Prevalence of COVID-19 among blood donors and evaluation of seropositive donors for production of hiperimune serum

• Grant number: 20/04884-4
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2020
• End date: March 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Ester Cerdeira Sabino
• Grantee: Ester Cerdeira Sabino
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alfredo Mendrone Junior ; Anna Shoko Nishiya Oshiro ; Cesar de Almeida Neto ; Maria Cássia Jacintho Mendes Corrêa ; Suzete Cleusa Ferreira Spina Lombardi ; Vanderson Geraldo Rocha
• Associated research grant: 18/14389-0 - Brazil-UK Centre for Arbovirus Discovery, Diagnosis, Genomics and Epidemiology (CADDE), AP.TEM

Abstract

COVID-19 is an acuterespiratory disease caused by the coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).In Brazil, it is a concern due to its impact on health care structures and its current mortality rate (especially in age groups above 60 years). Exponential growth of cases is expected and assessment of frequency rates such as morbidity, mortality, lethality, percentage of carriers and seroprevalence in the healthy population is essential to establish policies for action and surveillance. Objectives: 1. To evaluate the seroprevalence of the Coronavirus COVID-19 amongblood donors at the Fundação Pró-Sangue Hemocentro de São Paulo (FPS-HSP). 2.Assess the feasibility of producing hyperimmune serum from healthy individuals who have had their infection confirmed by PCR and from seropositive blood donors from FPS-HSP 3. Develop an in-house IgG / IgM test that allows the expansion of epidemiological studies. Methods: Cross-sectional, prospective study in which an Elisa IgG antibody test for COVID-19 will be performed on 10,000 samples of serum or plasma from FPS-HSP donors, from April to December 2020. Standardization of tests search for IgG antibodies and anti-SARS-CoV2 IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses. Quantitative real-time PCR test "in house" which amplifies part of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and COVID-19 Envelope RdRp gene. Currently, in Brazil, screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection is done only in symptomatic patients that satisfy the case definition for COVID-19 developed by the Ministry of Health (MS). The suspect cases are evaluated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on throat-nose swab samples. The search for IgG antibodies can help us to understand the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection and assist in determining the level of humoral immune response in patients. Although immunocompetent patients show only mild symptoms, the elderly, pregnant women and patients with pre-existing illnesses are at higher risk for severe illness To date, there is no specific therapy or treatment of COVID-19 infection. Passive immunotherapy with convalescent plasma, which was already used during MERS outbreak in Chinaand has been proposed for the treatment of COVID-19 infection, may be an alternative treatment in these cases. (AU)