tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
PLoS One
. 2024 Sep 18;19(9):e0300555.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300555. eCollection 2024. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in Australian children: A cross-sectional study
Archana Koirala[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jocelynne McRae[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Philip N Britton[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Marnie Downes[SUP] 5 6 [/SUP], Shayal A Prasad[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Suellen Nicholson[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Noni E Winkler[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Matthew V N O'Sullivan[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Fatima Gondalwala[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Cecile Castellano[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Emma Carey[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alexandra Hendry[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Nigel Crawford[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Ushma Wadia[SUP] 10 11 [/SUP], Peter Richmond[SUP] 10 11 [/SUP], Helen S Marshall[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Julia E Clark[SUP] 13 14 [/SUP], Joshua R Francis[SUP] 15 16 [/SUP], Jeremy Carr[SUP] 17 18 [/SUP], Adam Bartlett[SUP] 19 [/SUP], Brendan McMullan[SUP] 19 [/SUP], Justin Skowno[SUP] 20 [/SUP], Donald Hannah[SUP] 20 [/SUP], Andrew Davidson[SUP] 21 [/SUP], Britta S von Ungern-Sternberg[SUP] 22 23 [/SUP], Paul Lee-Archer[SUP] 24 25 [/SUP], Laura L Burgoyne[SUP] 26 [/SUP], Edith B Waugh[SUP] 27 [/SUP], John B Carlin[SUP] 5 6 [/SUP], Zin Naing[SUP] 28 [/SUP], Nicole Kerly[SUP] 19 [/SUP], Alissa McMinn[SUP] 29 [/SUP], Guillian Hunter[SUP] 17 [/SUP], Christine Heath[SUP] 30 [/SUP], Natascha D'Angelo[SUP] 30 [/SUP], Carolyn Finucane[SUP] 31 [/SUP], Laura A Francis[SUP] 16 [/SUP], Sonia Dougherty[SUP] 32 [/SUP], William Rawlinson[SUP] 28 [/SUP], Theo Karapanagiotidis[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Natalie Cain[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Rianne Brizuela[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Christopher C Blyth[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Nicholas Wood[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Kristine Macartney[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Background: Following reduction of public health and social measures concurrent with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron emergence in late 2021 in Australia, COVID-19 case notification rates rose rapidly. As rates of direct viral testing and reporting dropped, true infection rates were most likely to be underestimated.
Objective: To better understand infection rates and immunity in this population, we aimed to estimate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Australians aged 0-19 years.
Methods: We conducted a national cross sectional serosurvey from June 1, 2022, to August 31, 2022, in children aged 0-19 years undergoing an anesthetic procedure at eight tertiary pediatric hospitals. Participant questionnaires were administered, and blood samples tested using the Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 total spike and nucleocapsid antibody assays. Spike and nucleocapsid seroprevalence adjusted for geographic and socioeconomic imbalances in the participant sample compared to the Australian population was estimated using multilevel regression and poststratification within a Bayesian framework.
Results: Blood was collected from 2,046 participants (median age: 6.6 years). The overall adjusted seroprevalence of spike-antibody was 92.1% (95% credible interval (CrI) 91.0-93.3%) and nucleocapsid-antibody was 67.0% (95% CrI 64.6-69.3). In unvaccinated children spike and nucleocapsid antibody seroprevalences were 84.2% (95% CrI 81.9-86.5) and 67.1% (95%CrI 64.0-69.8), respectively. Seroprevalence was similar across geographic remoteness index and socioeconomic quintiles. Nucleocapsid antibody seroprevalence increased with age while the point seroprevalence of the spike antibody seroprevalence decreased in the first year of life and then increased to 97.8 (95% Crl 96.1-99.2) by 12-15 years of age.
Conclusion: Most Australian children and adolescents aged 0-19 years, across all jurisdictions were infected with SARS-CoV-2 by August 2022, suggesting rapid and uniform spread across the population in a very short time period. High seropositivity in unvaccinated children informed COVID-19 vaccine recommendations in Australia.
