Background: Understanding the immune response to natural infection by SARS-CoV-2 is key to pandemic management, especially in the current context of emerging variants. Uncertainty remains regarding the efficacy and duration of natural immunity against reinfection. Methods: We conducted an observational prospective cohort study in Canadian healthcare workers (HCWs) with a history of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection to (i) measure the average incidence rate of reinfection and (ii) describe the serological immune response to the primary infection. Results: Our cohort comprised 569 HCWs; median duration of individual follow-up was 371 days. We detected six cases of reinfection in absence of vaccination between August 21, 2020, and March 1, 2022, for a reinfection incidence rate of 4.0 per 100 person-years. Median duration of seropositivity was 415 days in symptomatics at primary infection compared with 213 days in asymptomatics (p < 0.0001). Other characteristics associated with prolonged seropositivity for IgG against the spike protein included age over 55 years, obesity, and non-Caucasian ethnicity. Conclusions: Among unvaccinated healthcare workers, reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 following a primary infection remained rare.
CITATION STYLE
Racine, É., Boivin, G., Longtin, Y., McCormack, D., Decaluwe, H., Savard, P., … Quach-Thanh, C. (2022). The REinfection in COVID-19 Estimation of Risk (RECOVER) study: Reinfection and serology dynamics in a cohort of Canadian healthcare workers. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, 16(5), 916–925. https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.12997
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