Incidence of anti-COVID-19 IgM and IgG in asymptomatic gastroenterological care workers

The COVID-19 epidemic substantially strains hospital resources and there is
considerable anxiety among the gastroenterological community that the relative
patient-contact nature of the profession leaves this group of medical
professionals especially at risk for contracting the virus. As the virus has
been reported often to cause only relatively mild even subclinical symptoms it
is well possible that a substantial proportion of gastroenterological care
workers has already been exposed to the virus. There is, however, no data on
COVID-19 exposure and thus it is unknown whether current protective measures
are sufficient to prevent work place exposure to Covid-19 for
gastroenterologists.
A reliable measure for earlier exposure to any virus is the presence of
virus-specific antibodies in the circulating blood of the individual. For
Covid-19, IgM levels peak after three weeks following diagnosis and IgG levels
reach plateau phase five weeks after the initial diagnosis and remain
detectable for prolonged times. The presence of anti-Covid-19 IgM or
anti-Covid-19 IgG in peripheral blood is thus a reliable indicator of previous
exposure to the virus and thus of the efficacy of protective measures to
prevent contraction of Covid-19.

To characterize the presence of anti-Covid-19 IgM and anti-Covid-19 IgG in
volunteering employees of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of
the Erasmus MC.

In this prospective observational study gastroenterological endoscopy health
care workers will be tested for presence of COVID-19 IgM an IgG antibodies in
peripheral blood. This will be tested by using a finger prick blood test. The
blood prick test will be performed at two moments during the study with two
weeks in between the tests. Furthermore, participants will be asked whether
they have experienced physical complaints which could be attributable to a
COVID-19 infection. The entire staff of the gastroenterological endoscopy
department will be asked to participate in order to achieve as much inclusions
as possible.

The burden and risks are negligible.
Endoscopy workers will spent approximately 15 minutes per test and interview.
Possible adverse effects are pain and bleeding from the finger prick test