SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence, titres and neutralising activity in an antenatal cohort, United Kingdom, 14 April to 15 June 2020
Sheila Lumley, David W. Eyre, Anna McNaughton, Alison Howarth, Sarah Hoosdally, Stephanie B. Hatch, James Kavanagh, Kevin Chau, Louise Downs, Stuart Cox, Laura Dunn, Anita Justice, Susan Wareing, Kate E. Dingle, Justine Rudkin, Kathryn Auckland, Alexander Fyfe, Jai S. Bolton, Robert S. Paton, Alexander J. Mentzer, Katie Jeffery, Monique Andersson, Tim James, Tim Peto, Brian D. Marsden, Gavin Screaton, Richard J. Cornall, Paul Klenerman, Daniel Ebner, David I. Stuart, Derrick W. Crook, Nicole Stoesser, Stephen Kennedy, Craig Thompson, Sunetra Gupta, Philippa C. Matthews
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 IgG screening of 1,000 antenatal serum samples in the Oxford area, United Kingdom, between 14 April and 15 June 2020, yielded a 5.3% seroprevalence, mirroring contemporaneous regional data. Among the 53 positive samples, 39 showed in vitro neutralisation activity, correlating with IgG titre (Pearson's correlation p<0.0001). While SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in pregnancy cohorts could potentially inform population surveillance, clinical correlates of infection and immunity in pregnancy, and antenatal epidemiology evolution over time need further study.