1. SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Preschool and School-Age Children—Population Screening Findings From January 2020 to June 2022
- Author
-
Ott R, Achenbach P, Ewald DA, Friedl N, Gemulla G, Hubmann M, Kordonouri O, Loff A, Marquardt E, Sifft P, Sporreiter M, Zapardiel-Gonzalo J, and Ziegler AG
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Child, Preschool, Humans, Child, Seroepidemiologic Studies, Educational Status, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 epidemiology
- Abstract
Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is ongoing in Germany. Children and adolescents are increasingly being infected, and many cases presumably remain undetected and unreported. Sero-epidemiological studies can help estimate the true number of infections., Methods: From January 2020 to June 2022, 59 786 persons aged 1-17 years were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies as part of a screening program for presymptomatic type 1 diabetes in the German federal state of Bavaria (the Fr1da study)., Results: In June 2022, the seroprevalence in the overall population was 73.5%. The seroprevalence was significantly higher in school-age children (from 5 to 10 years of age) than in preschool children (ages 1-4): 84.4% vs. 66.6%, p <0.001. In contrast, in November 2021, before the appearance of the omicron variant, the overall seroprevalence was 14.7% (16.2% of school-age children, 13.0% of preschool children, p = 0.06). In the overall collective, seroprevalence increased fivefold from the fall of 2021 to June 2022 (by a factor of 5.2 in school-age children and 5.1 in preschool children). Similar seroprevalences, with smaller case numbers, were observed in June 2022 in the corresponding Fr1da studies in Saxony and Northern Germany: 87.8% and 76.7%, respectively., Conclusion: Monthly case counts reveal a substantial rise in SARS-CoV-2-infections among children and adolescents from late 2021 to mid-2022. The high percentage of preschool and school-age children who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, in a population that has low vaccination coverage, should be taken into account in the development of health policies.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF