Persisting Antibody Response to SARS-CoV-2 in a Local Austrian Population

Dennis Ladage; Delia Rösgen; Clemens Schreiner; Dorothee Ladage; Christoph Adler; Oliver Harzer; Ralf J Braun

doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.653630

Persisting Antibody Response to SARS-CoV-2 in a Local Austrian Population

Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Jun 17:8:653630. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.653630. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Dennis Ladage^{1

2

3}, Delia Rösgen^{1

4}, Clemens Schreiner^{1

4}, Dorothee Ladage¹, Christoph Adler^{1

2

5}, Oliver Harzer^{6

7}, Ralf J Braun⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Danube Private University, Krems an der Donau, Austria.
² Heart Center, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
³ Department of Pneumology, Kliniken Maria Hilf, Moenchengladbach, Germany.
⁴ Research Division for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Danube Private University, Krems an der Donau, Austria.
⁵ Fire Department City of Cologne, Institute for Security Science and Rescue Technology, Cologne, Germany.
⁶ Center of Biosciences, Danube Private University, Krems an der Donau, Austria.
⁷ Bioscientia, Institute of Medical Diagnostics, Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a global pandemic recently. The prevalence and persistence of antibodies following a peak SARS-CoV-2 infection provides insights into the potential for some level of population immunity. In June 2020, we succeeded in testing almost half of the population of an Austrian town with a higher incidence of COVID-19 infection. We performed a follow-up study to reassess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA and IgG antibodies with 68 participants of the previous study. We found that the prevalence of IgG or IgA antibodies remained remarkably stable, with 84% of our cohort prevailing SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies (only a slight decrease from 93% 4 months before). In most patients with confirmed COVID-19 seroconversion potentially provides immunity to reinfection. Our results suggest a stable antibody response observed for at least 6 months post-infection with implications for developing strategies for testing and protecting the population.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antibody; population; serotype.