TY - JOUR
T1 - The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 drove broadly increased seroprevalence in a public university setting
AU - Hou, Ching Wen
AU - Williams, Stacy
AU - Trivino-Soto, Guillermo
AU - Boyle, Veronica
AU - Rainford, David
AU - Vicino, Selina
AU - Magee, Mitch
AU - Chung, Yunro
AU - LaBaer, Joshua
AU - Murugan, Vel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Hou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2025/1/3
Y1 - 2025/1/3
N2 - Omicron is the comparatively most transmissible and contagious variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). We conducted a seroprevalence study from March 1–3, 2022, to investigate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among individuals aged 18 years and older after the Omicron outbreak. The seroprevalence of anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) antibodies was found to be 96.3% (95% CI 95.2–97.2%) compared to 88.2% (95% CI 86.1–90%) in our previous serosurvey. For anti-nucleocapsid (NC) antibodies, the seroprevalence was 39.1% (95% CI 36.6–41.7%) compared to 19.7% (95% CI 17.5–22.2%) earlier. Individuals that experienced breakthrough infections exhibited the highest levels of anti-RBD antibodies. Additionally, saliva samples showed promise as a potential diagnostic biofluid for measuring antibody levels, as they exhibited a strong agreement with the data obtained from serum samples. The near doubling of anti-NC reactivity, a proxy for history of infection, reflects the contagiousness of the omicron variant, but may also have been influenced by a more relaxed approach to precautions in the spring of 2022. Serosurveys repeated at regular intervals monitor the trend of infections in the community, delineate the geographical spread of the infection, and may guide containment measures in communities, and prompt response to future outbreaks.
AB - Omicron is the comparatively most transmissible and contagious variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). We conducted a seroprevalence study from March 1–3, 2022, to investigate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among individuals aged 18 years and older after the Omicron outbreak. The seroprevalence of anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) antibodies was found to be 96.3% (95% CI 95.2–97.2%) compared to 88.2% (95% CI 86.1–90%) in our previous serosurvey. For anti-nucleocapsid (NC) antibodies, the seroprevalence was 39.1% (95% CI 36.6–41.7%) compared to 19.7% (95% CI 17.5–22.2%) earlier. Individuals that experienced breakthrough infections exhibited the highest levels of anti-RBD antibodies. Additionally, saliva samples showed promise as a potential diagnostic biofluid for measuring antibody levels, as they exhibited a strong agreement with the data obtained from serum samples. The near doubling of anti-NC reactivity, a proxy for history of infection, reflects the contagiousness of the omicron variant, but may also have been influenced by a more relaxed approach to precautions in the spring of 2022. Serosurveys repeated at regular intervals monitor the trend of infections in the community, delineate the geographical spread of the infection, and may guide containment measures in communities, and prompt response to future outbreaks.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003893
DO - 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003893
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85214501047
SN - 2767-3375
VL - 5
JO - PLOS Global Public Health
JF - PLOS Global Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - e0003893
ER -