Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (CoV) 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Seroprevalence Study in Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) Staff

In Belgium, the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic is in the growing phase of its second wave.

The Belgian crisis cell is balancing between allowing the economy to recover and minimize the disease spread. To decide which containment measures should be maintained, reinstalled or suspended, information on what proportion of people has been infected and on possible risk factors for virus transmission can be helpful.

This study will be conducted on staff members of the ITM. All staff members will be invited to participate. Participants will be asked to have a blood sample drawn for detections of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (using one of these two commercial assays: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 ELISA (EUROIMMUN) or WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Ab ELISA (WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostics)) and to complete a questionnaire about their exposure, both within and outside the ITM, to the SARS-CoV-2, and about their health and symptoms. The primary objective is to estimate the occurrence rate of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies or seroprevalence in ITM staff. Secondary objective is to estimate the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in ITM staff member groups, stratified by variables obtained through the questionnaire, such as age, gender, symptoms, exposure to COVID-19 patients/samples, comorbidities, adherence to containment measures.