tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
PLoS One
. 2024 Jul 11;19(7):e0305285.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305285. eCollection 2024. Seroepidemiological assessment of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among 25 and 28 year-old adult women in Finland between March 2020-June 2022
Penelope Gray[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Tiina Eriksson[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lovisa Skoglund[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Camilla Lagheden[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ceke Hellström[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Elisa Pin[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Anna Suomenrinne-Nordvik[SUP] 1 2 4 [/SUP], Ville N Pimenoff[SUP] 1 5 6 [/SUP], Peter Nilsson[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Joakim Dillner[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Matti Lehtinen[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Introduction: Serological surveys of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 are instrumental to understanding the course of the COVID-19 epidemic. We evaluate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among young adult Finnish females residing in 25 communities all over Finland from 2020 until 2022.
Methods: Between 1st March 2020 and 30th June 2022, 3589 blood samples were collected from 3583 women born in 1992-95 when aged 25 or 28 years old attending the follow-up of an ongoing population-based trial of cervical screening strategies. The crude and population standardized SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was measured using nucleocapsid (induced by infection) and spike wild-type (WT) protein (induced both by infection and by vaccination) antigens over time and stratified by place of residence (inside or outside the Helsinki metropolitan region).
Results: During 2020 (before vaccinations), spike-WT and nucleocapsid IgG antibodies followed each other closely, at very low levels (<5%). Spike-WT seropositivity increased rapidly concomitant with mass vaccinations in 2021 and reached 96.3% in the 2nd quartile of 2022. Antibodies to nucleocapsid IgG remained relatively infrequent throughput 2020-2021, increasing rapidly in the 1st and 2nd quartiles of 2022 (to 19.7% and 56.6% respectively). The nucleocapsid IgG seropositivity increased more profoundly in participants residing in the Helsinki metropolitan region (4.5%, 8.4% and 43.9% in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively) compared to those residing in communities outside the capital region (4.5%, 4.3% and 34.7%).
Conclusions: Low SARS-CoV-2 infection-related seroprevalence during 2020-2021 suggest a comparatively successful infection control. Antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 WT spike protein became extremely common among young women by the end of 2021, in line with the high uptake of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Finally, the rapid increase of seroprevalences to the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein during the first and second quartile of 2022, imply a high incidence of infections with SARS-CoV-2 variants able to escape vaccine-induced protection.
. 2024 Jul 11;19(7):e0305285.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305285. eCollection 2024. Seroepidemiological assessment of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among 25 and 28 year-old adult women in Finland between March 2020-June 2022
Penelope Gray[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Tiina Eriksson[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lovisa Skoglund[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Camilla Lagheden[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ceke Hellström[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Elisa Pin[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Anna Suomenrinne-Nordvik[SUP] 1 2 4 [/SUP], Ville N Pimenoff[SUP] 1 5 6 [/SUP], Peter Nilsson[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Joakim Dillner[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Matti Lehtinen[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 38990856
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305285
Introduction: Serological surveys of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 are instrumental to understanding the course of the COVID-19 epidemic. We evaluate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among young adult Finnish females residing in 25 communities all over Finland from 2020 until 2022.
Methods: Between 1st March 2020 and 30th June 2022, 3589 blood samples were collected from 3583 women born in 1992-95 when aged 25 or 28 years old attending the follow-up of an ongoing population-based trial of cervical screening strategies. The crude and population standardized SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was measured using nucleocapsid (induced by infection) and spike wild-type (WT) protein (induced both by infection and by vaccination) antigens over time and stratified by place of residence (inside or outside the Helsinki metropolitan region).
Results: During 2020 (before vaccinations), spike-WT and nucleocapsid IgG antibodies followed each other closely, at very low levels (<5%). Spike-WT seropositivity increased rapidly concomitant with mass vaccinations in 2021 and reached 96.3% in the 2nd quartile of 2022. Antibodies to nucleocapsid IgG remained relatively infrequent throughput 2020-2021, increasing rapidly in the 1st and 2nd quartiles of 2022 (to 19.7% and 56.6% respectively). The nucleocapsid IgG seropositivity increased more profoundly in participants residing in the Helsinki metropolitan region (4.5%, 8.4% and 43.9% in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively) compared to those residing in communities outside the capital region (4.5%, 4.3% and 34.7%).
Conclusions: Low SARS-CoV-2 infection-related seroprevalence during 2020-2021 suggest a comparatively successful infection control. Antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 WT spike protein became extremely common among young women by the end of 2021, in line with the high uptake of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Finally, the rapid increase of seroprevalences to the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein during the first and second quartile of 2022, imply a high incidence of infections with SARS-CoV-2 variants able to escape vaccine-induced protection.