Predictors of Nonseroconversion after SARS-CoV-2 Infection - Volume 27, Number 9—September 2021 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC
▻https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/9/21-1042_article
Nombre de personnes testées très faible, 72 au total.
Not all persons recovering from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection develop SARS-CoV-2–specific antibodies. We show that nonseroconversion is associated with younger age and higher reverse transcription PCR cycle threshold values and identify SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in the nasopharynx as a major correlate of the systemic antibody response.
[…]
Conclusions
In summary, we show that patients with low #SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in their respiratory tract are less likely to mount a systemic antibody response. Although we cannot formally exclude false-positive RT-PCR results in some participants, PCR contamination is highly unlikely as an explanation for our findings (Appendix). We also show that clinical illness does not guarantee seroconversion and that laboratories with highly sensitive RT-PCR assays are more likely to detect serologic nonresponders. These results provide an explanation for the puzzling variability of #seroconversion in different cohorts.
The fact that a considerable fraction of RT-PCR positive persons fail to seroconvert has practical implications. Such persons remain undetected in seroprevalence studies, including in vaccine studies that assess protection from asymptomatic infection by measuring antibodies to antigens not included in the vaccine.
Seroconverters and nonseroconverters will probably also respond differently to #vaccination. Recent studies revealed that seropositive persons have a heightened antibody response after the first, but not the second, dose of an mRNA vaccine, suggesting that a single dose is sufficient. Serologic nonresponders might not exhibit a similarly heightened anamnestic response, but resemble SARS-CoV-2 naive persons, as was observed for 1 previously infected vaccinee who never seroconverted (14). Finally, RT-PCR positive persons who experienced COVID-19 symptoms might be less inclined to seek vaccination, believing they are protected, but our results caution against this assumption.
Comparing race/ethnicity, sex, and symptom severity, we failed to find a significant association with serostatus (Table), although we did observe a trend for increasing antibody positivity with increasing symptom severity (Appendix Figure 2). We also found no significant differences in seroconversion between patients reporting or not reporting various symptoms…
