Hospital-wide SARS-CoV-2 antibody screening of staff in a university psychiatric centre in Belgium

Abstract: In this first serosurvey among psychiatric healthcare providers, only 3.2% of a sample of 431 staff members of a Belgian University Psychiatric Centre, screened 3-17 June 2020, had SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G antibodies, which is considerably lower compared with both the general population and other healthcare workers in Belgium. The low seroprevalence was unexpected, given the limited availability of personal protective equipment and the high amount of COVID-19 symptoms reported by staff members. Importantly, exposure at home predicted the presence of antibodies, but exposure at wor... Mehr ...

Verfasser: El Abdellati, Kawtar
Coppens, Violette
Goossens, Jobbe
Theeten, Heidi
van Damme, Pierre
Berens, Ann
Morrens, Manuel
De Picker, Livia
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Schlagwörter: Human medicine
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28956551
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1760790151162165141

Abstract: In this first serosurvey among psychiatric healthcare providers, only 3.2% of a sample of 431 staff members of a Belgian University Psychiatric Centre, screened 3-17 June 2020, had SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G antibodies, which is considerably lower compared with both the general population and other healthcare workers in Belgium. The low seroprevalence was unexpected, given the limited availability of personal protective equipment and the high amount of COVID-19 symptoms reported by staff members. Importantly, exposure at home predicted the presence of antibodies, but exposure at work did not. Measures to prevent transmission from staff to patients are warranted in psychiatric facilities.