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Volume 26, Number 9—September 2020
Perspective

Seroepidemiologic Study Designs for Determining SARS-COV-2 Transmission and Immunity

Hannah ClaphamComments to Author , James Hay1, Isobel Routledge1, Saki Takahashi1, Marc Choisy2, Derek Cummings2, Bryan Grenfell2, C. Jessica E. Metcalf2, Michael Mina2, Isabel Rodriguez Barraquer2, Henrik Salje2, and Clarence C. Tam2
Author affiliations: National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, Singapore (H. Clapham, C.C. Tam); Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (J. Hay, M. Mina); University of California San Francisco EPPIcenter Program, San Francisco, California, USA (I. Routledge, S. Takahashi, I. Rodriguez-Barraquer); University of California San Francisco Department of Medicine, San Francisco (I. Routledge, S. Takahashi, I. Rodriguez-Barraquer); Oxford University Clinical Research Unit–Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (M. Choisy); University of Florida Department of Biology, Gainesville, Florida, USA (D. Cummings); Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA (C.J.E. Metcalf, B. Grenfell); University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (H. Salje); London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (C.C. Tam)

Main Article

Figure 1

Link between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection dynamics and antibody levels in the population. A) Each line shows a person’s antibody titer. After infection, each person’s antibody levels undergo a dynamic process. A lag occurs from time of infection (white marks) to the generation of antibodies, which peaks several weeks postinfection and varies across persons depending on the time since infection and the parameters governing dynamics of the immune response. B) Antibody

Figure 1. Link between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection dynamics and antibody levels in the population. A) Each line shows a person’s antibody titer. After infection, each person’s antibody levels undergo a dynamic process. A lag occurs from time of infection (white marks) to the generation of antibodies, which peaks several weeks postinfection and varies across persons depending on the time since infection and the parameters governing dynamics of the immune response. B) Antibody and virus dynamics in a person from time of infection. Frequent follow-up samples from the same person (indicated by red dots along the horizonal axis) would inform models of viral load and antibody kinetics. The dashed horizontal line represents the limit of detection of the assay. Early on, viral loads are more sensitive for diagnosing recent infection, whereas antibody titers become more sensitive once the humoral response is mounted and persons recover. C) Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections generated under an epidemic process (using a susceptible-exposed-infectious-removed model), modelling susceptible, exposed, infected, and recovered persons.

Main Article

1These first authors contributed equally to this article.

2These authors contributed equally to this article.

Page created: June 02, 2020
Page updated: August 18, 2020
Page reviewed: August 18, 2020
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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