26% of people infected in this cluster have antibodies

A study in a high school in Crépy-en-Valois, a coronavirus cluster in the heart of the Oise department, reveals that 26% of teachers, students and their relatives have been infected and have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 . According to the researchers, this rate is far too low for collective immunity.

The epidemiological study carried out in a high school in Crépy-en-Valois in Oise, within a epicenter of the'epidemic of Covid-19 in France, north of Paris, reveals that 26% of teachers, high school students and their families have been infected and have antibody against the virus. A level totally insufficient to justify the slightest relaxation, according to researchers from the Institut Pasteur, in Paris, at the origin of this study.

In detail, 41% of high school students, teachers and staff working in this high school were infected with the new coronavirus during an epidemic in February-March, according to this study published Thursday, performed using antibody detection tests. But only 11% of the relatives of high school students (parents and siblings) had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Collective immunity will take time

This is far from the 60% to 70% hoped for in the general population to have a immunity sufficient group to stop the epidemic, provided that the antibodies are really protective against the coronavirus and that this immunity lasts at least several months. The results of this study therefore suggest that thecollective immunity will not be established quickly.

Pr Arnaud Fontanet, first author of the study and head of the Epidemiology of emerging diseases unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, notes however “ the positive effects of containment on slowing the epidemic »Since the February school holidays but also confinement in this department, active since 1er March, " greatly reduced circulation of the virus in the weeks that followed " The study, posted on the MedRxiv website, was carried out from March 30 to April 3 in this high school linked to one of the first homes cases of infection (cluster) in France.

It tested 661 people – high school students, teachers, staff working in the establishment, as well as parents and brothers and sisters of high school students. A total of 171 (25.9%) people were positive about serological tests made from a blood Review. 5.3% of those infected were hospitalized (aged 49 years on average compared to 18 years among those not hospitalized) and there were no deaths.

More complications for smokers

From symptoms, the study confirms that the infection is found in 84.7% and 88.1% of people who lost thesmell and taste. At least 17% of those infected did not have symptoms.

The infection affected fewer smokers (7.2%) than non-smokers (28%) in this study, confirming previous observations of a very low rate of smokers in patients hospitalized for Covid-19. But " smokers, in case of contamination, may have more complications from Covid-19 disease ", Warns Professor Fontanet.

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