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article_detail
Date Published: 06/07/2020
ARCHIVED - Only 1.6 per cent of Murcians have Covid antibodies; the lowest level on mainland Spain
The Region of Murcia, the second lowest seroprevalence in Spain,and the lowest on the mainland
The idea of being able to gain herd immunity against the Covid virus in Spain is gradually being shown to be unrealistic following a three part study run by the National Center for Epidemiology and Carlos III Health Institute which began on April 27th and was analysed in three stages.
However, it has given researchers an interesting insight into the percentage of the population to have contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic as well as revealing that antibodies appear to remain in the blood for a relatively short period of time in many cases.
On Monday Dr. Marina Pollán, director of the National Center for Epidemiology in Spain, presented the study data which confirms that only 5.2% of the Spanish population has developed antibodies against the covid virus, the same result as in the second study carried out before the state of emergency concluded.
Doubts about the duration of immunity against the coronavirus persist and have in fact increased after data from the third round of the seroprevalence study carried out by the Ministry of Health was processed, indicating that 14.4% of the cases that tested positive in the first round no longer had detectable antibodies six weeks later.
"Not having antibodies does not mean that these people are not immunologically protected," said Pollán, who admitted that "the tools we are using to detect antibodies are not perfect."
35 883 households were selected from municipal data using two-stage random sampling stratified by province and municipality size, with all residents invited to participate. From April 27th to May 11th, 2020, 61 075 participants (75·1% of all contacted individuals within selected households) answered a questionnaire on history of symptoms compatible with COVID-19 and risk factors, received a point-of-care antibody test, and, if agreed, donated a blood sample for additional testing with a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay.
Preliminary data from the first two stages of the study had already confirmed that there is considerable geographic variability in the percentage of seroprevalence across the country. Some provinces show 2-3 percent of inhabitants within antibodies, while others exceed 10 percent, the highest percentages registering in the central areas of the peninsula. The percentage is also higher in population centers with more than 100,000 inhabitants compared to municipalities with a smaller population (6% and 4%, respectively).
Andalusia has 3 percent with Covid-19 antibodies Aragon 4.8 percent; Asturias 1.9 percent; e Balearic Islands 1.4 percent; Canary Islands 2.3 percent; Cantabria 3.7 percent; Castilla y León 7.8 percent; Castilla-La Mancha 9.6 percent; Catalonia 5.9 percent; Valencian Community 2.4 percent; Extremadura 3.1 percent; Galicia 1.9 percent; Madrid 11.7 percent; Murcia Region, 1.6 percent; Navarra 6.6 percent; Basque Country 3.6 percent; La Rioja 3.7 percent; Ceuta 0.7 percent; and Melilla 3.4 percent.
Seronegativization - the loss of antibodies after testing positive in previous weeks - was more frequent in asymptomatic people (those who didn´t actually show any symptoms but tested positive) and much less frequent in participants with a positive CRP ( C-reactive protein (CRP) is a blood test marker for inflammation in the body. CRP is produced in the liver and its level is measured by testing the blood. CRP is classified as an acute phase reactant, which means that its levels will rise in response to inflammation) and in those who described a sudden loss of smell or taste, according to the study.
Raquel Yotti, director of the Carlos III Health Institute, says that the results are a "warning message" to those who have contracted the virus and believe that they now have immunity so no longer have to follow health recommendations and observe social distancing.
"The data highlights this uncertainty. I want to send a message of warning to those people who have overcome the virus and who may think they already have full immunity," she said.
A study developed by researchers from the Chongqing University of Medicine and recently published in Nature Medicine reinforced this argument by concluding that the antibodies generated naturally by the body against Covid-19 begin to decrease two to three months after contagion.
Dr. Pollán stressed that not having detectable antibodies was not synonymous with not having immunity to the coronavirus, given that "we know of diseases such as hepatitis in which the antibodies disappear but the cells that produce these antibodies have an immunological memory."
Otherwise, the data from the third round of the study confirms the results of the previous two sets of data, ruling out the possibility that natural group immunity (herd immunity) may be effective long-term in overcoming the pandemic, and 5.2% of the population has been infected with Covid-19.
In conclusion the report states; "The majority of the Spanish population is seronegative to SARS-CoV-2 infection, even in hotspot areas. Most PCR-confirmed cases have detectable antibodies, but a substantial proportion of people with symptoms compatible with COVID-19 did not have a PCR test and at least a third of infections determined by serology were asymptomatic. These results emphasise the need for maintaining public health measures to avoid a new epidemic wave".
Click to read a detailed article in English published by The Lancet
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