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COVID-19: Immunology, vaccines and epidemiology
COVID-19: Immunology, vaccines and epidemiology

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3.1 Data interpretation

You can now make an estimate of the prevalence of N-antibodies in the population, and by inference the number of people who have been infected with the virus. Take a titre of >4 as being a positive result.

incidence equals number with cap n en dash antibodies divided by Number tested multiplication 100

At this time, about 10% of the UK population had been infected with SARS-CoV2. Because your sample is relatively small, it may not accurately reflect the whole population, but you should have found at least one individual with N-antibodies.

ITQ _unit6.4.1

  • When you are ready check your results. Do your results correspond? What percentage of the sample had N-antibodies?

  • Of the 60 samples available, the following seven samples have IgG antibodies against nucleocapsid:

    C3111, C5930, F7812, H1151, H4439, M6723, N9921

    From these figures we could estimate:

    Prevalence = 7/60 x100 ≈ 12%.

ITQ _unit6.4.2

  • If a person is seropositive for S-antibodies, but negative for N-antibodies, what can you infer?

  • They have been vaccinated with SARS-CoV2 spike protein.