1. Prevalence of Subclinical Infection by the SARS Coronavirus among General Practitioners in Hong Kong.
- Author
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Wai Cho Yu, Thomas Ho Fai Tsang, Wing Lok Tong, Tak Keung Ng, Wilina Lim, Henry Chiu Fat Yeung, Wing Kin To, Bosco Lam, Dominic Ngai Chong Tsang, Thomas Ock Ling Ho, Sik To Lai, and Kwok Lung Tong
- Subjects
SARS disease ,GENERAL practitioners ,CORONAVIRUS diseases ,IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE ,POLYMERASE chain reaction ,ENZYME-linked immunosorbent assay - Abstract
Eight general practitioners had severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong during the epidemic, and others may have been infected by the SARS coronavirus without developing the full syndrome. We conducted a serological and questionnaire survey to determine the prevalence of subclinical infection by SARS coronavirus among general practitioners in Hong Kong. Participants had to be doctors actively practising in family medicine and who did not have SARS. Approximately 3200 general practitioners were invited to participate and the results of 574 were eligible for analysis. 29 samples were tested positive by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, but all these samples had titre <25 by immunofluorescence assay. The prevalence for seropositivity was thus 0% (95% CI, 0.0%–/0.6%). This finding documents the lack of subclinical infection by SARS coronavirus in an at-risk group in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
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