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An editorial, published in the The BMJ, commented on whether antibody tests underestimate SARS-CoV-2 prevalence.
Dr Rupert Beale, Group Leader, Cell Biology of Infection Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, said:
“The authors correctly point out that serological assays for previous SARS-CoV-2 infection are typically characterised by their ability to detect previous symptomatic cases, and these are skewed towards more severe infections. Since severely infected patients on average mount stronger antibody responses than mildly infected patients, assays may slightly underestimate true seroprevalence. Serosurveys should account for this potential decrease in sensitivity. They should also use sensitivity data from independent validation of commercial tests. Entirely asymptomatic cases do mount detectable antibody responses however, so I do not think this is such a big concern. It’s possible that serosurveys slightly underestimate true seroprevalence.”
‘Are we underestimating seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2? Current antibody tests fail to identify people who had mild infections’ by Stephen Burgess et al. was published in the BMJ at 00:01 UK time on Thursday 3 September 2020.
Declared interests
None received.