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

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.... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Kawtar El Abdellati
Violette Coppens
Jobbe Goossens
Heidi Theeten
Pierre Van Damme
Ann Berens
Manuel Morrens
Livia De Picker
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Reihe/Periodikum: BJPsych Open, Vol 7 (2021)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Cambridge University Press
Schlagwörter: Psychiatric nursing / COVID-19 / serology testing / mental health services / infection prevention / Psychiatry / RC435-571
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28972186
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.172

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.