<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:creator>Milani, Gregorio P.</dc:creator>
  <dc:creator>Bianchetti, Mario G.</dc:creator>
  <dc:creator>Togni, Giuseppe</dc:creator>
  <dc:creator>Schoenenberger, Andreas W.</dc:creator>
  <dc:creator>Muggli, Franco</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2021</dc:date>
  <dc:description xmlns:ns0="xml" ns0:lang="en">It is assumed that healthcare workers are at the highest risk to be infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, few data  from healthcare workers who do not primarily take care of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection support this assumption. We investigated the prevalence of  immunoglobulin G (Ig G) against SARS-CoV-2 among healthcare workers who do not primarily take care of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and the general  population in a well-defined geographical area. The first part of the study was conducted in May 2020 in Val Mesolcina (Southern Switzerland), a valley with ~8000  inhabitants. All healthcare workers were invited. All participants (n = 488) of the Swiss Longitudinal Cohort Study (SWICOS), a cohort representative of the general  population, were also invited. Circulating Ig G against spike protein subunit 1 of SARS-CoV-2 were tested in each subject. Subjects with positive Ig G were tested  again after 6 months. The condition of being a healthcare worker, rather than a part of the general population, was tested as a predictor of seroprevalence positivity by  both simple and multiple (adjusted for age and sex) logistic regression. Eleven (2.6%) of the 423 SWICOS participants and 46 (16%) out of 289 healthcare workers  were positive for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. The seroprevalence OR was 7.01 (95% CI: 3.53–15.47) for healthcare workers as compared to SWICOS  participants. After adjusting for age and gender, the seroprevalence OR was 5.13 (95% CI: 2.54–10.40). About three quarters of the subjects in the SWICOS (73%)  and in healthcare (79%) group with a previous positive serology still presented positive Ig G against the SARS-CoV-2 after 6 months. The present seroprevalence data  point out that the SARS-CoV-2 infection is seven times higher among healthcare workers than in the general population of Val Mesolcina. Efforts to effectively protect  all the healthcare personnel are needed.</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>https://localhost:5000/ark:/12658/srd1319189</dc:identifier>
  <dc:identifier>https://susi.usi.ch/global/documents/319189</dc:identifier>
  <dc:identifier>https://susi.usi.ch/documents/319189/files/bianchetti_p_2021.pdf</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>eng</dc:language>
  <dc:relation>info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3390/pathogens10040465</dc:relation>
  <dc:relation>info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/ark/12658/srd1319189</dc:relation>
  <dc:rights>info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess</dc:rights>
  <dc:rights>CC BY</dc:rights>
  <dc:source>Pathogens. - MDPI. - 2021, vol. 10, no. 4, p. 6</dc:source>
  <dc:subject xmlns:ns1="xml" ns1:lang="en">COVID19</dc:subject>
  <dc:subject xmlns:ns2="xml" ns2:lang="en">SARS-CoV-2</dc:subject>
  <dc:subject xmlns:ns3="xml" ns3:lang="en">Infection risk</dc:subject>
  <dc:subject xmlns:ns4="xml" ns4:lang="en">Healthcare providers</dc:subject>
  <dc:subject xmlns:ns5="xml" ns5:lang="en">Physicians</dc:subject>
  <dc:subject>info:eu-repo/classification/udc/61</dc:subject>
  <dc:title xmlns:ns6="xml" ns6:lang="en">SARS-CoV-2 Ig G among HealthcareWorkers and the General Population</dc:title>
  <dc:type>http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>