TY - JOUR A1 - Reusch, Julia A1 - Wagenhäuser, Isabell A1 - Gabel, Alexander A1 - Eggestein, Annika A1 - Höhn, Anna A1 - Lâm, Thiên-Trí A1 - Frey, Anna A1 - Schubert-Unkmeir, Alexandra A1 - Dölken, Lars A1 - Frantz, Stefan A1 - Kurzai, Oliver A1 - Vogel, Ulrich A1 - Krone, Manuel A1 - Petri, Nils T1 - Influencing factors of anti-SARS-CoV-2-spike-IgG antibody titers in healthcare workers: A cross-section study JF - Journal of Medical Virology N2 - Against the background of the current COVID-19 infection dynamics with its rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC), the immunity and the vaccine prevention of healthcare workers (HCWs) against SARS-CoV-2 continues to be of high importance. This observational cross-section study assesses factors influencing the level of anti-SARS-CoV-2-spike IgG after SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination. One thousand seven hundred and fifty HCWs were recruited meeting the following inclusion criteria: age ≥18 years, PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection convalescence and/or at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination. anti-SARS-CoV-2-spike IgG titers were determined by SERION ELISA agile SARS-CoV-2 IgG. Mean anti-SARS-CoV-2-spike IgG levels increased significantly by number of COVID-19 vaccinations (92.2 BAU/ml for single, 140.9 BAU/ml for twice and 1144.3 BAU/ml for threefold vaccination). Hybrid COVID-19 immunized respondents (after infection and vaccination) had significantly higher antibody titers compared with convalescent only HCWs. Anti-SARS-CoV-2-spike IgG titers declined significantly with time after the second vaccination. Smoking and high age were associated with lower titers. Both recovered and vaccinated HCWs presented a predominantly good humoral immune response. Smoking and higher age limited the humoral SARS-CoV-2 immunity, adding to the risk of severe infections within this already health impaired collective. KW - anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2‐spike IgG KW - seroprevalence KW - SARS‐CoV‐2 infection KW - healthcare workers KW - COVID‐19 vaccination Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-318659 VL - 95 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krüger, Sören A1 - Leskien, Miriam A1 - Schuller, Patricia A1 - Prifert, Christiane A1 - Weißbrich, Benedikt A1 - Vogel, Ulrich A1 - Krone, Manuel T1 - Performance and feasibility of universal PCR admission screening for SARS‐CoV‐2 in a German tertiary care hospital JF - Journal of Medical Virology N2 - Anamnestic screening of symptoms and contact history is applied to identify coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) patients on admission. However, asymptomatic and presymptomatic patients remain undetected although the viral load may be high. In this retrospective cohort study, all hospitalized patients who received polymerase chain reaction (PCR) admission testing from March 26th until May 24th, 2020 were included. Data on COVID‐19‐specific symptoms and contact history to COVID‐19 cases were retrospectively extracted from patient files and from contact tracing notes. The compliance to the universal testing protocol was high with 90%. Out of 6940 tested patients, 27 new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 infections (0.4%) were detected. Seven of those COVID‐19 cases (26% of all new cases) were asymptomatic and had no positive contact history, but were identified through a positive PCR test. The number needed to identify an asymptomatic patient was 425 in the first wave of the epidemic, 1218 in the low incidence phase. The specificity of the method was above 99.9%. Universal PCR testing was highly accepted by staff as demonstrated by high compliance. The costs to detect one asymptomatic case in future studies need to be traded off against the costs and damage caused by potential outbreaks of COVID‐19. KW - admission screening KW - COVID‐19 KW - infection control KW - SARS‐CoV‐2 KW - testing strategy Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-238971 VL - 93 IS - 5 SP - 2890 EP - 2898 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlesinger, Tobias A1 - Weißbrich, Benedikt A1 - Wedekink, Florian A1 - Notz, Quirin A1 - Herrmann, Johannes A1 - Krone, Manuel A1 - Sitter, Magdalena A1 - Schmid, Benedikt A1 - Kredel, Markus A1 - Stumpner, Jan A1 - Dölken, Lars A1 - Wischhusen, Jörg A1 - Kranke, Peter A1 - Meybohm, Patrick A1 - Lotz, Christpher T1 - Biodistribution and serologic response in SARS-CoV-2 induced ARDS: A cohort study JF - PLoS One N2 - Background The viral load and tissue distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain important questions. The current study investigated SARS-CoV-2 viral load, biodistribution and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody formation in patients suffering from severe corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods This is a retrospective single-center study in 23 patients with COVID-19-induced ARDS. Data were collected within routine intensive care. SARS-CoV-2 viral load was assessed via reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Overall, 478 virology samples were taken. Anti-SARS-CoV-2-Spike-receptor binding domain (RBD) antibody detection of blood samples was performed with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Most patients (91%) suffered from severe ARDS during ICU treatment with a 30-day mortality of 30%. None of the patients received antiviral treatment. Tracheal aspirates tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in 100% of the cases, oropharyngeal swabs only in 77%. Blood samples were positive in 26% of the patients. No difference of viral load was found in tracheal or blood samples with regard to 30-day survival or disease severity. SARS-CoV-2 was never found in dialysate. Serologic testing revealed significantly lower concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing IgM and IgA antibodies in survivors compared to non-survivors (p = 0.009). Conclusions COVID-19 induced ARDS is accompanied by a high viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in tracheal aspirates, which remained detectable in the majority throughout intensive care treatment. Remarkably, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was never detected in dialysate even in patients with RNAemia. Viral load or the buildup of neutralizing antibodies was not associated with 30-day survival or disease severity. KW - viral load Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-231348 VL - 15, 2020 IS - 11 ER -