TY - JOUR AU - Chen, Wei-Qing AU - Lu, Ci-Yong AU - Wong, Tze-wai AU - Ling, Wen-Hua AU - Lin, Zhong-Ning AU - Hao, Yuan-Tao AU - Liu, Qing AU - Fang, Ji-Qian AU - He, Yun AU - Luo, Fu-Tian AU - Jing, Jin AU - Ling, Li AU - Ma, Xiang AU - Liu, Yi-Min AU - Chen, Gui-Hua AU - Huang, Jian AU - Jiang, Yuan-Sen AU - Jiang, Wen-Qi AU - Zou, He-Qun AU - Yan, Guang-Mei T1 - Anti–SARS-CoV Immunoglobulin G in Healthcare Workers, Guangzhou, China T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2005 VL - 11 IS - 1 SP - 89 SN - 1080-6059 AB - To determine the prevalence of inapparent infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) among healthcare workers, we performed a serosurvey to test for immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibodies to the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) among 1,147 healthcare workers in 3 hospitals that admitted SARS patients in mid-May 2003. Among them were 90 healthcare workers with SARS. As a reference group, 709 healthcare workers who worked in 2 hospitals that never admitted any SARS patients were similarly tested. The seroprevalence rate was 88.9% (80/90) for healthcare workers with SARS and 1.4% (15/1,057) for healthcare workers who were apparently healthy. The seroprevalence in the reference group was 0.4% (3/709). These findings suggest that inapparent infection is uncommon. Low level of immunity among unaffected healthcare workers reinforces the need for adequate personal protection and other infection control measures in hospitals to prevent future epidemics. KW - SARS KW - Seroprevalence KW - Healthcare workers KW - China KW - research DO - 10.3201/eid1101.040138 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/1/04-0138_article ER - End of Reference