The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 2022 , Vol 64 , Num 1
The pediatric asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 IgG seropositivity in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Umut Gazi 1 ,Ayşe Arıkan Sarıoğlu 1-2 ,Emrah Ruh 1 ,Burçin Şanlıdağ 3 ,Ceyhun Dalkan 3 ,İlke Beyitler 3 ,Kaya Süer 4 ,Nedim Çakır 1-4 ,Murat Sayan 2-5 ,Tamer Şanlıdağ 2
1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
2 DESAM Research Institute, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
3 Department of Paediatrics, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
4 Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
5 PCR Unit, Educational and Research Hospital of Kocaeli University, Kocaeli University Kocaeli, Turkey
DOI : 10.24953/turkjped.2021.1330 Background. While children were initially thought to have serious contributions to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission, recent studies suggest otherwise. However, the possible effect of asymptomatic pediatric spread still has not yet received enough attention. The aim of our study was to estimate asymptomatic infection rates among children in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, by using pediatric patients admitted to a university hospital without any COVID-19-associated symptoms.

Methods. Blood samples collected from 80 pediatric patients with no symptoms and history of COVID-19 infection, who were admitted to a university hospital between September 2020 and January 2021, were included in the retrospective study. Isolated serum samples were tested by Dia.Pro SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA assays.

Results. The patient group included 40 (50%) male and 40 (50%) female patients. The average age of children was 7.6 ± 4.0 years, with min-max ages ranging from 2 to 15 years. Among the 80 patients tested, only one (1.3%) was detected positive by the Dia.Pro IgG ELISA kit.

Conclusions. The asymptomatic seropositivity reported in our study suggests the use of randomly performed serologic tests to monitor SARS-CoV-2 infection among the pediatric population in schools that would contribute to the public health fight against COVID-19. Keywords : SARS-CoV-2, serology, seropositivity, IgG, children

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