Occupational Exposure in the Lombardy Region (Italy) to SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Results from the MUSTANG–OCCUPATION–COVID-19 Study

Paola Della Valle, Marco Fabbri, Fabiana Madotto, Pietro Ferrara, Paolo Cozzolino, Elisabetta Calabretto, Marco Italo D’Orso, Ermanno Longhi, Riccardo Polosa, Michele Augusto Riva, Giampiero Mazzaglia, Carmen Sommese, Lorenzo Giovanni Mantovani and The MUSTANG–OCCUPATION–COVID-19 Study Group
Additional contact information
Paola Della Valle: Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
Marco Fabbri: Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
Fabiana Madotto: IRCCS MultiMedica, 20099 Sesto San Giovanni, Italy
Pietro Ferrara: Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
Paolo Cozzolino: IRCCS MultiMedica, 20099 Sesto San Giovanni, Italy
Elisabetta Calabretto: IRCCS MultiMedica, 20099 Sesto San Giovanni, Italy
Marco Italo D’Orso: Consortium for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milan–Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
Ermanno Longhi: IRCCS MultiMedica, 20099 Sesto San Giovanni, Italy
Riccardo Polosa: Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of HArm Reduction (CoEHAR), University of Catania, 95131 Catania, Italy
Michele Augusto Riva: Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
Giampiero Mazzaglia: Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
Carmen Sommese: IRCCS MultiMedica, 20099 Sesto San Giovanni, Italy
Lorenzo Giovanni Mantovani: Center for Public Health Research, University of Milan Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
The MUSTANG–OCCUPATION–COVID-19 Study Group: Members of the MUSTANG–OCCUPATION–COVID-19 study are listed in the Acknowledgments.

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: Sero-epidemiological surveys are valuable attempts to estimate the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in general or selected populations. Within this context, a prospective observational study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in different categories of workers and factors associated with positivity, through the detection of virus-specific immunoglobulin G and M (IgG/IgM) in serum samples. Enrollees were divided in low exposure and medium-high groups on the basis of their work activity. Antibody responders were re-contacted after 3 months for the follow-up. Of 2255 sampled workers, 4.8% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM antibodies, with 81.7% to IgG only. Workers who continued to go to their place of work, were healthcare workers, or experienced at least one COVID-19-related symptom were more likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies prevalence was significantly higher in the medium-high risk vs. low-risk group (7.2% vs. 3.0%, p < 0.0001). At 3-month follow-up, 81.3% of subjects still had antibody response. This study provided important information of SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence among workers in northern Italy, where the impact of COVID-19 was particularly intense. The presented surveillance data give a contribution to refine current estimates of the disease burden expected from the SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: antibody persistence; COVID-19; occupational exposure; seroprevalence; SARS-CoV-2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2567/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2567/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2567-:d:510511

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().