksha Sharma, Babita Sharma, Manikandan Subramanian, Y. Padwad, V. Hallan, V. Patial, Damanpreet Singh, N. V. Tirpude, P. Chakrabarti, S. K. Maity, D. Ganguly, Jit Sarkar, S. Ramakrishna, Balthu Narender Kumar, A Kiran Kumar, Sumit G Gandhi, Piyush Singh Jamwal, R. Chouhan, V. Jamwal, Nitika Kapoor, Debashish Ghosh, Ghanshyam Thakkar, U. Subudhi, Pradip Sen, S. Chaudhury, Rashmi Kumar, Pawan Gupta, A. Tuli, Deepak Sharma, Rajesh P. Ringe, Amarnarayan D, Mahesh Kulkarni, Dhanasekaran Shanmugam, M. Dharne, S. Dastager, Rakesh Joshi, Amita P. Patil, Sachin N. Mahajan, Abu Junaid Khan, Vasudev Wagh, Rakeshkumar Yadav, Ajinkya Khilari, Mayuri Bhadange, Arvindkumar H. Chaurasiya, Shabda E Kulsange, Krishna Khairnar, Shilpa Paranjape, J. Kalita, G. N. Sastry, Tridip Phukan, Prasenjit Manna, W. Romi, P. Bharali, Dibyajyoti Ozah, R. Sahu, Elapavalooru V.S.S.K. Babu, R. Sukumaran, Aiswarya R Nair, Prajeesh Kooloth-Valappil, Anoop Puthiyamadam, Adarsh Velayudhanpillai, Kalpana Chodankar, Samir R. Damare, Y. Madhavi, Ved Varun Aggarwal, Sumit Dahiya, Anurag Agrawal, D. Dash, S. Sengupta
medRxiv, 2021
Background: India has been amongst the most affected nations during the SARS CoV2 pandemic, with sparse data on country wide spread of asymptomatic infections and antibody persistence. This longitudinal cohort study was aimed to evaluate SARS CoV2 seropositivity rate as a marker of infection and evaluate temporal persistence of antibodies with neutralization capability and to infer possible risk factors for infection. Methods: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (CSIR) with its more than 40 laboratories and centers in urban and semi urban settings spread across the country piloted the pan country surveillance. 10427 adult individuals working in CSIR laboratories and their family members based on voluntary participation were assessed for antibody presence and stability was analyzed over 6 months utilizing qualitative Elecysys SARS CoV2 specific antibody kit and GENScript cPass SARS CoV2 Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit. Along with demographic information, possible risk factors were evaluated through self to be filled online forms with data acquired on blood group type, occupation type, addiction and habits including smoking and alcohol, diet preferences, medical history and transport type utilized. Symptom history and information on possible contact and compliance with COVID 19 universal precautions was also obtained. Findings:1058 individuals (10.14%) had antibodies against SARS CoV2. A follow up on 346 seropositive individuals after three months revealed stable to higher antibody levels against SARS CoV2 but declining plasma activity for neutralizing SARS CoV2 receptor binding domain and ACE2 interaction. A repeat sampling of 35 individuals, at six months, revealed declining antibody levels while the neutralizing activity remained stable compared to three months. Majority of seropositive individuals (75%) did not recall even one of nine symptoms since March 2020. Fever was the most common symptom with one fourth reporting loss of taste or smell. Significantly associated risks for seropositivity (Odds Ratio, 95% CI, p value) were observed with usage of public transport (1.79, 1.43 to 2*24, 2.81561x10-6), occupational responsibilities such as security, housekeeping personnel etc. (2.23, 1.92 to 2.59, 6.43969x10-26), non smokers (1.52, 1.16 to 1.99, 0.02) and non vegetarianism (1.67, 1.41 to 1.99, 3.03821x10-8). An iterative regression analysis was confirmatory and led to only modest changes to estimates. Predilections for seropositivity was noted with specific ABO blood groups; O was associated with a lower risk. Interpretation: In a first of its kind study from India, we report the seropositivity in a country wide cohort and identify variable susceptible associations for contacting infection. Serology and Neutralizing Antibody response provides much sought for general insights on the immune response to the virus among Indians and will be an important resource for designing vaccination strategies. Funding: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (CSIR)
Cited by 4 publications.
Field of study: Medicine