Prospective Observational COVID-19 Screening and Monitoring of Asymptomatic Cancer Center Health-Care Workers with a Rapid Serological Test

• Main Authors: Angelo Virgilio Paradiso, Simona De Summa, Nicola Silvestris, Stefania Tommasi, Antonio Tufaro, Angela Maria Vittoria Larocca, Vincenzo D’Addabbo, Donata Raffaele, Vito Cafagna, Vito Michele Garrisi, Giuseppe De Palma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Diagnostics
• Subjects: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; serological test; health-care workers; cancer center
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/6/975

Health-care workers (HCW) are at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and, if asymptomatic, for transmitting the virus to fragile cancer patients. We monitored all asymptomatic HCWs of a cancer institute (94% of all employees agreed to enter the study) with the rapid serological test, VivaDiag^TM, identifying SARS-CoV-2 associated-IgM/IgG. The tests were performed at time 0 (<i>n</i> = 606) and after 14 days (<i>n</i> = 393). Overall, the VivaDiag^TM results of nine HCWs (1.5%) were positive, with one confirmed to be SARS-CoV-2-positive after oropharyngeal swab testing by RT-PCR. At time 0, all nine cases showed IgM expression while IgG was detected in only one. After 14 days, IgM persisted in all the cases, while IgG became evident in four. A chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) confirmed IgM positivity in 5/13 VivaDiag^TM positive cases and IgG positivity in 4/5 VivaDiag^TM positive cases. Our study suggests that the VivaDiag^TM test can be of help in identifying SARS-CoV-2 infected people in cohorts of subjects with a high prevalence.