Differences in seroprevalence between epicenter and non-epicenter areas of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea

Hye Won Jeong, Hyun Ha Chang, Eun Ji Kim, Yu Kyung Kim, Se Mi Kim, Eun Ha Kim, Young Il Kim, Mark Anthony B. Casel, Seong Gyu Kim, Rare Rollon, Seung Gyu Jang, Kwang Min Yu, Hee Sung Kim, Hee Sue Park, Su Jin Park, Yong Dae Kim, Eung Gook Kim, Young Ki Choi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

To compare the standardized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroprevalence of high epicenter region with non-epicenter region, serological studies were performed with a total of 3,268 sera from Daegu City and 3,981 sera from Chungbuk Province. Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for SARS-CoV-2 IgG results showed a high seroprevalence rate in the Daegu City (epicenter) compared with a non-epicenter area (Chungbuk Province) (1.27% vs. 0.91%, P = 0.0358). It is noteworthy that the highest seroprevalence in Daegu City was found in elderly patients (70’s) whereas young adult patients (20’s) in Chungbuk Province showed the highest seroprevalence. Neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers were found in three samples from Daegu City (3/3, 268, 0.09%) while none of the samples from Chungbuk Province were NAb positive. These results demonstrated that even following the large outbreak, the seropositive rate of SARS-CoV-2 in the general population remained low in South Korea.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)530-533
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Microbiology
Volume59
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • South Korea
  • epicenter
  • seroprevalence

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