. 2024 Sep 18;19(9):e0300555.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300555. eCollection 2024. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in Australian children: A cross-sectional study
Archana Koirala[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Jocelynne McRae[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Philip N Britton[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Marnie Downes[SUP] 5 6 [/SUP], Shayal A Prasad[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Suellen Nicholson[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Noni E Winkler[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Matthew V N O'Sullivan[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Fatima Gondalwala[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Cecile Castellano[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Emma Carey[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Alexandra Hendry[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Nigel Crawford[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Ushma Wadia[SUP] 10 11 [/SUP], Peter Richmond[SUP] 10 11 [/SUP], Helen S Marshall[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Julia E Clark[SUP] 13 14 [/SUP], Joshua R Francis[SUP] 15 16 [/SUP], Jeremy Carr[SUP] 17 18 [/SUP], Adam Bartlett[SUP] 19 [/SUP], Brendan McMullan[SUP] 19 [/SUP], Justin Skowno[SUP] 20 [/SUP], Donald Hannah[SUP] 20 [/SUP], Andrew Davidson[SUP] 21 [/SUP], Britta S von Ungern-Sternberg[SUP] 22 23 [/SUP], Paul Lee-Archer[SUP] 24 25 [/SUP], Laura L Burgoyne[SUP] 26 [/SUP], Edith B Waugh[SUP] 27 [/SUP], John B Carlin[SUP] 5 6 [/SUP], Zin Naing[SUP] 28 [/SUP], Nicole Kerly[SUP] 19 [/SUP], Alissa McMinn[SUP] 29 [/SUP], Guillian Hunter[SUP] 17 [/SUP], Christine Heath[SUP] 30 [/SUP], Natascha D'Angelo[SUP] 30 [/SUP], Carolyn Finucane[SUP] 31 [/SUP], Laura A Francis[SUP] 16 [/SUP], Sonia Dougherty[SUP] 32 [/SUP], William Rawlinson[SUP] 28 [/SUP], Theo Karapanagiotidis[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Natalie Cain[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Rianne Brizuela[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Christopher C Blyth[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Nicholas Wood[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Kristine Macartney[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 39292730
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300555
Background: Following reduction of public health and social measures concurrent with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron emergence in late 2021 in Australia, COVID-19 case notification rates rose rapidly. As rates of direct viral testing and reporting dropped, true infection rates were most likely to be underestimated.
Objective: To better understand infection rates and immunity in this population, we aimed to estimate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Australians aged 0-19 years.
Methods: We conducted a national cross sectional serosurvey from June 1, 2022, to August 31, 2022, in children aged 0-19 years undergoing an anesthetic procedure at eight tertiary pediatric hospitals. Participant questionnaires were administered, and blood samples tested using the Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 total spike and nucleocapsid antibody assays. Spike and nucleocapsid seroprevalence adjusted for geographic and socioeconomic imbalances in the participant sample compared to the Australian population was estimated using multilevel regression and poststratification within a Bayesian framework.
Results: Blood was collected from 2,046 participants (median age: 6.6 years). The overall adjusted seroprevalence of spike-antibody was 92.1% (95% credible interval (CrI) 91.0-93.3%) and nucleocapsid-antibody was 67.0% (95% CrI 64.6-69.3). In unvaccinated children spike and nucleocapsid antibody seroprevalences were 84.2% (95% CrI 81.9-86.5) and 67.1% (95%CrI 64.0-69.8), respectively. Seroprevalence was similar across geographic remoteness index and socioeconomic quintiles. Nucleocapsid antibody seroprevalence increased with age while the point seroprevalence of the spike antibody seroprevalence decreased in the first year of life and then increased to 97.8 (95% Crl 96.1-99.2) by 12-15 years of age.
Conclusion: Most Australian children and adolescents aged 0-19 years, across all jurisdictions were infected with SARS-CoV-2 by August 2022, suggesting rapid and uniform spread across the population in a very short time period. High seropositivity in unvaccinated children informed COVID-19 vaccine recommendations in Australia.