High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of Schwaz
Complementing the adult seroprevalence data collected at the time of the rapid SARS-CoV-2 mass vaccination in the district of Schwaz in 2021, we set out to establish the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among the pediatric population of the district. A total of 369 children, mean age 9.9 (SD 3.4), parti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/10/2294 |
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| author | Teresa Harthaller Wegene Borena David Bante Helena Schäfer Oliver Strallhofer Thomas Zöggeler Eva Hochmuth Luiza Hoch Annika Rössler Dorothee von Laer Janine Kimpel Barbara Falkensammer |
| author_facet | Teresa Harthaller Wegene Borena David Bante Helena Schäfer Oliver Strallhofer Thomas Zöggeler Eva Hochmuth Luiza Hoch Annika Rössler Dorothee von Laer Janine Kimpel Barbara Falkensammer |
| author_sort | Teresa Harthaller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Complementing the adult seroprevalence data collected at the time of the rapid SARS-CoV-2 mass vaccination in the district of Schwaz in 2021, we set out to establish the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among the pediatric population of the district. A total of 369 children, mean age 9.9 (SD 3.4), participated in the study, answering a structured questionnaire on the history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, household contacts, symptoms and history of vaccination. We determined binding and neutralizing antibody levels using plasma samples provided. We estimated the overall prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general pediatric population at the time of the study using the census data from Statistik Austria and daily reports of officially confirmed cases. Excluding study participants who reported a history of PCR-confirmed infection, the age-standardized seroprevalence of previously unknown SARS-CoV-2 infection among the general pediatric population of the district was 27% (95% CI: 26.1–27.8). Adding this to the officially documented cases, the true overall prevalence was 32.8% (95% CI: 31.9–33.6) in contrast to the officially documented 8.0% (95% CI: 7.5–8.5) by June 2021. This translated into a proportion of 75.7% (95% CI: 74.4–77.0) of cases being officially undocumented, suggesting a high extent of silent SARS-CoV-2 infections in the pediatric population and possibly silent transmission. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:23:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ab83a87251d0488aa166b5972b3640ff |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:23:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-ab83a87251d0488aa166b5972b3640ff2023-11-24T03:10:57ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152022-10-011410229410.3390/v14102294High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of SchwazTeresa Harthaller0Wegene Borena1David Bante2Helena Schäfer3Oliver Strallhofer4Thomas Zöggeler5Eva Hochmuth6Luiza Hoch7Annika Rössler8Dorothee von Laer9Janine Kimpel10Barbara Falkensammer11Institute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaDr. Strallhofer’s Office, 6200 Jenbach, AustriaDepartment of Pediatrics I, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaInstitute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaComplementing the adult seroprevalence data collected at the time of the rapid SARS-CoV-2 mass vaccination in the district of Schwaz in 2021, we set out to establish the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among the pediatric population of the district. A total of 369 children, mean age 9.9 (SD 3.4), participated in the study, answering a structured questionnaire on the history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, household contacts, symptoms and history of vaccination. We determined binding and neutralizing antibody levels using plasma samples provided. We estimated the overall prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general pediatric population at the time of the study using the census data from Statistik Austria and daily reports of officially confirmed cases. Excluding study participants who reported a history of PCR-confirmed infection, the age-standardized seroprevalence of previously unknown SARS-CoV-2 infection among the general pediatric population of the district was 27% (95% CI: 26.1–27.8). Adding this to the officially documented cases, the true overall prevalence was 32.8% (95% CI: 31.9–33.6) in contrast to the officially documented 8.0% (95% CI: 7.5–8.5) by June 2021. This translated into a proportion of 75.7% (95% CI: 74.4–77.0) of cases being officially undocumented, suggesting a high extent of silent SARS-CoV-2 infections in the pediatric population and possibly silent transmission.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/10/2294SARS-CoV-2seroprevalenceanti-spike antibodyanti-nucleocapsid antibodyneutralizing antibodychildren |
| spellingShingle | Teresa Harthaller Wegene Borena David Bante Helena Schäfer Oliver Strallhofer Thomas Zöggeler Eva Hochmuth Luiza Hoch Annika Rössler Dorothee von Laer Janine Kimpel Barbara Falkensammer High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of Schwaz Viruses SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence anti-spike antibody anti-nucleocapsid antibody neutralizing antibody children |
| title | High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of Schwaz |
| title_full | High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of Schwaz |
| title_fullStr | High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of Schwaz |
| title_full_unstemmed | High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of Schwaz |
| title_short | High Prevalence of Undocumented SARS-CoV-2 Infections in the Pediatric Population of the Tyrolean District of Schwaz |
| title_sort | high prevalence of undocumented sars cov 2 infections in the pediatric population of the tyrolean district of schwaz |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence anti-spike antibody anti-nucleocapsid antibody neutralizing antibody children |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/10/2294 |
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